Well, hypothetical speaking, if there were two completely absolutely identical jobs, but the one had a ping pong table. I might choose the one without and ask them to get a Foosball table, since I'm no good at ping pong.
Most places that have HR like this work their employees too hard for them to have time to use a ping pong table anyway, so it's really just a hollow gesture.
Ping pong tables are loud as fuck and disrupt the whole office. If they invest in a soundproof room to put it in, sure. Otherwise it just makes you feel like a massive douche.
My last job had a pingpong table. We'd even use it occasionally. That is, until people started getting pissy when they'd see us playing pingpong. Then management started bitching that we were playing pingpong instead of working. Eventually, nobody was allowed to use the pingpong table - it just sat there, in the middle of the room, with brand new paddles and packs of balls that we weren't allowed to use.
The money was okay - not great, but not terrible. After some management fuckery, I left for a $10000/yr raise and 100% work from home. I've gone up $20K since then, been promoted to senior, still have upward trajectory, and still work 100% from home. I have a desk in Memphis somewhere, but I've never actually seen it.
It’s always about autonomy, one way or another. People want to be able to control how they work and what they can get out of it. For some that does mean more money, for some it would mean less stress, for others it could means less meetings.
It’s pretty easy for management to address all of it by just giving people more power over what their work lives are like, but that could mean less control over their workforce. No “owner” wants that, to them, they own their employees’ time/work life.
My employer really covered their bases. We have ping-pong, pool, and foosball. That guarantees that everyone has something that will keep them from quitting.
If I had been well paid and treated well I would not have ever started that job search. Further even just having one of those two thing might have kept me from looking.
At that job I hit the tipping point of both. It’s was getting shittier everyday and the pay wasn’t budging year after year. Finally mid-Covid the power flipped to the employee and jobs were much easier to get. I started looking and jumped shipped.
Eh. Toxic work culture can drive people away regardless of the pay. Obviously some people suck it up but not everyone. Ultimately the goal is to treat employees well all around. Good pay, benefits, and work culture will keep people happy.
As a professional in this field, top reasons would be...
Dissatisfaction with pay
Limited/No career progression
Dissatisfaction with environment/culture
Dissatisfaction with management
Poor work-life balance
Poor job design/expectations of role
Poor taining quality/knowledge management
Inadequate tools/systems
Edit: I should also point out we have about half a dozen ping-pong tables scattered around my work and our turnover figures were bang on average for annual benchmarking against the sector. I consider the average too high, though, and will be targeting better retention over this year. We'll need at least double the amount of ping-pong tables.
Very correct. You can solve bad culture by throwing more money at the problem. Preferably all at once with zero maintenance budget or governance so that the amenities in question can become non-functional monuments to your superior culture. Future generations will find these and marvel at your ingenuity from the safety of the water cooler.
Strategic Workforce Planning. It's a bit different to HR in that there's a lot of data analysis. Typically we would use data to identify retention issues (reasons, areas, seasonality, etc) and figure out how to improve it. We'd then hand that over to HR to implement fuck up.
There’s some new research that shows raising pay is not great for retention. Studies say it’s better to take that money and put it into a long-term benefit line a pension, profit sharing, while life insurance with a cash out value, etc.
There is a bit of truth here. Toxic culture and out of touch management will make people walk as well.
Thing is, there might just be a wad of cash big enough to make me put up with that against my health interests.
Fuck ping pong tables though. No one left a company because they didn't have enough fucking table sports. If you think they are then you are the problem. Exit interview your own fucking arse.
One of the best bosses I ever had once told me that people will stay for the culture but leave for money. His philosophy was to try and ensure that money was not a factor in people's decision, then build as good a culture as he could.
And to be clear, by making money not a factor, I mean he paid well.
I had a meeting years ago with my company's CTO about my salary. He kicked off the meeting by saying "you care a lot more about what you make than I do" which prompted me to ask for 50% more than I had been planning to ask for. He agreed to it without argument. TBF he was a coke addict married to the daughter of the company's owner and within six months he'd been divorced and fired, but I got to keep my salary.
"Man, my job pays horribly and the benefits barely cover anything, but they have a ping-pong table so it's honestly a tough call."
