This is specifically difficult for us: being a specialized software development agency (~20 people), we have a very strong compentition and our employees are tempted continously with new offers.
What we do is, first of all, we have a well defined engineering tiers level, each with skill requirements an associated public salary (no salary negotiations and everyone knows how much is doing everyone else).
Then, we hold regular office hours with our employees at least once a year to give feedback about them and receive feedback about us (the company). In these meetings we listen to what they want to do and towards which engineering tiers they want to move, and we help them by giving oportunities to develop and prof themselves. This is specifically important to avoid furstrations.
In any case, what matters is to keep communication fluid and give oportunities to allow them stand up. People feel more comfortable when they have someone on their side and percieve their growth as a benefit for everyone (and not only as an exclusive win for them, and obviously, without any type of competition among co-workers).
Something that helped us a lot to create the right expectations is to have a company handbook, where we explain in detail the core values of the company and how we organize ourselves. If anyone is curious, feel free to check it out here: https://mobilejazz.com/company-handbook-pdf (no email required).
What we do is, first of all, we have a well defined engineering tiers level, each with skill requirements an associated public salary (no salary negotiations and everyone knows how much is doing everyone else).
Then, we hold regular office hours with our employees at least once a year to give feedback about them and receive feedback about us (the company). In these meetings we listen to what they want to do and towards which engineering tiers they want to move, and we help them by giving oportunities to develop and prof themselves. This is specifically important to avoid furstrations.
In any case, what matters is to keep communication fluid and give oportunities to allow them stand up. People feel more comfortable when they have someone on their side and percieve their growth as a benefit for everyone (and not only as an exclusive win for them, and obviously, without any type of competition among co-workers).
Something that helped us a lot to create the right expectations is to have a company handbook, where we explain in detail the core values of the company and how we organize ourselves. If anyone is curious, feel free to check it out here: https://mobilejazz.com/company-handbook-pdf (no email required).