The great (tech) resignation
By now most people have directly or indirectly felt the impact of the great resignation. Restaurant, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and just about every type of business has seen firsthand the challenges in attracting and retaining talent.
The industry that has been impacted the most? Tech. In fact, according to an article published by HBR tech resignations increased by more than 4.5% compared to last year with employees ranging from age 30-45 making up the bulk of resignations.
So, the question everyone wants the answer to: Why?
If you had an employee quit your organization to take a better paying role elsewhere, it’s easy to believe that higher compensation is the leading cause. While it’s certainly a factor, exploring other metrics such as time between promotions, size of pay increases, tenure, performance, and training opportunities can help to identify trends and blind spots within your organization.
My advice:
Don’t Wait to Give Raises: If your company is stuck only promoting during mid or annual reviews, with 3-5% increases you’re probably feeling and will continue to feel the negative effects of attrition. Pay your top employees what they’re worth now. Don’t wait for mid or annual year reviews, tech professionals receive an average of 54 solicitations a week from recruiters vying for 15 minutes of their time to discuss new and exciting opportunities with innovative organizations. Connect with industry experts to understand current market compensation levels and address them as soon as possible.
Prioritize Employee Engagement: Recognize the contributions of your team members publicly and often. focus on building a culture that supports and allows for a healthy work-life balance. The last 12 months have been challenging for everyone and employee burnout is very real, keep a pulse on the workload of your team and eliminate employee burnout.
Invest in Training and Development: Give your high potential team members the opportunity to grow, lead, and take on more responsibility whenever possible. Give them complex problems to solve and exposure to interact with senior-level leadership. More often than not, a change in title without an adjusted set of responsibilities and exposure results in dissatisfied and disengaged employees. Creating opportunities for them to take on new challenges and further develop new skills is an investment that could yield tenfold for your organization.
Navigating the competitive tech employment landscape is certainly no easy feat with 9 out of 10 clients surveyed stating they find it difficult filling critical openings. With a greater emphasis on retention, I believe you’ll be empowered to attract top talent, reduce turnover costs, and ultimately build a more engaged and effective workforce.
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