I struggle to understand how someone could seriously write something like that question without a lack of self-awareness so dire that a walk to the kitchen would come with a near-death experience. It just can't be real.
I think the truth is that it assuming it's the latter may not be enough. But the first two are even less likely. Additional responsibilities WITHOUT a raise is very, very unlikely to be what anyone was waiting for to stick around.
The flip side is if you can't be bothered to set aside some money for a ping pong table, as well have the sense to first ask around whether people would rather have foosball, or a proper pizza oven, or whatever the fuck, your company culture probably also sucks. A place for recreation means that you respect recreation and extend enough trust to have employees self-manage their need for it.
...of course, setting up that place only to have it be a hunting ground for micromanagers preying on unsuspecting workers is not what I'm talking about. If noone ever uses those areas, worry.
yeah, the "not necessarily pay is accurate, but the "right" answer being ping-pong table pivots things from "ok, they have some understanding" to "incredibly tone deaf".
Ah but what is enough money for you or I is not enough money for the bigwigs. And since they're obviously more important, as they're at the top, we have to have sure they get enough money even if that means you don't.
But they'll get you a ping pong table so you can stop thinking about how you don't know what you're going to feed your family tonight
others need a bit of distraction like a ping pong table.
That is never the answer. If your business isn't retaining people because the party culture isn't party enough...you've got way bigger problems...and it's probably leadership.
As I get older I begin to realize that people love to work.
However people hate being treated like shit.
Treating people like shit or building an environment that supports shitty behavior poisons the well and will absolutely make people leave, even for a pay cut.
If you just respect people and properly value them and their contributions to your organization, you'll never have trouble keeping them.
I wouldn't say party culture - it is what you make of it! You're normally at work for a significant portion of your day. Something like a table tennis table can help to break up the day and is just a bit of fun. For example, we had a table tennis tournament at work, which people got really into - it was fun and people bonded over it. I'd take that over working somewhere where you don't even know your colleagues.
This was at a tech company where culture was a big part of why almost everyone worked there. Definitely wasn't a party culture, but it was collaborative, where people worked closely together. There was never an expectation to work outside of working hours, or to do anything social - it was purely optional.
Obviously pay is a big factor, but it isn't everything. I'm lucky enough to be in a sector where I can afford to get paid less and have a better work (definitely not party!) culture and work-life balance.
Where do you live, where taking breakes is frowned upon? That's crazy.
Here in Denmark, I'm being reminded to take breakes and go home. I have been asked if I'm sure it's not hurting my work/life balance, before getting overtime approved.
It's also common to stay at work after hours to hang out, if there's a nice place to do that.
I always tell people the easiest way to get a raise is to find a new job. Nobody is keeping up with inflation anymore, it's pretty much required to job hop to break even anymore.
I like my job, but I'd leave for the right position/compensation.
I try to interview once per quarter, at least.
I've started adding some tough questions, like asking how the average annual increases compare with inflation and COLA. Most interviewers turn into a 13 year old telling a girl they have a crush on them -- all of the sudden 0 confidence.
That's when I tell them that for the circumstance, my compensation ask is going to be quite high.
I also tell local employers that my "in office" ask is literally 5x pay. They always balk and say somethi g like "yeah that's not gonna happen," to which I say "Tell me about it!"
Everyone should interview more. Declining a good offer because you like your situation more feels like doing cocaine.
Especially if you know exactly that your employer most likely has zero loyalty to you either.
If there was a way to get the same work for 20% less, my employer would happily do that.
I never understood that logic, tbh. It can't be good for a business to lose half the staff every few years. Bringing in fresh blood once in a while is good, but you shouldn't need constant transfusions.
A company offered me a million dollars to work for them, but then I remembered the ping pong table at my current employer and said no way. Totally worth it.
I had this argument with a boomer HR consultant and she just doubled down, even though I explained that neither I nor my colleagues, give two hoots about fussball or team building. Our position is a resounding "fuck you pay me" but oh no - boomer knows best.
My then gf now wife moved in with me and my employer wouldn't cover her under the insurance. I made it clear that this was important. They wouldn't back down. So got a new job. During the exit interview I repeated what I told them. It was only about the health insurance. HR tried to get me to talk smack about my manager, a guy I actually liked. I praised him and again told them that this was only about insurance.
