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Have you ever wondered how much it costs to recruit a new programmer? The numbers may surprise you.
The most common cost of recruiting a developer which comes to mind is a recruitment agency fee, but it’s just a starter. In the IT world, where there is a talent shortage, hiring a new programmer (or any tech talent) increases in cost and effort as time goes on. The better a programmer is, the more expensive it gets. The best ones are like superstars with their own agents. Employee turnover is a huge problem for most companies and long-time employment is almost unreal. According to the 2015 Recruiter Survey, the average employee tenure is below 6 years; 30% of people change their job in 1-3 years and 29% in 4-6 years. Quarsh’s research gives even more dreadful numbers – 20% of new hires leave in 12 months!
Even with low turn-over you need to be prepared for recruitment costs. These studies show that 79% of the workforce keep their resumes up-to-date and 63% have updated their LinkedIn profile just in case. Are you sure your employees won’t quit on you?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Common Joe on Sunday January 01 2017, @10:21AM
You're getting an ear full from a bunch of others. I'll add my two cents.
I spoke to someone in my family who is a retired manager about some of the problems I am having with my current job. I was surprised that my bosses were rejecting some of the suggestions I had. "I need support from the top and they are rejecting basic IT security procedures. They need to do these things if they want to successfully grow. I just want to make my company better."
She seized me on the phrasing "my company" and told me how it wasn't my company and I had better listen to my bosses and respect what they had to say even if I thought they were wrong -- because maybe they aren't wrong. (Yes. They are wrong. It's basic IT security. Really basic.)
Among the other things we discussed, I argued that even though I am new at my position, this is my company. Either I'm part of the company or I'm not. She emphasized how much I didn't own the company. I agreed that I didn't own the company and that the bosses made the hard decisions and the financial responsibility rested on their shoulders, but as an IT professional, I have always viewed my places of employment as "my company". The environment I influence is my domain and I have been put there to take ownership and responsibility for that part of the company. Every employee should feel like they own that part of the company that they were hired into.
She ranted and raved about how it wasn't my company and never would be.
And that, KilroySmith, is why many of us get the philosophy of "best offer given and I'll leave as soon as I get a better offer". Except for the very rare company, we aren't given the choice to adopt a part of the company. Instead, we're given a set of rote procedures to follow and by god, we better follow them even if it will ruin the company or cost "their company" millions of dollars. We're reminded how this isn't our company by the higher ups -- not just often, but very often. We're fired as soon as it is no longer convenient to keep us around. We aren't employees. We're cattle.
As an employee, I'd like that opportunity too.
I'll give you a brownie point for your comment. Some people are only about the money. But for many of us, we want more. It's the invisible, intangible stuff that can't be negotiated for, though. But here's the thing that you probably don't realize:
As IT people, we've been trained to think and speak that way because that is all management ever seems to care about -- the bottom line. As employees, we have to pretend to be money oriented because that is an unstated job requirement in 99% of the jobs out there. I mean, go back and re-read your comment. It's all about money. And at some point, we just give up and start thinking in terms of money for ourselves because we have little other choice. It is all that management wants to hear, but in reality, it is only a slice of what should be talked about.
You want a quality candidate that will stick by your side and earn you your money back? Ignore what a person says about money entirely. Use your sniffer. If a person values anything else besides money, and you actually support those values in your employees, you've got a winner that will stick by your side. It's the intangible, invisible, unmeasurable things that will keep those greenbacks in the company's wallet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @05:17PM
I saw the same thing working directly for someone I had gone to school with. The irony of it however was 'I got to own the position' as it were, just not paid commisurately nor 'on the books' (It was a non-IT 'startup' business). I actually had a good idea of the guy's character before this, but I was curious to find out if I'd misjudged him. Long story short after months of work (and the business being established well enough I could have either been on the books or a shareholder) he made it clear he wasn't doing either, and while he'd pay a legal wage he wasn't willing to pay market wages.
Needless to say I moved on to other career opportunities, but the few times we were in contact either he or his business associate would comment on how they hadn't had as good of an employee since (and they wonder why...)
The sickness in American business runs from top to bottom. And the issue with it is that our system isn't rewarding good and honest businesspeople or long term endeavors over hack jobs who ruin either their company or employees. In fact the penalties for doing so are low enough that in all but the most egregious cases (or where the wrong person/NGO wasn't 'donated to') the penalties are far lower than the profit gained, making it a no-brainer which path to take for all but the most pious of men (who probably just got ran out of business by a less honest competitor as a result.)
(Score: 1) by DmT on Sunday January 01 2017, @07:37PM
But why dont you make your own company? That way you can consentrate on the intangible stuff and see how you measure against the others who focus on money ...
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Sunday January 01 2017, @08:38PM
No, that's ok. I'm better as a team player instead of a loner in the business world.
Besides, when I focus on the intangible, I am focusing on money. I'm just looking at something that can't easily be measured [wikipedia.org] in the short term, but can easily be felt after everything goes belly up.