Staff retention: how to keep 'em down on the farm?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Ross Squire is <<... participating in a panel discussion on designing
effective strategies for retaining technical writing and training staff.  I
am interested in your comments on improving staff retention or any effective
strategies that you have implemented.>>

Can't speak for the field as a whole, but I can tell you what keeps me in my
current job even though I could significantly increase my salary elsewhere:
My managers and my colleagues respect me both as a person and as a
professional, and by and large go out of their way to get out of my way and
let me do my work. They ask for and pay attention to my opinions on the work
we're doing, and even when they disagree, they overrule my suggestions based
on logic, not whim. Recognizing that they can't pay me what I could earn
elsewhere, they're willing to discuss flexible work arrangements: I can work
off site, as needed, provided that my presence isn't actually required at
work (I primarily edit, so I need to be available for questions and
interaction) and let them know well in advance. Deadlines are real, but
reasonable, and mandatory overtime is rare. External resources can be hired
if necessary. They also go out of their way to create an open, fun workplace
(no gunfights in the halls with water pistols or Nerf guns, but a very
active social committee that arranges picknicks, sports events, and so on).
Lastly, they provide lots of opportunities for training, and a broad
diversity of work to keep me challenged (e.g., I was hired as an editor, but
now I also do translation, software documentation, and about a dozen other
things having to do with words and information design).

Not a worker's paradise, but about as good as you get.

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"When ideas fail, words come in very handy."--Goethe