Told my manager about what they did on the way out the door.
"Yes, boss, I'm leaving because I'm tired of playing ping-pong on unoccupied morgue tables, you really should've bought a proper ping pong table instead"
Questions like these make me wonder if large capitalists actually live in an alternate universe but through some time and space shenanigans they are still here. There's just no way they can make this type of shit up (assuming it's a real question) without being delusional or sadistic.
There’s just no way they can make this type of shit up (assuming it’s a real question) without being delusional or sadistic.
Of course there is: they want to implement doublethink. It's a deliberate attempt to make workers not to pursue their own rational interest when it conflicts with corporate profits.
They are either people in advantageous positions that benefit from this or people that are stupid enough to think they will one day be the rich benefiters of this so why should they shoot their future self in the foot right? Goes hand in hand with people that are stupid enough to keep voting right because they advocate for the poor so at some point surely something will change.
These people live in the future where automatons make money for them for nothing. It's why uber is pushing for automated cars. They don't care about the present.
When I worked at a soul-crushing insurance job, we were given an event where the bosses served us pancakes. That was right after we were forced to celebrate bosses' day and watch our bosses open gifts that the suck-ups got them. I was able to quit without notice shortly after and it felt so goddamn good.
I've never left a company because of money. I have left because the bullshit they put me through wasn't worth the money. That's not just being funny either. I'm okay with being under-compensated if the environment is positive, managers are friendly and flexible, and it actually feels like our sister teams have similar goals and we're not working against each other.
I agree with this, with a caveat. I'm ok with being underpaid compared to industry standard, to a certain extent. However, I'm not ok with being underpaid compared to other colleagues doing similar work for the same employer.
I agree with this, with a caveat. I'm ok with being underpaid compared to industry standard, to a certain extent. However, I'm not ok with being underpaid compared to other colleagues doing similar work for the same employer.
There are so many systems/programs/policies that promise to do that verry thing that I wonder if their trying to pretend to improve rather than actually doing so. It doesnt work, just be a miserable failure of a cult.
genuine compassion is possable, you just gotta wade through the BS others are trying to sell your employer.
Ping Pong table ? Are they serious ?!? We had a PS5 in the meeting room for ~4 month an no one ever touched it. I don't go to work to have a fun time, I go to do my job, then leave and have a fun somewhere else. More correct answers for retaining employees:
give them tasks they are interested in
give them perspective for developement (promotions, raise, mobility, etc)
value their contributions and support them moraly (you want to know your managers and colleages got your back)
of course more money ! Or alternatively more freetime !
Absolutely correct. I always wonder when I see such reports where HR comes up with their completely stupid notion that work is not about earning money.
Yes! My thoghts exactly! I am an addict to foosball. Anything to enable my adiction is worth it! I have 3 tables at home already (all Mimic free) and am able to play 2 games at the same time. /s
Foosball is a four person game I'll die on that hill. And not even because I suck at defence (as such, I do plenty of that mid-field and forward) but because the game isn't about frantically grabbing handles. So yes air hockey is an excellent addition.
One of my previous jobs had an employee exercise room. Some people used it and management didn't like that so they said we're not allowed to use it during our shift and only after hours. It was a government position so we weren't allowed to be in the building before or after our shift.
These places only use them to advertise to new employees how "friendly" they are.
It is pretty simple. Respect your employees and they will respect you. Respect starts with valuing the employee's contributions by paying them a fair wage. It continues with treating them well. A way of treating them well might be a point ping table, but that comes on top of a fair wage, not instead of.
A good manager might recognise a hard working team needs a way to relax and gets a pool table or something. The employees are happy and tell their friends they've got a pool table at work, everyone is jealous. It seems like the pool table is the reason but it is just a symptom of them being generally treated well.
I wonder if this is how this whole trend started: some decent manager recognized their hard working well-paid and taken care of team deserved some extra something, got them a pool table or whatnot, then other shittier companies copied this thinking it was a solution in itself without understanding why the thing was installed in the first place
Unless of course your job is to be a ping pong ball tester, in which case you may not be getting supported with the necessary tools to perform your job successfully.
