How do you ensure they stick around? Training has a high cost that isn't worth it if the people jump ship 2 or 3 years later as is the norm in this industry.
Well, it's a reason as good as any other to start paying good salaries AND good raises, instead of just the former. And don't skim on the benefits.
As a general rule, treat your employees fairly (which includes updating their salaries up to market value, as often as needed) and, lo and behold, they will stay. There is a lot of talk about changing jobs because of a lack of challenge, wanting to try new technologies, etc., but 99% of the time, it's about money (and benefits).
Admittedly, this idea might not be very well received by most companies.
I dunno, nobody I know is actually looking to job hop. If you treat people decently, give them raises, train them, why would they have any incentive to leave?
Hiring somebody new costs 15-25% of the raw salary cost for the year. Pay people 10% more instead, no incentive to leave.
Plus however long it takes to ramp them up, could be 6 months on a reasonably complex codebase. And the time of other engineers both in the hiring process and bringing the new engineer up to speed. I’d say the cost of replacing an engineer could be as much as their entire first year’s comp.
Perhaps if you invest in people, they wouldn't do that? I mean people job hop because that is the only way to advance, but what if there was another way? Job hunting, interviewing etc are a royal pain in the backside. If there was a way to have a career without all that everyone would be happier, employers included
People jumping ship 2 or 3 years later is a result of the market correcting itself. There was a point in time when people stayed for 20 years in a company. Why? You could switch, but the pay would be the same.
There is a cultural factor too, many companies seem to have an aversion to promoting from within. It's usually far easier to get promoted by interviewing elsewhere for a higher position than it is to deal with the internal politics of moving up within the same org. But it could be a clear expectation: complete this training, get this experience, move up a rung.
