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“I had to be nice to you in 1999,” said the CIO in a low, ominous voice in his monthly all-hands meeting. “I had Y2K to worry about. And I had to be nice to you again in 2000,” he continued, his voice rising in pitch and amplitude just a bit, “because we were dealing with an IT labor shortage and the alternative was to give you all raises, which would have hurt my budget and cut into my bonus.”

“But now!” he barked. “Now the gloves are off! I’m not going to ask your opinion about anything! All interesting work is going off-shore unless you accept pay cuts! WEEKENDS ARE CANCELED! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Okay, this never really happened. At least, if it did I don’t know where or by whom. But in the Even Newer Economy that’s replaced the late lamented New Economy, some IT organizations certainly have become meaner as well as leaner.

Three years ago we were seeing articles chock full of techniques for retaining IT staff without busting your budget — how to make the workplace friendlier, more informal, more rewarding and so on. Where are those articles now?

In the archives gathering dust, that’s where. We don’t need that stuff right now, because with few exceptions, even very good IT professionals can’t buy a job.

Here’s the problem. In the end there are only two techniques to retain and motivate excellent IT professionals: Pay them so much they can’t afford to leave, or be the kind of person they really, really want to work for. Of the two, the second has many more benefits and far lower costs. And if, for you, all that stuff about creating great work environments is just a tactic to be adopted when necessary and dropped when inconvenient, just who do you think you’ll fool?

Fools, that’s who — not desirable employees.

Right now, retaining staff is easy. Motivating them still requires effort, but in this economy just about everyone is working with a healthy dose of fear that they could be out on the streets, so believe me, they’re motivated, too. Why bother creating a great work environment?

The simple answer is, why not? It costs you very little, and it buys you smart work as well as hard work. Even better, it buys you one thing even a bad economy can’t:

Loyalty from your employees when the economy eventually does improve.

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|In: Leadership|Last Updated:

ATHENS, GREECE — The Parthenon stands on the fields of the Acropolis overlooking this ancient, modern city. Built some 2,500 years ago during the height of Athens’ power and influence, its age and commanding architectural grace and sophistication inspire a sense of awe that requires presence, not mere description. It stood more or less intact until 1687 when a Venetian artillery shell exploded the Turkish ammunition dump stored in its heart, which should give you a healthy dose of respect for its builders.

We can only wonder whether our best structures will last even a fraction of that time to inspire awe among our own successors. The ancient Athenians, lacking our finely tuned understanding of economics, built the Parthenon as well as they could, not merely as well as they could cost-justify.

We in IT work in more ephemeral materials than marble, but even our own modest efforts persist far longer than we expect, or even prefer. Our own legacies … systems … outlast at least the employment of their builders, stubbornly resisting attempts to replace them.

Why are they so hard to replace? They are, after all, just software, aren’t they? Well, no, they aren’t. They, along with such items as factories, warehouses, and the knowledge and experience of non-transient employees, form an organization’s infrastructure — the basic foundational framework on which an organization is built. It’s an overused term these days, but one whose meaning is worth preserving.

Infrastructure, we’re told, is strategic, but it’s deeper than strategy. A company’s infrastructure is its soul if you think in such metaphysical terms. If you’re more hard-nosed, it defines both enablers and constraints — a company can change strategies more easily than infrastructure, but the each company’s infrastructure predisposes it to some strategies while creating severe constraints that inhibit others.

Yeah, yeah, buddy, but how does this affect me today? Deeply and subtly, that’s how. Take stock of your existing infrastructure, what it enables and what it inhibits. It’s part of what a CIO or CTO brings to discussions of company strategy. More, when you’re planning new major systems or system replacements, drive the discussion beyond specific process requirements to explore which future strategies it will enable and inhibit.

It’s fashionable to talk about the compression of business cycles these days, but companies that are in business for the long haul understand that underneath all the nimbleness of rapid change must be an underlying stability.

Let the Parthenon be your inspiration.

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