<<My shop is trying very hard to attract and RETAIN good quality people.
I have been asked to 'sit' on a comittee that is supposed to find new and
creative suggestions for retaining techies.

I have lots of ideas myself, but I thought many of you might give me some
of your ideas on what would make you want to stay at a company. Salary is
the easy one, but not always the most important.>>


In fact, it is almost never the most important, at least on the
"positive" side. The way I like to put it is that "Money is a qualifier,
not a motivator." This means that the money has to be sufficient, or the
job is not a serious contender. But, given a choice of jobs that all
provide *adequate* compensation, the choice will almost never be made
based on which one offers the highest pay. Factors like the individual's
"fit" into the working environment (which includes the geographic
location, the physical working conditions, and the social/political
atmosphere of the organization), the skill/experience/temperament fit
with the job to be done, and the potential to move in directions that are
of interest to the individual (which is not necessarily "up") are
generally much more important than a difference of a few (or even
several) thousand dollars a year. Indeed, the only time I can see where
money would be the deciding factor is where all other more important
factors were so close that the jobs could be considered
indistinguishable. And I've never seen or heard of such a situation,
short of a "McDonalds or Burger King?" type of choice.

Steve