Compensation & Benefits

How to manage the ego of a rockstar developer

A rockstar developer was exhibiting negative behavior in the team, such as not listening to other team members and being aggressive when defending his point of view. After investigating the root cause of his behavior, it was discovered that he felt unappreciated and needed to show everyone that he was the smartest person in the room. The manager took action by having a difficult conversation with him, praising him publicly and privately, and pushing for a reevaluation of his compensation. This simple solution was highly effective in fixing the problem.

Strategies You can Use to Convince Your Leadership about Promotion and Salary Upgrades

The author faced two challenges in their company: managing eighteen direct reports and working for founders who were not open to spending for salaries. To resolve these issues, the author conducted weekly one-on-ones with their direct reports, identified two engineers as team leaders, and consulted with a 3rd party HR company to come up with a pay scale structure. The key lesson learned was the importance of educating founders on fair compensation and pursuing this cause even if there was push back.

Hiring Rapidly and Time Efficiently

This article outlines the steps taken to rapidly hire engineers while maintaining quality. The author front-loaded the design, coordination, and preparation of the hiring funnel, set up hiring teams, and treated the hiring process as a product. Three metrics were used to measure success: percentage of hires from referrals, time taken to make a decision, and face-to-face interviews to hire ratio. The author also reduced the interviewing process to four hours and in one session. Lessons learned include the importance of treating the hiring process as a product, not letting quality fall to the wayside, and understanding that every hiring process is unique.

Turning a team around

When taking over a team of 60 engineers, the VP of Engineering noticed a lack of motivation and excellence. After observing interactions and having one-on-one conversations, it was determined that external factors such as a lack of purpose, goals, and challenges were causing the problem. To address this, modern tools were implemented, hiring practices were strengthened, job bands and compensation ranges were established, teams were reorganized, and the strongest people were put into influential positions. As a result, motivation and efficiency increased, and the team was better differentiated. Lessons learned include building relationships, ensuring a sense of purpose, challenging the team, and maximizing talent.

Overcoming Hiring Constraints

This company faced the challenge of not finding potential candidates fit for positions available within their company when expanding. To overcome hiring constraints and meet their goals, they devoted their time to researching different target locations, conducted surveys, and created a cross-functional team. They also hired local recruiters and invested in marketing strategies to target potential talent. Lessons learned include allocating resources to a professional local recruiter, understanding the qualities the company is looking for in prospective employees, and investing in marketing strategies.

Saying ‘Not Right Now’ Instead Of ‘No’ to Pay Raise Requests

A design intern was offered a full-time position, but asked for more money. The company decided to not cave in to the request, but instead laid out a series of goals for the intern to prove himself. After 6 months, the intern had met those goals and was given the pay raise he had asked for. The company also learned that their cutting-edge and fast-paced environment helps them attract and retain junior employees.