Re: ArsDigita working practices (was: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- )

[Roger Burton West]

On Sun, Jan 21, 2001 at 08:37:02PM +0000, Kieran Barry wrote:

>Yup. There isn't enough talent around, so people get promoted beyond
>their competence. If you train your people they'll only leave.
>
>The only way out of that cycle is to train in-house,
>and treat people so well that they stay.

Which implies that hassling them if they don't work 70-hour weeks is
counterproductive. When I was looking for my current job, it took me
a week from starting to search to getting two decent offers; so I know
there's demand for people who can do what I do. In turn, my employers
know it too: which means our relationship is a lot more civilised than
it's been in other places where I worked.

I don't think training is related to leaving; people leave anyway,
all the time. Giving someone training might increase his market value,
but if your company isn't prepared to pay for that, why train him in
the first place?

Roger