What a thought provoking second paragraph about management proactivity in the area of employee satisfaction. We've all read stories of some companies who claim that their employees are their most valuable asset. I'm not sure if I believe them.

It has been my experience that management is just too swamped running a business to take the time for regular reviews. I'm talking small to medium sized business here. Annual reviews in large corporations are a joke. I was once reviewed by a manager that spent a grand total of two hours with me in the previous year. We worked different sites.

But more to the point of your comment - I guess it's just good business to offer a sweeter deal when you know an employee has accepted another offer. In my case, the boss is very competitive. He complained that I hadn't given him a chance to bid on the deal. I formally resigned without talking to him first. He was out of town.

When he got back into town, he had his secretary call me in (a power play?). We never talked money. The deal wasn't about money. It was about commuting. I think that more companies are wising up to the fact that employees can remain productive even if they are not always onsite. This works especially well with sales positions.

I would venture to guess that there are many contract programmers and developers who work from the home office, but I may be wrong. I have friends who do software implementation that work out of a different office every month. Of course that is all billable time. Managing tech support for a small business from a remote office may be a new thing. So far it seems to be working well.