About this time of year everyone I know working for a large company is discussing the plans that were approved for 2010.  Generally following on that is a reiteration of the goals, mission statements and guiding principals for the company.  Generally in that list at some point is that keeping good staff is essential to the businesses survival.  I have participated in more survey’s, polls, group sessions and direct interviews about how to keep the good people than I care to count and yet people still miss the simple things consistently.  What a lot of companies forget is that money isn’t the only motivator.  I have seen more than a few places where people were willing to take smaller salaries because the work environment was just that good. Being happy with your job and what you do is very important to most of the people I know.  Over at the softwarebyrob.com blog Rob, a little over 3 years ago now, distilled what every employer should know about managing their staff into 9 simple things that managers can do for developers.  It’s amazing how well these simple things hold up over time.  In my opinion,as a Senior Administrator, I can tell you that his rules also apply to us and everyone else in IT.  None of them require an employer to spend any hard dollars.  All of them should be in your companies goals and mission statements if you want to keep as many people as possible.  The one he left out is accountability.  It’s a simple concept also but one that more and more companies I interact with seem to be loosing.  The excuses abound for why it’s OK for people to miss dates, drop the ball, and generally ignore the needs of their team mates and essentially the company.  Lack of accountablity destroys moral and reduces the value of the team as a whole.

Which of these 10 is the most motivating for you?  Which of these not being held to hurts the worst?  Let us know in the comments.