It could be technically correct (the best kind of correct). An employee could leave because they weren't getting paid for all the extra responsibilities they were forced to take on. I've seen it often enough in the "tales from" subreddits (/r/talesfromretail, /r/talesfromtechsupport).
This reminds me of the Simpson episode where they are negotiating a new contract. It’s the same as the old one expect the they replace the dental plan with a keg of beer.
How many of these companies think employees are going to say it's about the money during an exit interview? Usually if you agree to an exit interview it's to be diplomatic and not burn your bridges. You're not going to tell the truth, you're going to say what they want to hear.
I was abundantly clear that I was leaving for the money. They countered with a salary that was pretty much identical, but I wasn't shy about telling hr that it shouldn't take me getting another offer to convince them that I was worth paying market rates for.
No bridges burned, they've reached out twice now to see if I'd come back and the salary is now pretty competitive but I'm in a good spot and not interested in leaving.
I always have. If that's the reason, why wouldn't you? It's just business. Once, they've offered me a potentential promotion or salary increase to try to retain me (but not nearly as much as I got from the new job). I doubled my salary and got my title promoted twice in 2 years by switching employers twice. If I keep it up I'll be a CEO in no-time, lol.
perfectly maps to startups selling working at a startup as "we're a family", "you're a googler", etc. give them a ping pong table and free beer on fridays and you can pay considerably less.
Of course, nobody with two brain cells to rub together who reads that answer is sitting there thinking to themselves, "Huh... I guess I've had it wrong all this time, focusing so much on money." Rather, they're instinctively blurting out, "Yeah right -- I call bull!"
But I'll give them partial credit; frequently it's about money. Sometimes, it's just about a work environment that used to be great going to crap. And sometimes, it's about the employee coming to an epiphany, and realizing that their work environment was actually crap all along.
That said, it may be true that not every job that I've ditched was entirely because of money... but it should go without saying that it's always a factor in where I went for the next job. Also, it's never the only factor -- but it's certainly one of the more significant ones.
"Usually, in our narrow and sad description of what an employee wants, it's not money. Clearly it's more related to the lack of ping-pong tables and extra responsibilities." 🤡
These people have absolutely forgotten what it means to be an employee.
I started out with millions of dollars and look at me now. I've pulled myself by my boots straps I have. Read my book, it's it's called "How To Get Rich And Be A Pretentious Dipshit". It is self-published and available on my website. At me on LinkedIn
I actually convinced my boss to get us a ping pong table, all I had to do was forego my pay for a year!
Totally worth, since I'm not working for the money, I'm working for the culture (our culture is now a ping pong table). It's so awesome that I can use it during my state-mandated breaks 🙂
Definitely not. I've seen these type of questions and answers on practically any job application in America. Thing is, this isn't even the worst example of it, unfortunately. It's fucking depressing and degrading.
Wtf are you talking about? Employees work office jobs 9 to 5 because they love to work. Like all good employee's. Heck, if they weren't getting paid they'd still the work for free because they love it so much. It's only out of the pure goodness of my heart that I decide to pay them minimum wage/s
In fact all three are valid answers. Cruel manipulation as it is, additional even uncompesated responsibilities often do drive retention as people are invested too deep and too stressed out to consider switching or find time for the process.
This is the reason why but never the reason I give. If I make employers think at any time that I focus too much on the money, they will see me as a troublemaker. Instead, I come up with some bullshit excuse such as medical reasons and the smart employers will work it out on their own.
You think that way because they've taught you to think that way. Instead, you should be very plain about your pay expectations. If someone starts getting on your case for being "pay motivated" or some other horseshit HR wageyganda idea, here's what you say.
"I hear what you're saying, and certainly the main drivers in my career goals are broadening my skillset and achieving excellence. However, my life and family goals operate in a capitalist society reliant on me growing my compensation year over year. If this job is unprepared to meet my life goals, then let's be explicit about that so I can reevaluate my plan for my household and decide whether this position is a fit."
I think this way because it's how many of my employers think. I would love to have a job where I could be this honest and it's something I'm working on but most employers think this way and so too does my current employer. Even so, this is the highest paying job I've had so far. It's easy for you to say that behind a keyboard not knowing my situation, it's much harder for me to have a frank conversation with my manager in a deep red state. I've been fired before and rejected during the interview process for being too honest.
