This startup is six months into an employment experiment — no perks, lower pay, and you're free after two years

pulse

February 10, 2017 12:12 AM

Jolt CEO Roei Deutsch has an interesting experiment on how to keep tech employees -- or rather, how not to.

Jolt CEO Roei Deutsch.

"If we were to renew the employment deal today, what would it look like?" asks Jolt CEO and cofounder Roei Deutsch.

Jolt is a fast-growing San Francisco-based startup that connects Silicon Valley pros with companies around the world for videoconferenced lectures. So if you're a Polish startup and could use an hour of expertise from a Google engineer or a Stanford professor, Jolt has the hookup.

From Deutsch's perspective, modern employment is kind of a raw deal, especially for the mythical millennial tech worker: When they go looking for a job,

The name comes from the fact that, as Deutsch says, "we help you better prepare for your next chapter." He even wrote a free book about it, that you can download here.

After two years, your job is done, no matter what. At that point, you can either leave the company with no hard feelings, or else find a new two-year "mission" at the company. "It doesn't mean I'm firing you, it means 'let's find something new for you to do.'"
There are no Google-esque perks at Jolt whatsoever, and Deutsch cops to the fact that he's paying employees below market rate. Instead, that money gets reinvested into what he calls "employee success." You come in with a list of things that you want to learn, and Jolt invests "tremendous resources" and assigns you a manager to help you get there.

As an example,

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