HOW CAN PROMOTIONS ASSIST WITH TECH STAFF RETENTION?
A decade ago the world went through the greatest financial crisis of modern times. Everyone you spoke to along with the media, was telling us we’d soon be made redundant, and that we were incredibly lucky to even have a job - at a time of mass layoffs and staff cuts [1].
On top of this, only a few years earlier the historic economic ‘dot-com’ bubble had popped [2], resulting in a job market that was saturated with skilled but unemployed programmers and developers. Back then, employers held all the cards and discussions on subjects such as increasing employee engagement and retention were few and far between.
Now in 2018 tech professionals are in high demand, with skill shortages across the technological landscapes and employers doing everything they can to keep top talent within their organisations. This trend is only set to grow, as skills associated with new technologies and niche programming languages become ever-more required.
So what makes a developer decide to quit their job and move on?
Typical reasons include:
‘burning out’ after long hours and high-stress levels,
a want to start their own business,
financial incentives,
idealist pursuits,
a need to travel the world and,
lack of job satisfaction [3]
If we look closer at job satisfaction specifically, it’s clear that this usually relates to one of five scenarios - issues with workload, not feeling important or impactful to the business, lack of interest in their project(s), feelings of becoming obsolete (normally associated with a lack of support with ongoing training), and concerns that they are stagnating in their role.
These situations result in tech professionals that feel devalued and less motivated to do their best work; which not only makes them want to leave but also can have a far-reaching impact across the organisation.
However all of these issues are compatible with a strategic promotional structure, that’s easily available to employees, actively encouraged by senior management and dictates a clear path of progression. Below we discuss issues highlighted, and how promotional actions can increase retention.
Issues with workload
As mentioned, skill shortages are rife across the IT industry. This has often led to tech professionals becoming severely overloaded; asked to do the jobs of 2 or 3 programmers on top of their regular responsibilities and already busy timetable. Understandably this cannot be maintained long-term and eventually, people reach their limits.
If this is happening within your business then it’s time to restructure and re-distribute work across your team(s). Those staff who have become major cogs in the machine should be allowed to work on higher level projects and delegate lesser tasks - potentially even leading to the creation of new teams or departments.
Yes, it will require an investment in people and resources, but this could be much less costly long-term than trying to replace a highly skilled and business-integral staff member. Loss of team cohesion, loss of project knowledge, loss of organisational processes, procedures, source codes, tools etc… are all risks associated with losing a core IT professional from the business.
Not feeling important, impactful or interested
For some people in IT, staying with a company is about more than just monetary gain. Finding meaning and purpose in a role can be the driving force for some developers - making them work harder, be more innovative in projects and engaged with the business.
However, when projects become dull and monotonous, or valuable actions go unrecognised, developers can end-up feeling unimportant and disconnected from the business as a whole. Then what happens? - They leave in search of new challenges and a programming job where their actions have a clear impact.
Being able to recognise the talent and business contributions of others is an important skill of any business leader. It’s also important though, to understand how staff want (and need) to be recognised individually. For example, one person may be motivated by appearing focally within a company's community, another may seek a prestigious title with bragging rights, and another could be looking for a feeling of accomplishment and knowledge that their programming had positive end results.
Celebrating employee successes and offering clear promotion opportunities for people to pursue based on their individual contributions, is vital for increasing retention rates. Doing this encourages a relationship built on respect and a workforce motivated by long-term goals.
Becoming obsolete and stagnating
Technology is forever changing and evolving, at a rate which in recent years, has seemed tremendously fast. This can be a massive draw for people starting or progressing down a developer career path; taking pleasure in the opportunities to learn and work with new systems, languages, and tools. However, it also requires continuous personal growth and learning, which if not up kept, can quickly result in IT professionals becoming out-of-date.
There are two sides to this coin, from a business and personal perspective. Business-wise, are you making your developers work in technical debt? [4]. If your company is still working with decades-old software, or systems that have been patched together over and over, this can make for a very unenjoyable developer work experience. It also means they never get chance to work on the latest updates and will struggle to stay current in the industry.
On the personal side, is your company actively promoting training and personal development? Of course, there is some expectation for a developer to keep themselves up-to-date, but providing ongoing training and ensuring its undertaking benefits everyone. Your employees end up becoming more skilled and expert in their subject, and your business benefits from highly trained, quality staff that are committed to the business.
In conclusion
Training and ongoing learning. Respect and recognition. Loyalty and investment. Clear structure and promotional expectations to pursue. If a business were to correctly implement each of these points, the potential positive impacts on retention could be huge.
It’s important to recognise that developers are increasingly in high demand. Creating a solid internal career path for employees to follow, with set long-term goals, rewards, promotions, will help employees feel committed to the business and be less inclined to move on, increasing retention rates.
If your business is currently looking for new staff due to retention issues speak with Caspian One today. Our executive search services help leading FinTech businesses source vertical-specific technology professionals to fill even the most complex roles.
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