How to retain a tech talent in highly competitive conditions?
Nowhere is employee turnover higher than in the technology sector. The average employee retention time here is only one year.
Currently IT companies make great efforts to retain young, qualified tech talents, they most often lose to the competition.
Candidates can choose from offers that guarantee them high remuneration and countless benefits.
The greatest asset of any company is its employees. Strong teams succeed, while unorganized teams fail. Therefore,
retaining the best technical talents is more important than hiring them - instead of recruiting, implementing and training,
it is better to focus on solving tasks. In the case of programmers, this is especially important because getting used to
a specific project, its methodologies and specifics is not easy for an outsider.
Given that speed to market often determines the success of technology-based products, solutions and services, retaining
technical experts on your team should be seen as key to your company's future success. Retaining a talented technical
employee is more profitable than finding a replacement.
From the employer's point of view, any loss of an employee who already knows the work environment is extremely
painful - technology companies have one of the longest average employment periods compared to other industries. It is not
known how long they will have to look for a specialist who will be able to replace the departing employee.
Reasons for high turnover in information technology
A competitive environment makes specialists more willing to reach for new opportunities. Even technology giants such as
Facebook, Google and Amazon have problems with outgoing employees. The average length of work in these companies is
around two years.
Currently, in every company employing IT specialists, regardless of its size, the problem of retaining technical
talent is the high demand for employees and constantly increasing salaries in the industry. Due to the acute shortage of
programmers to recruit an experienced candidate and attract him to your company, offers that are intended to tempt
them to change their employer are constantly evolving. A higher salary alone is no longer enough.
LinkedIn's report lists the main reasons why information technology specialists leave their jobs as lack of opportunities for
development and promotion, poor leadership, unfriendly organizational culture, unambitious tasks and uncompetitive
remuneration. An employer whose offer fills these gaps has a chance to retain talent.
How to keep the best tech talents in your company?
To prevent tech talents from leaving the company, employers agree to salary increases and expand benefit packages.
This approach ensures competitiveness only in the short term. Employees in the technology sector most often decide to
change jobs if they know that it will be a good step towards developing their career. Therefore, the winners are those
market players who propose a development path that includes opportunities for learning and retraining, for example by
providing training. Importantly, skill development should be associated with a change in position and an increase in salary.
Promotion is also one of the elements that allows you to remain competitive on the market; without a clearly outlined
career path, it is much more difficult to attract, retain and engage employees.
What is not always paid attention to is the quality of the management staff. Supervisors play a huge role in employee
retention, in every industry. Good leaders are crucial to achieving business goals, they influence the efficiency of the
entire team, including whether an employee will want to stay with the company for a long time or not. In the IT industry,
understanding the specifics of IT specialists' work, good interaction with employees who can freely talk about work-related
problems and look for the best solutions, decision-making - all this undoubtedly affects the retention of technical staff.
Wise leaders also influence the company's culture, which is another factor that may determine the level of employee
turnover. It is worth remembering that everyone wants to feel comfortable in the place where we spend one third of our lives.
If employees do not identify with the company's culture, mission, way of doing things, or feel unappreciated in any
other way, they will likely start looking for opportunities elsewhere. In the IT industry, an important part of work
culture is flexibility, enabling work-life balance and the possibility of working from home.
Currently, most of the sought-after technical talents belong to the millennial generation, for whom it is particularly
important that the employer recognizes the value they bring to the company. They also want to feel that their work matters
and see its effects. Appropriately ambitious tasks translate into their morale and motivation, and taking into account their
initiatives during the project implementation makes them want to be part of the company and are much less willing to
change their employer. Specially if the employee provides them with a competitive salary.