5 Tips to Retain Your Top IT Talent

Late last year, InformationWeek published an article on the IT talent shortage. To get a sense of the scale of the problem, the magazine surveyed the information technology community, asking if IT professionals see a talent shortage in one or more critical business areas.

More than 73 percent of respondents at companies with fewer than 1,000 employees indicated that they’ve had trouble finding the right talent. The problem is even more acute at larger companies: 88 percent reported that they’ve experienced an IT talent shortage.

So how can companies keep the most talented IT professionals on board? Improving employee engagement is the key to keeping the best and brightest at your company – and away from competitors. In this slideshow, Dominique Jones, vice president of human resources at Halogen Software, has identified five tips that can increase motivation and staff loyalty.

Dominique Jones is vice president of human resources at Halogen Software. She has over 15 years experience in the talent management industry in Europe and North America, providing practical insights that help HR positively impact business performance.

Keeping Your Best IT Pros

Click through for five tips organizations can use to help ensure they’re able to keep their best IT staff from leaving for the competition, as identified by Dominique Jones, vice president of human resources at Halogen Software.

Provide Frequent Feedback

Feedback should not be a once a year activity but rather an ongoing process. To effectively manage employee performance, managers should give regular feedback that includes a healthy dose of positive reinforcement. Feedback should focus on the employee’s strengths more than on correcting faults. By spending more time telling employees what they did or do well, managers make it easier to identify and replicate the conditions that support excellence. This helps improve performance, leads to greater development and increases employee engagement.

Link Objectives to Company’s Mission

Establish a clear link between employee objectives and the company’s mission. The best employees focus on making a difference. To encourage staff to go above and beyond while increasing engagement, employers should clearly communicate the company’s vision and help employees understand their role in achieving it. They should align employee goals with organizational objectives for the year ahead, encouraging employees to commit to the company’s goals and helping them understand how their own actions directly contribute to the organization’s success.

Consistently Reward Excellent Performance

The most effective way to improve overall performance is to establish a clear link between individual results and rewards. Make sure your best and brightest employees have the tools, resources and support they need for peak performance. Also consider including top performers in strategic planning initiatives and programs designed to improve organizational competitiveness, so that they know their input is valued.

Emphasize Learning and Dev Opportunities

The one constant in IT is change, and the best employees embrace it, continuously looking for ways to expand their skill set and knowledge and make more contributions to company success. To keep the best and brightest on board, companies should set out a clear career path and provide numerous development opportunities.

Conduct ‘Stay Interviews’

Conduct “stay interviews” to identify motivating factors and satisfaction levels. Exit interviews are useful for uncovering hidden issues that contribute to the exodus of talented staff members. A stay interview is even better – it’s an interview with current employees to identify their concerns and gauge satisfaction. That way, you can make necessary changes before losing your best talent.