SqueakyMuffin
SqueakyMuffin

How to get people to stay at a startup?

Hi Folks,

Want to understand what makes you stay at a startup vs shop around in other companies or leave after 6months- an year?

Please tell things other than initial compensation because you can always find someone paying more. Assume a market standard here.

18mo ago
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SwirlyRaccoon
SwirlyRaccoon
Target18mo

I'm not sure about the size of the startup. But the smaller it is, the more should employees be onboarded to what the organization is trying to do. The environment should be inclusive as well.

If this happens, people would stay, even if the company struggles, and then further turn it into a success.

On a side note, the entire job ecosystem has been damaged. Most of the folks in IT fields (especially new engineers and new PMs) want to 'work' for money only, and hence the hopping.

The passion required got lost somewhere between 2019 - 2020 with the support of all the bhaiyyas and didis 😂

Now it's all about 'cracking the interview' and CTC jump upto 50 LPA from X.

I'm not saying that working for money is bad, but somewhere in between, there should be passion as well.

SqueakyMuffin
SqueakyMuffin

Makes sense, Thanks

On a genuine note tho, do people really think having 3 jobs in their 2 years career is a good thing on resume? Seems like such a red flag to me

ZestyPenguin
ZestyPenguin

Is it? Not like all these startups and other firms with growth-at-all cost taking care of their employees that great. In most places, employees are treated like sh*t and given no flexibility apart from a mediocre salary. You ask for passion? Give them ESOPs (not just in value terms but involve them in decision making and empower them), give them good salaries as much as you can and have a great culture, people will stay. The 3 jobs in 2 years is a red flag? Maybe the red flag could be the firms too that the employee made a mistake to join.

TwirlyUnicorn
TwirlyUnicorn

Give more money. I'm not even kidding. I had joined a series A funded company as a founding engineer just based on esops and a fucking 30k salary. I curse myself everyday for taking that decision because 30k doesn't mean much when the likelihood of your startup failing is astronomically high

SqueakyMuffin
SqueakyMuffin

30K salary is an extreme lol, obviously you should avoid those cases - a huge red flag. But if people are paying 20LPA+, that's not something we can really control, right?

TwirlyUnicorn
TwirlyUnicorn

20lpa for how much yoe?

GroovyMarshmallow
GroovyMarshmallow

Be friends to employees and hire capable people, we grew from 3 people team to 12 people now all stayed. Also pay wayyy above market and these people will stick to you. CA is same, COO is same almost I pay everyone 70LPA+ per year intern is making 16lpa will be hired as full-stack developer in few weeks. People will stick when you respect and pay them as per their skills

SqueakyMuffin
SqueakyMuffin

That's not sustainable at all for a lot of companies to be honest, but I get your perspective of saving the replacement costs.

SqueakyMuffin
SqueakyMuffin

Being friends to employees is a super valid point, Thanks!

PerkyMarshmallow
PerkyMarshmallow

Don't hire assholes. And oftentimes don't be that asshole.

SqueakyMuffin
SqueakyMuffin

Yupp, that's a priority! Thanks

ZippyMochi
ZippyMochi

Equity and ownership in the company. Otherwise it'll just be a salary slip at the end of the day motivating them to work and stay longer.

SqueakyMuffin
SqueakyMuffin

What do you mean by ownership here? Ownsership in work?

ZippyMochi
ZippyMochi

No, ownership in the company itself. Even FAANG companies offer stock ownership as compensation, no reason why early stage startups can't do it either.

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