RE: a question about "atmospheric" benefits

["Lydia Wong" <lydiaw -at- fpoint -dot- com>]

Anonymous asked about "atmospheric" benefits vs. salary in regard to keeping
talent at his or her company.

Several responses have indicated what most of us know: if your salaries are
not competitive, you won't be able to hire or keep people. As most also
pointed out, many of the benefits Anonymous listed are almost standard in
the industry. In fact, just glancing through many job postings shows you
that those are almost minimal, and stock options, extra vacation, and other
goodies (sabbaticals!) are now routinely advertised in job openings.

Respondents also touched on another key issue: the team. Anonymous states
that their company hires people who are fresh out of college and new to the
field, trains them, and then they leave. In terms of the writing team, this
is a major problem. As a writer, I learn and grow from the interactions with
my fellow writers (and the rest of the team, but let's focus on the writers
first). If I am constantly training someone new, and working with other
writers with about my same skill level, I'm missing out on the opportunity
to have a mentor and to learn from another's experience. I highly value the
opportunity to work with other excellent and experienced writers, and I
would make that a priority in my job decision.

Also, the total team is very important. Your company's management might
treat writers like part of the technical team, but if the developers/SMEs
don't share that attitude, you aren't part of the team. The respect and
trust of my coworkers is very important to me. Without it, I would not have
spent the last six years at this company, regardless of the salary. Life's
too short to work with people who don't respect your talents.

Basically, like most other respondents, Anonymous, I think you're up a creek
if you can't get your salaries in line with the average for your area. But
remember to bring up the benefits of establishing and maintaining a team of
writers.

My two cents!

Lydia
__________________
Lydia Wong
Technical Writer
FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
www.fpoint.com



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