Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2022. Read them in this 14th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Experiences Will Be More Important Than Salary
By Raj Verma, CEO, SingleStore
One thing the global pandemic taught us is that for most of us in the tech industry, we can do our jobs from anywhere. While there is a lot of comfort in being able to work from home or in your pajamas – physical as well as emotional – something is also missing in that scenario. To create loyalty and connection across a workforce, companies need to do more than throw money at them. What do employees really need? If possible, they need a work environment that they are invited to join, not required, and one that offers more than the convenience of staying at home: a hot lunch, specialty coffees, pleasing spaces to sit back and bounce ideas off of colleagues. When this happens, creativity and innovative thinking build off each other in ways that a Zoom call cannot foster.
According to a recent survey, workplace culture was a top consideration for IT professionals looking for an employer. The survey, conducted by SingleStore, also found that the top five things IT professionals most care about in a potential employer include a strong company culture, an innovative remote work culture, the ability to work remotely, a liberal work culture or CEO, and an emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
If you take this one step further and put yourself in the shoes of an engineer, this person has been in front of screens and keyboards for hours to put out those new features or the next release. Do they need a big cash bonus to reward their work? Instead, how about an all-expense paid extended weekend to a luxury resort? A measure like this encourages time away from work and allows employees to focus on rejuvenation.
We must rethink the workplace, and I predict that we will see a massive change in the next two to three years, from leading with salary packages to leading with experience packages to recruit and retain top talent.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Raj Verma is the CEO of SingleStore. He brings more than 25 years of global experience in enterprise software and operating at scale. Raj was instrumental in the growth of TIBCO software to over $1 billion in revenue, serving as CMO, EVP Global Sales, and COO. He was also formerly COO at Apttus Software and Hortonworks. Raj earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from BMS College of Engineering in Bangalore, India.
