Dependent on stock options for a big piece of their pay, they're demanding to know intimate details of a company's financial health. This new shrewdness is no small thing. Because Silicon Valley companies rely intensely on their engineering staffs, the ability to compare pay packages quickly has the same effect on the job market that a comparative shopping service has on Internet prices. It forces companies to be more competitive. And as employees bet on the future, or cut their losses by changing jobs, it may speed up the life and death of their employers.
Stock options can cement loyalty.
But a prolonged slump in the stock price, or a faltering in the financing, can invite disastrous turnover. None of this is lost on new employees at start-ups, particularly at a time when headhunters are doing brisk business. The Association of Executive Search Consultants in New York reported last week that executive searches booked during the first quarter of 1999 were up by 28 percent from the previous quarter and up 7 percent from the year before. Consider the case of this Silicon Valley marketing executive, who agreed to discuss his job search on condition of anonymity. The executive now holds a senior job at an Internet software start-up on the Peninsula.