Hey, wanted to level-set with you real quick. Some people in the office have commented that they see you playing ping pong quite a bit. I know you’re just playing on your breaks but It’s really not a good look.
Was "A ping pong table and enough free time in my schedule to actually use it for half an hour on a quiet day without the area manager coming in and demanding that we get back to work" too long?
Ill stay at an average paying job with a great culture, over a shitty culture and more money. But only to a point.
I think the issue most companies don't realize is that we are forcing many people under a living wage, and at that point being paid better is the only thing that counts.
Was “A ping pong table and enough free time in my schedule to actually use it for half an hour on a quiet day without the area manager coming in and demanding that we get back to work” too long?
About 5 years ago our department manager bought us a barbecue for our warehouse.
It is still in it's plastic wrapping. We have never had the time to get together as a group and use it.
My experience there is that someone has to spearhead the initiative to use it. Show management that its a positive thing and if they dont jump on board, shove it back into the corner and say "we tried".
We had one at a place I used to work at and we had a $5 friday lunch. We all worked a few extra minutes into lunchtime to cover the hour that one guy spent cooking. The only real "sacrifice" that had to be made was someone had to go grab the supplies on thrsday afternoon. In the end the bosses gave the "chef" paid time to shoot off, get the supplies and cook. They also agreed to cover the gas for the bbq.
Doesnt sound like much but $5 for a can of coke and a couple of cheesesteak sandwiches, some spicy sausage sandwiches, bacon and egg rolls... friday lunch was always a good time.
I think that's a stance that make different amounts of sense at different compensation levels.
You make $50k and someone offers a $75k salary? Then you'll likely risk the culture. If you make $150k and facing a $200k offer? The bird in the hand might be seen as good enough, though you may angle for a counter offer.
In my experience, they're thinking 20-30 cents per hour. And yah, that's never enough to change someone's mind. 20-30% that could make a difference, but it's way too much for them to ever concider.
Oh yeah, fun fact, in my former and current job every year we get invited to a town halls with some executive and every year we hear the complaints that we can't keep employees.
Every year I ask the same question, "We keep hearing that we have a attrition problem so why do we keep chasing the industry standard for pay and benefits, why can't we adjust our pay scale and promotion process to actual reward performance to actually keep our high performers?"
Every year, is a non-answer, nothing changes, we lose good people and only keep our industry standard people.
Though it was funny that since I'm on multiple projects/teams I did get the same speil multiple times from the same person and the third time in two years I got called I didn't even have to ask before I got the boiler plate.
That's stupid. Wouldn't the smarter thing to do be to buy the ping pong table and Dock everyone's pay because of it? That ping pong table cost the company a fortune. And no, those bite marks on the leg of pool table aren't from my dog/s
If definitely seen shit like this on menial job applications in the past. Typically as pary of a "personality test" that tries to root out commies. USA obv
It'd such a bad feedback loop. Employees don't always feel safe being honest at exit interviews, so they say what they think HR wants to hear and HR just takes it as fact. Then they build training like this based off what Former employees felt safe telling HR and the cycle continues.
The ping ping table at least lasts longer than a pizza party, but it's no more significant. When retiring, nobody wishes they ate more pizza or played more ping pong at work. They wish they had been able to grow and make more money so they'd be better taken care of.
Here's a pingpong table. If you are fit enough to play after a 10h shift, knock yourself out. Except that the office closes when you finished your work so, no, it's just decoration.
I thought this was chatgpt for a second because I didn't want to believe anyone but ai could be this tone deaf. then I remembered humans and got depressed
I actually dislike it when companies do this because it makes them feel like they've got this "oh look at us aren't we cool and hip, we're basically Google, stay after hours and don't get paid" vibe.
I mean nothing against them in general, but if they are in an office you need to ask is it really just a small perk or is it next to 50 bean bags for in office living.
Their evil, the ones corporations buy, are often bought cheap second hand. The longer it sits in the junk yard, the more chance a Mimic has found its new shell. /s
It's especially morbid when the CAPITALISTS try to get you to "care about our totally noble mission, not what you get paid."
