10y
Regarding cons:
All engineering staff, besides those who had joined recently received raises in January (which I'm assuming this former employee wasn't around to receive). Most, if not all, Engineering staff were pleased with their raises.
Sales/marketing bonus comment is completely erroneous.
CEO absolutely values engineering, just as he does sales and marketing and support and IT! He is extremely fair.
The few people who decided to move on certainly affected schedules, just as one would expect, however the turnover is well within industry norms in a location like Waterloo where there is high demand for talented developers and many good companies. And clearly their threat to quit didn't result in them getting a raise and staying, as previously proffered.
Regarding Advice:
This year, we are adding four new developers and a QA specialist to the team above and beyond replacing the few who left. This is a significant investment.
Rewards are in place to the extent that budgets allow of course.