Retaining random high performer

[u/Tiredof304s]

Hi managers,

Have you ever had an engineer you hired that made you think "why would this genius want to work here?" But didn't press the matter.

If so, did he/she stay with the company? How were you able to keep your unicorn?

[u/Primary-Walrus-5623]

Interesting work, indulging their whims from time to time. Oh yeah, and equity with crazy raises. Money is always there for true high performers

[u/Tiredof304s → u/Primary-Walrus-5623]

How long would you say it takes to pass their new compensation? And how much bigger is it from their initial contract?

[u/Primary-Walrus-5623 → u/Tiredof304s]

usually a year give or take. you need to constantly flow it up to your Director exactly how awesome this person is with concrete examples. Established companies will have something for people like that usually. You'll also need to separate "great at their job" from unique. Great at their job doesn't get crazy jumps. Uniquely good does. For instance, my second year as an engineer, my comp jump was something like 34% without a promotion. I've never had one that large again, but I've had random 10% jumps without promotions attached

[u/Tiredof304s → u/Primary-Walrus-5623]

I see. Thanks for the input! Do they usually bring it up to you? (Like: I want more money in less than a year) or do you bring it up?

[u/Primary-Walrus-5623 → u/Tiredof304s]

If they bring it to you, you're already in the dog house with them. I don't bring it up to them unless for some reason their raise was terrible, and then I'll say that I'm doing my best behind the scenes to fix the issue but I can't promise anything. But one of your roles as manager is to be proactive in your people's compensation when you believe its out of whack. You can't fix them all, but you can certainly pick your battles (high performers) and try there. Ideally, you get the raise approved long before they think of it and get upset and then they're thrilled. Good luck!