Workers Rarely Jump Ship Over Pay Alone is an article that I saw awhile back and saved. And it is 100% true.
It should be required reading by every C-level knucklehead and MBA student.
Most of the people that I have seen change jobs rarely do it for pay. Unless it's a huge jump in pay, which is rare. I mean how many of you were making $30, $40, or $50k at some point in your career and then got offered $100k? If you did, I could see you changing jobs.
Like tomorrow. Like do not pass go, do not clean out your office, do not give notice. Like leaving that very minute and just walking out the door. OK, you get the idea.
In my career, I've followed a wavy line. I started at roughly $20k rose over time and with a few job changes to top out at $110k before dropping down into the 80s for my last few jobs. None of my job changes were really done for money, though money was always on my mind.
I learned early on the DBAs made good money, so I checked out the job. I liked it and moved into that area. Since that time, I definitely looked for more money everytime I changed jobs, but it was always something else that led me to leave. My reasons?
- I was bored
- I wanted the challenge of a larger environment
- I wanted to gamble on a startup
- My startup failed
- I hated my boss and had too much stress
- I disagreed with the way people were treated.
Only after I decided to leave that I looked for more money. I mean, if you're going through the hassle of changing jobs, why not get more money if you can?
I'm probably one of the rare ones that views money as a secondary or tertiary consideration when taking a job. The people and team are always first with me and the environment or working conditions are secondary. On call, hours, dress code, are all important and while I might trade some of them off for money, they are usually more important to me. My wife does work, so I definitely have more flexibility than lots of people who are the sole wage-earner.
If you've followed this editorials for awhile, then you realize that I believe that people are valuable to your company. The knowledge they have about your company, the relationships with clients and other employees, all are important. They're important enough that you should make an effort to be sure your people are happy with their positions. It isn't always possible in the short term, but it should be in the long term.
Take care of your employees and they'll stick around and likely take care of you.
Podcast Info
Music for today's podcast from Joe Sibol. Check him out and here some more fun music. I got a few instrumentals from Joe, but you can hear him sing on iTunes or at Joesibol.com.
- The Pay Jump - Audio (MP3, 4.4MB)
- The Pay Jump - Video (.MOV, 7.8MB)
I'm still looking for other music, so if you record your own or know someone that might want some exposure, let me know.