Our HR was run by the Corporate General Counsel. It was pretty much as bad as you can get.
Also, we were paid "competitive" wages (read: below-market).
I was the manager for 25 years (I should mention that the engineer with the most seniority had 27 years -we started together), and I feel I did a pretty good job. Considering they did not "jump ship," I guess something went right, eh?
Nowadays, it seems that people "manage by fad," as opposed to managing humans. It's kind of heartbreaking, really.
Just assume that we were all idiots, and go back to your happy place.
Did you tell them that “we are all family here”?
For me personally, if the money is enough for me to make a comfortable life with my family, other things at work become important. I could never spend most of my days with assholes or do idiotic work even if the pay was way above market value, for instance. I'd also trade money for more free-time, if possible.
And yes, the company I work at does feel like a family. But nobody had to tell me this. It just does so, naturally.
I sincerely wish you the best.
When they finally rolled up our team, after 27 years, the person with the least seniority had ten years.
It's entirely possible to keep folks for long periods of time, but it requires some pretty serious management chops, and those skills are not exactly encouraged, in today's world; in any field -not just software development.
I worked for a Japanese company. The Japanese wouldn't even acknowledge my employees until they'd been around for a year. Having the same people on hand, year after year, was pretty much required, as our projects always took the long view.
I can't even imagine having an environment where engineers are expected to quit every year and a half.