1. Stop overpaying employees. Jobs now have inflated value because most companies assume that everyone they employ or hire is above average, which is a mathematical impossibility.
2. Stop poaching staff from other companies, which disrupts many companies and poisons worker attitudes. The “me, first” culture encourages too many job changes and companies are now codependent enablers. This contributes to pay inflation, spoiled workers and disrupts the efficiency of the entire region. This has become a leading reason for the decline of total employment and health in the area as practical companies are increasingly forced to go offshore to build stable organizations.
3. Look for cooperative alliances and associations among small companies. Too many of the big companies are vying to change and control value chains and to become powerful monopolies. This could jeopardize entire software industries, but developers can have collective power if they get their viewpoints organized.
[Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of guest editorials we are running as part of the launch of Xconomy San Francisco. It was based on a question we are posing to technology leaders: “What three things can San Francisco and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and VCs do to foster a more stable environment for innovation in IT, life sciences, and energy, and become less wedded to cycles of boom and bust?”]
