Software engineer & founder of @RailsBridge and @LivableCode. Currently stirring the pot at @SalesforceUX. She/her. 
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Thinking about your staff as individuals with free will places the locus of control internally, e.g. “we couldn’t offer them what GoogBook did.” That is where you want the responsibility to lay if you’re serious about retention.
And if you’re a business who wants to maximize profits long term, you should be serious about retention. More and more, I suspect that being serious about retention - for everyone - is absolutely required to build diverse teams.
Among many other things, of course. But a culture of disposable employees often means the folks from underrepresented groups leave more quickly and more often.
A couple folks pointed out that Palantir engages in deeply unethical behavior, & so perhaps folks are better off being “stolen” - undoubtedly true. But a crucial point often missed is that lack of diversity is a big part of what _gives rise_ to unethical behavior.
See also: uber, facebook, google, etc. Groupthink & speed at all costs (the latter being the “advantage” of homogeneity) is what allows unethical behavior to take root in your company culture.
This is part of why it’s important to have diversity be a founding principle of your company. You might make money with a homogenous team - you might even ‘change the world,’ as it were - but you’ll be a net negative for society.
Stop trying to ‘change the world.’ Start trying to make it better.
Three “weird tricks” to increase retention: 1. Give people pay rises they didn’t ask for or are more than they are expecting. 2. Promote internally. 3. Especially do the above for unrepresented folk.
2 (and by extension to a lesser extent 1) seem easier much easier at bigger companies. How's it work somewhere smaller where there's just not that many places people can be promoted to?
As a dev grows in a small company they are providing the company with more value. So pay them more. Promote to Senior or Lead. Involve them in sales and marketing and finance and strategy. Turn them into your next CTO.
Wow @sarahmei, I seriously feel like you're in my head every day now. Read my mind once again...https://twitter.com/JordanHawker/status/1082356292239319040 …
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) your “diverse staff” (
