This is a good comment with a lot to unpack, but I want to raise a couple points here.
First, I wonder if firms investing in training could possibly improve turnover, thereby creating a bit of a positive feedback cycle. It doesn't even have to be formal training, either. It could be something as simple as having a weekly journal club, or the equivalent, and encouraging engineers to read at least one research paper a month. [0]
The second aspect, engineers moving jobs just to get raises, seems weird to me from a market efficiency point of view. Interviewing costs companies money -- so much so that it's something they should want to do as little as possible.
Many companies don't keep pace with the open market in terms of raises, which is a primary force driving people to job hop. Are there any studies comparing companies that do at least attempt to keep comp for current employees in line with the open market against those who don't?
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[0]: In my experience, reading research papers thoroughly can be a pretty thought intensive process. In grad school, where I studied math, what I would do is read the abstract, decide if it was interesting, then skim the section headings and statements of theorems to see if I wanted to go further. If I did, and I was searching for a particular widget I needed for a proof, then I would read as much as I needed to read to digest the proofs of the useful theorems. If it was for general interest, then I would read the whole thing. I found that once I got an interesting paper in my hands, fully comprehending what it said could take up to 1 day per page for particularly dense papers.
First, I wonder if firms investing in training could possibly improve turnover, thereby creating a bit of a positive feedback cycle. It doesn't even have to be formal training, either. It could be something as simple as having a weekly journal club, or the equivalent, and encouraging engineers to read at least one research paper a month. [0]
The second aspect, engineers moving jobs just to get raises, seems weird to me from a market efficiency point of view. Interviewing costs companies money -- so much so that it's something they should want to do as little as possible.
Many companies don't keep pace with the open market in terms of raises, which is a primary force driving people to job hop. Are there any studies comparing companies that do at least attempt to keep comp for current employees in line with the open market against those who don't?
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[0]: In my experience, reading research papers thoroughly can be a pretty thought intensive process. In grad school, where I studied math, what I would do is read the abstract, decide if it was interesting, then skim the section headings and statements of theorems to see if I wanted to go further. If I did, and I was searching for a particular widget I needed for a proof, then I would read as much as I needed to read to digest the proofs of the useful theorems. If it was for general interest, then I would read the whole thing. I found that once I got an interesting paper in my hands, fully comprehending what it said could take up to 1 day per page for particularly dense papers.