How to Retain Top Talent in IT : 5 Employee Retention Strategies

We all want to retain top expertise but it’s no secret that the technology industry is booming. With new advancements in hardware and software happening every day, businesses are scrambling to find and retain top talent who can help them stay competitive. This has led to high demand for talented workers. Many companies are finding it difficult to retain top talent and fill the necessary positions. 

As a recruitment agency with over two decades of experience, we know a thing or two about retention. To help you deal with turnover, we’ve put together five retention strategies that can help employers keep their best staff.

Improve worker compensation

The first strategy is to give your employees a tangible reason to stay. The technology industry often boasts much higher salaries than other industries. This is not surprising, as IT professionals have a specialised skillset that’s in very high demand. Put simply, there are more IT jobs than IT professionals available at any given moment.

Offering higher salaries and other benefits is a good first step towards keeping the workers you sorely need. In addition, many IT professionals have families and children, so it’s important to provide them with benefits that will help them take care of their loved ones. Good benefits can include health insurance, child care assistance, extra paid time off, flexible work hours, etc.

Give your employees a stake in the company

This ties in with the previous point of giving your staff a tangible reason to stay. If your company is experiencing success, why shouldn’t your employees reap some benefits as well?

They are the driving force behind success; offering them stock options means you’re giving them the opportunity to capitalise on a percentage of the wealth that is generated. 

This won’t only increase the odds of them sticking around, it will also make them feel accountable for future growth and give them a greater sense of participation. Your workers will feel more connected to the business, and since their stake is greater, their investment in your success increases.

Create a positive work environment

The next strategy is to create a positive environment. IT specialists often work long hours, so it’s a good idea to make sure they feel appreciated and valued. One way to do this is by offering perks that make their lives easier.

Some examples of perks that you can offer are flexible hours, the ability to work from home, free food and drinks, gym memberships, transportation assistance, and many others. By offering these types of perks, important work will get done, and your staff will be more likely to stick around.

One, often overlooked, aspect of a positive work environment is genuinely listening to feedback and following through with concerns they may raise. A trust-based two-way relationship will ensure the individuals feel valued, and people who feel valued are more likely to stick around. So, conduct regular checkups and really take in the feedback you get. You can do this either via surveys or through one-on-one conversations.

Encourage development and upward mobility

Another way to keep your top talent is to encourage their professional development. Many IT professionals want to learn new skills and stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in technology. 

You can encourage this by offering training opportunities and reimbursement for taking courses. Internal mentorship programs are a good way to give your staff the opportunity to present their work at company events or conferences. By investing in their professional development, you’re showing them that you value their skills and want to help them grow in their careers.

Keep in mind that most people won’t want to remain at entry-level IT jobs forever. Sooner or later, they’ll want to move up to other positions, so your business needs to have a clear plan and allow qualified people to move up in the company. Instead of posting adverts for IT manager jobs and IT technician jobs as soon as you need one, check if any of your existing employees want to move up. They’ll probably be able to handle themselves better than a fresh hire without any knowledge of company culture.

Don’t ignore exit interviews

The final strategy is to really go deep with exit interviews. When an employee leaves, it’s important to find out why they’re leaving. This gives you an opportunity to find out if anything went wrong and what you can do to minimise turnover. Did they feel ignored or passed up for a promotion? Was the workplace too stressful?

However, it’s not enough to just conduct exit interviews. You also need to actually listen to what your employees are saying and make changes based on their feedback. If you don’t, then you’re likely to see the same turnover issues crop up again and again.

Retain Top Talent Final thoughts

Employee retention is a critical issue in IT, and it’s one that should be given attention by all businesses. It’s not easy to engage in multifaceted relationships with all employees, but it’s well worth it. However, replacing them is even harder and more expensive. 

While there are plenty of people looking for jobs in IT, employers are facing stiff competition when it comes to talented professionals. Investing time and effort into figuring out what staff members need to stay motivated and engaged will allow you to keep them for longer, leading to mutually beneficial relationships that will help everyone prosper. A strong retention strategy will lead to a happier, more productive workforce that can inspire and elevate the whole business.

 

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