The irony being that the mission is always to make the capitalist owners more money as the only priority. You, on the other hand, should just see making them money as its own reward, you lucky little capital battery.
It's like being scolded about the intrinsic value of human life... by Jeffrey Dahmer.
If a company is paying competitive wages then when an employee quits it isn't because of pay.
If a company is paying low wages it will probably be because of the pay that a person quits, because there is nothing to keep them putting up with the bs that EVERY COMPANY HAS.
So... this is pretty stupid, a raise in pay certainly might help.
However, from the perspective of a career spent managing teams, often organizations with hundreds of employees, if you think your people are all solely motivated by compensation, you're going to do a very poor job as a manager.
Everyone wants more money, but that's not all they want -- and there are plenty of people who quit high paying jobs that treated them poorly or gave them no opportunity to grow.
Think about appropriate compensation as necessary, but often not sufficient -- and think about the best boss you ever had. They probably did more than just pay you fairly, that's the bare minimum.
I've seen reference to research showing pretty much what you're saying: Inadequate pay gives dissatisfied employees, but raising pay above a certain level only gives very short term increase in employee satisfaction. The conclusion was that pay has to be high enough that people feel fairly compensated, but further increasing it has little to no long-term effect.
Seriously. Another comment pointed out there's "not enough money" and "enough money" for wages. Depending on which side you're on money may not be the reason someone quits. My previous job paid me enough, but the business partner was so dangerously incompetent, reckless, agressive, and unwilling to do their own job that I quit out of frustration. I made it very clear to my boss' boss that it wasn't about money, and I wasn't going to tell them what my new compensation was. It isn't his business. My issue was the business partner. Within a few months a few other people quit working there too for the same reason.
Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but between more money and a ping pong table, which do you think most people would choose? If they wanted to imply a more casual/fun/less-stress environment, they should have said that, but implying a ping pong table would motivate people to stay is like thinking dangling your keys in front of a baby to stop its crying will keep it happy forever. At least a pay raise is helpful to me.
Exactly. "Pay people enough, " is table stakes. It's good business strategy and it's a basic moral duty. "Grossly over pay people, " is probably not good business strategy; even if you do, it isn't going to make up for being a shitty place to work
This is why we need a huge general strike. It's going to take this getting a lot worse before must people would consider joining though. It's a trap and it's tough to get out of. Capitalism is a train wreck.
Employee retention has been a huge part of my job for over a decade. In the professional world, employees rarely leave over money.
It's generally about opportunities to do new things/grow in their career (which is distinctly different from compensation), a culture problem (which compensation will not fix), or an engagement problem (poor leadership)
I'm sure your anecdotal experience clearly changes how the science of studying human behavior works.
That's why COVID boosters were so pointless - your cousins brother's friend got sick from the booster so obviously they're full of metals that solidify in your circulatory system.
The only way I can see what he mean making sense is that he's talking about the people making more than low 6 figures. I can totally see someone making 300k a year not leaving because of money but because they wanna do something new.
I've left a dozen or so jobs over my entire life. One because the job was eliminated, five or six because school was starting/ending, one because the manager was a prick, and the rest exclusively because I was offered more money.
I never thought that CEOs might plant a seed that a "cultural change and approach in HR" and falsified stats papers would be the new meta to keep payroll low.
"Capitalism indoctrination" doesn't make any sense in this context. Capitalism in this context would be that raising the pay of an employee is investing in your business to retain good producers of the products you sell for profit. Competitive pay rates are a weapon in the capitalist war for profits.
Capitalism doesn't require rational behavior; all it requires is a system that allows some people to make passive income by exploiting other people, based on the idea of private property. CEOs, for example, don't care about what's good for the business; they care about extracting as much value from the business and the workers as they can get away with before moving on to the next victim.
Just because you follow overlapping communities doesn't mean everybody else does. As long as the post follows the community policies, there's no problem with posting the same content to multiple appropriately-themed communities.
Bruh. I only posted it one community which I was advised to do so by others. The others are other people sharing this in other communities. There's nothing wrong with sharing posts, in fact it can help people find other communities they might like.
Hey I want a raise as much as the next guy but to be honest the title is kinda wrong. Capitalism has existed since the start when humans started trading each other, so you can't really be indoctrinated like you can with communism.