There's a reason that the standard equity vesting schedule is four years with a one year cliff. Great people will stick around if they feel that their equity is valuable even if they can get more cash/benefits/perks/responsibility/credit/fame/fortune/whatever elsewhere. If you're not handing out equity, then you need to compete on all those slashies. It's a competitive market and every employee is a free agent.
Of course employers influence job hopping. The impression I get everywhere is that bad employers outnumber good ones by far (too much to be attributed to selection bias). The prevalence of job hoppers is probably more of an indictment of these employers rather than the job seeker.<p>"Good" places to work like the one Suster purports to run can probably afford to filter out a lot of false negatives from job hopping behavior. Fine, whatever. Your loss. But don't expect people to take that advice at face value.<p>You might also claim that good employees should also know better than to steer clear of these bad employers, but these people also have to eat, too.
Classic opposing interests.<p>Employers want employees that will stay for reasons that are anti-capitalist. (because it's cheaper for them)<p>Employees will stay for reasons that are capitalist.<p>The recent bits about interns working for free, deriving the company gain, is right up this alley.
I've done a fair amount of hiring, and I would definitely take a slightly less talented employee that has some staying power over a superstar who won't be around in a year.<p>The product knowledge that walks out the door with a short-term employee is just devastating. Of course, as an employer, we have a responsibility to create an environment conducive to retention (pay well, keep the projects varied and interesting, go easy on the death marches)... but there are certain folks who simply can't stay put no matter how well they're treated. They're just not worth the investment.