Does High Salary In Tech Matter If You Can Get Laid Off Any Time?

Many organizations think money is the only incentive that employees value. But evidence-based research suggests that employment security is powerful in increasing commitment and performance.

Modern technology companies are known for high salaries, yummy snacks, and beautiful offices. Despite this, according to DevSkiller, these companies still have high turnover. This may be due to the perceived lack of an incentive that evidence-based research (EBR) suggests is powerful in increasing commitment and performance, and employment security.

Employment security is a notion that if you as an employee do your job well and are “loyal” to an organization, the employer will reward you by letting you keep your job. In order to successfully apply this incentive in your organization, there are a few principles you should keep front of mind. Firstly, convey to your employees that if they perform at a high level, you’ll do your best to give them job security. This works even if you can’t actually guarantee it in a written contract. In addition to holding them accountable for their performance, it’s pivotal you have quality hiring systems. If job security is an incentive and you hire folks who aren’t collaborative or can’t perform, you can end up having all sorts of cascading effects. This type of incentive, according to EBR, works very well in organizations that are customer-focused and results-driven. In those cases where you can’t offer employment security, you can be honest and tell your employees about the future plans to offer this. Even if it’s something as additional training to expand skills or regular networking sessions, it can go a long way to divulge this information. Lastly, keep in mind that, like all incentives, it may not work based on the employee’s own situation.

With the mass layoffs going on at big and public companies, employment security likely will have an increased value to employees in the future. Employers that can guarantee job security with good performance may see that their employees become more loyal, perform even better as an individual, and even go out of their way to help coworkers more.