- Banned
- #1
QueenVictoria
New Contributor
- Aug 27, 2014
- 33
- 16
I was talking to a friend of mine, another entrepreneur with his own company, and we were discussing payment structure for employees. Anyhow, it's the industry standard to pay an incoming software developer who just graduated $35-45K and then train him, which retains him/her for about 3 years.
First of all, I think that salary is extremely low, and because we have an influx of talent and skilled people, we are beginning to seem like a throwback from Edwardian society in which a large segment of the population lived in poverty.
I can't imagine where in America or in the UK people can survive with that salary. So here is my plan: now bear with me because I haven't discussed this with my business partner yet- but I want to find a way to move away from the startup that just randomly fires people, and sees people as disposable talent who are there working for extremely low pay. I also dislike the kind of society we are turning into- that has no loyalty to the workplace. My father worked for a large corporation in the 80s-90s and he was basically guaranteed a job for life, and that's the way I want to run my company.
When I look back on my own history of working for various companies, I quit because I was doing the work of 3 people but not being compensated accordingly.
So how viable is it financially to retain people for 5 years if you are a start-up and pay each and every employee a starting salary of $250K?
First of all, I am aware of the odds of start-ups succeeding past the 3 year mark, and 90% of start-ups fail and lose funding, but hey, I plan to be that 10% that doesn't fold over.
So this is what I am thinking:
1. Pay each contracted full-time employee, regarding of what function they have, from CEO to graphic designer to senior software developer, a starting salary of $250K + stock options + commission. (Although the founding members will have a larger share of the stock options, and the founders can choose to pay themselves $1/year like the Google founders to avoid taxes )
2. Attracting top talent: Each employee will have a contract for 5 years, and at the end of 5 years, their performance will be reviewed, and they can move onto promotion/ pay upgrade or decide to leave. (This is after an initial 6 month probationary period in which they will be paid according to industry scale and be considered a "contractor". This is to weed out people who are not a fit for the company)
3. Incentives: a free onsite school for 1-6 year olds for employees to utilise- although they have to give permission to allow their children to attend as they will be given an experimental curriculum deviating away from traditional learning) The teachers of the onsite school will all have at least a M.A. degree, preferably PhD in various subjects and be paid the same as other employees. (Yes, one of my plans is to create young geniuses to be trained into working for my company as well )
So what do you think? Obviously there will be some hurdles here, but I'm not a cheap a$$, nor a start-up that thinks their employees are Chinese factory workers.
So give me some arguments pro and con this above system and some seductive arguments why people should invest in this system.
First of all, I think that salary is extremely low, and because we have an influx of talent and skilled people, we are beginning to seem like a throwback from Edwardian society in which a large segment of the population lived in poverty.
I can't imagine where in America or in the UK people can survive with that salary. So here is my plan: now bear with me because I haven't discussed this with my business partner yet- but I want to find a way to move away from the startup that just randomly fires people, and sees people as disposable talent who are there working for extremely low pay. I also dislike the kind of society we are turning into- that has no loyalty to the workplace. My father worked for a large corporation in the 80s-90s and he was basically guaranteed a job for life, and that's the way I want to run my company.
When I look back on my own history of working for various companies, I quit because I was doing the work of 3 people but not being compensated accordingly.
So how viable is it financially to retain people for 5 years if you are a start-up and pay each and every employee a starting salary of $250K?
First of all, I am aware of the odds of start-ups succeeding past the 3 year mark, and 90% of start-ups fail and lose funding, but hey, I plan to be that 10% that doesn't fold over.
So this is what I am thinking:
1. Pay each contracted full-time employee, regarding of what function they have, from CEO to graphic designer to senior software developer, a starting salary of $250K + stock options + commission. (Although the founding members will have a larger share of the stock options, and the founders can choose to pay themselves $1/year like the Google founders to avoid taxes )
2. Attracting top talent: Each employee will have a contract for 5 years, and at the end of 5 years, their performance will be reviewed, and they can move onto promotion/ pay upgrade or decide to leave. (This is after an initial 6 month probationary period in which they will be paid according to industry scale and be considered a "contractor". This is to weed out people who are not a fit for the company)
3. Incentives: a free onsite school for 1-6 year olds for employees to utilise- although they have to give permission to allow their children to attend as they will be given an experimental curriculum deviating away from traditional learning) The teachers of the onsite school will all have at least a M.A. degree, preferably PhD in various subjects and be paid the same as other employees. (Yes, one of my plans is to create young geniuses to be trained into working for my company as well )
So what do you think? Obviously there will be some hurdles here, but I'm not a cheap a$$, nor a start-up that thinks their employees are Chinese factory workers.
So give me some arguments pro and con this above system and some seductive arguments why people should invest in this system.
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