As the world continues to adjust to the new reality of remote work, it’s important to consider how to retain tech talent in this ever-changing environment. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of the best practices for keeping your tech team engaged and motivated, even when they’re working from home.
Sourcing is only one aspect of the puzzle, along with it, retaining tech talent in the remote world is a hard challenge as well.
According to the Harris Allied 2014 Tech Hiring and Retention Survey, discovering and hiring top tech talent is the hiring manager’s #1 priority, followed by retaining talent. You see, now is the time when retention ought to be high on the list of priorities. And, for recruiters and talent acquisition (TA) groups. The reason is, the remarkable productivity a business gets from tech talent even in highly complex situations.
With teams working remotely, employee expectations seem to be progressively changing. While there are still many unknowns around how to retain employees while working from home. Companies have learned a lot about the procedures and tools they need to succeed as the work-life evolves.
In addition, firms must provide the flexibility and autonomy that individuals are increasingly seeking, in order to attract and retain great talent.
Effective Ways to Retain Tech Talent
As more firms rely on remote teams to raise productivity, corporations must focus on employee satisfaction and engagement.
Do you want to know what it takes to keep crucial team members/tech talents from jumping ship as soon as a better opportunity knocks on their door?
Here are a few practical strategies to assist hiring teams to stay ahead of the competition and retain the talent they work so hard to attract and hire.
Favour experience more than college degrees
Rejecting people who do not meet traditional education requirements is one of the simplest ways for a business to miss out on talent.
Technical expertise is difficult to come by, and if recruiters insist on following the rules, individuals who would be a good fit for the firm will probably be overlooked.
Many developers nowadays are self-taught. Candidates can readily obtain university-level courses and training through platforms such as Coursera and Udemy without enrolling at a university.
According to the 2018 Global Developer Hiring Landscape report from Stack Overflow, nearly 90% of developers have learned a new language outside of their official education.
Furthermore, major corporations such as Google, IBM, and Apple no longer require applicants to have a four-year degree. In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently stated that almost half of Apple’s US staff last year was made up of workers who did not hold a four-year degree.
To that aim, recruiters must begin to overcome their bias towards self-taught candidates and applicants without degrees from recognized universities.
Tell them about your strong company culture
Candidates are more likely to stay and be engaged with a firm if their own beliefs align with their employers.
As a result, it’s critical to be transparent and convey those principles early in the recruiting process. In order to minimize employee dissatisfaction, misunderstanding, and disengagement— all of which contribute to poor retention.
You can also highlight the company’s achievements and growth, and the message will be passed on to the candidates. This method also helps in creating an engaged workforce.
Recruiters and other employees must now think strategically about how to retain their workers more than ever before as organizations compete for talent in this tight economy. Few initiatives are as powerful as a strong business culture, which acts as a truly unifying force.
Prioritise benefits over compensation
Money is a powerful motivator. However, it’s necessary to remember that salary isn’t everything when it comes to maintaining the technical talent you actually want.
Stability, job security, and high pay used to be at the top of the list of requests for job searchers. Today, skilled tech professionals already earn high salaries. So, other benefits such as flexible working arrangements, school loan repayment aid, and professional/career growth. These are some things many candidates consider while making a career decision.
With teams working remotely, it is imperative to be prepared and think ahead of time. Many top-tier organizations already have distinct and appealing benefits packages in place.
This gives you a competitive advantage. Failure to do so could have irreversible consequences for your recruiting and retention efforts.
Build relationships in higher education
Building links with the proper universities can provide access to the next wave of super-talented graduates. You can begin by offering internships or training programs.
If IT companies can offer internships or short-term contracts, it is a good method to test the value of possible employees before making long-term decisions.
These programs can train and develop incoming graduates before further commitment and can be obtained by linking with university careers fairs.
Note: A basic way to construct a campus recruitment team would be to select young team members to appear “relatable” to young students. Certainly, relatability is essential.
Introduce advancements and opportunities
Naturally, no one likes to experience limitations in their work lives.
Technical talent can be prevented from leaving for better opportunities by outlining clear possibilities for advancement. Make a career ladders document that lists the fundamental requirements at each level of management and engineering positions.
Making clear to employees what they might anticipate in the future is crucial. People are far more likely to stay on the road if they know where it’s heading, after all, it’s just human nature.
Lastly, make an effort to incorporate as many learning opportunities as you can. Inform the candidates that your company is interested in investing time and resources to support their knowledge development.
Organize internal lectures, encourage them to write and talk, and provide them with chances to work on other projects.
Final Words
Even though there are more employees than job openings, some sectors of the labor market are in high demand. This is especially true in cyber-security and information technology.
That is why rethinking how you hire and attract employees is critical: if you can’t anticipate the future, you need to be prepared for whatever it holds.
While a growing tech firm does not require huge funds to retain tech talent, it does need to create an appealing culture, and an engaged workforce, and promote a partnership to become a front-runner.
If you’d like to learn more about how CodeQuotient can assist you in finding, hiring, and retaining tech talent, please contact us by clicking here.
