Overview

We’re in the middle of one of the biggest talent crises in recent history. The Great Resignation is no longer a new phenomenon and 40% of employees in the global workforce are considering quitting their jobs, according to a recent McKinsey survey. Add to that the fact that talent shortages worldwide are at a 16-year high.

But how can businesses attract and retain top IT talent in this unprecedented situation? By investing in employee career development and prioritizing employee retention. Employees want to feel valued and see the potential to grow in their careers. Additionally, fostering a supportive and inclusive company culture that promotes employee recognition is essential to creating a work environment that offers development opportunities.

Let’s explore the top three ways to grow and retain tech talent in 2022.

1. Invest in continuous skilling

Although most companies look externally when they need new skills and capabilities, developing them from within has enormous benefits.

By investing in strategic upskilling and reskilling initiatives, you may find the IT talent you need within the organization. It allows employees to enhance their existing skill sets and acquire new ones, making them more valuable assets to the organization.

With a strong focus on employee development, you can also retain leading tech talent by providing them with growth opportunities and a path for advancement. And these efforts pay off – saving you the substantial time and money it takes to hire and onboard new employees.

To thrive in today’s highly competitive landscape, companies should continuously develop and challenge their employees. In fact, 93% of CEOs say that introducing upskilling programs increased productivity and improved talent acquisition and tech talent retention within their companies.

Skilling in action 

Tek’s remarkable talent is a key component of our success. That’s why we invest heavily in skilling and upskilling our people who can learn from the best in the tech industry. This has enabled us to rapidly scale our operations, expand into new markets, and employ more than 6000 people worldwide.

We collaborate with our sister company elev8 to provide continuous training to our employees and help them advance in their careers. They participate in comprehensive, personalized skilling programs that equip them with the right power and technical skills (including AI, data science, cloud computing, and others) to set them up for success and enhance their professional development.

2. Create personalized learning and career journeys 

The data is clear: workers want to learn and grow in their careers. With the majority of employees saying they are eager to acquire new skills or completely retrain, organizations that support personalized learning and professional development are more attractive to job seekers.

But how can you develop your teams in an impactful way? Businesses need to create learning opportunities and career journeys that cater to their employees’ unique needs, fostering a sense of belonging and promoting employee retention. Here are three steps you can take to achieve this:

1. Know your people – Get a complete view of the skills breakdown within your organization and uncover who is right for the project or role. This will help drive value for the business and improve employee retention.

2. Grow your people – Create individual learning paths that match the needs of your employees with the needs of the organization. It’s important to understand your staff’s career aspirations and help them progress to a new role and make an even bigger impact. This approach can also contribute to reducing employee turnover.

3. Retain your people – Want to retain your best talent? Take a proactive approach to career growth and provide clear learning and career paths. Managers can encourage employees to gain new skills and implement the right IT talent and skilling programs. This will help them achieve their professional goals and increase employee retention.

Investing in career growth 

We take a proactive approach to career growth, providing personalized learning and career journeys for our employees. To do this, we use the competency and skills management platform Talentwize by our sister company elev8, which helps us gain full visibility of how people are progressing.

Our managers identify skills gaps and address them via targeted learning and skilling initiatives provided by elev8. Tek’s people are encouraged to seize new opportunities, get out of their comfort zones, and learn new skills every day. The result? Employees are constantly growing in their careers and eager to deliver exceptional service and support to our clients, leading to improved employee retention.

3. Build a strong performance management system  

What is performance management and why does it matter? Performance management can be defined as the process of improving performance by setting individual and team goals that are aligned with your strategic business goals.

Building an effective performance management system increases trust and fosters dialogue between employees and the leadership team. Recent research suggests that 92% of organizations are now prioritizing employee experience improvements to meet the talent crisis, up from 52% pre-pandemic.

Performance management can have the following advantages for your organization: 

• Improved employee satisfaction – Delivering transparent feedback and recognizing your employees’ efforts can boost their morale and motivation. 
• Ability to identify training needs – Frequent performance reviews can help to understand your employees’ skillset and address skills gaps through personalized training. This will offer development opportunities and aid in retaining your top tech talent.
• Defined career paths – Regular performance reviews can help create clearly defined and personalized career paths. Setting clear goals and providing a plan of how to achieve them can reduce attrition and increase job satisfaction.  

Empowering employees to learn and grow 

We’ve implemented a strong performance management system that allows us to reward employees’ efforts and help them take the next step in their careers. We have many employees who have joined us fresh from school as entry-level engineers and managed to upskill and grow into technical leads and subject matter experts.  

Other team members have explored different career paths by becoming operations, quality analysts, or people managers, among other roles. It’s our goal to empower our people to “Grow with Tek” and meet their career objectives.   

 “The opportunities for internal growth made me want to develop my career here. For me, it’s important to work for a company that values its team and invests in the people working there.” 

– Georgi Yanev, Technical Support Engineer L2, Tek Experts Bulgaria

The impact of investing in talent for your business

Investing in talent development is more crucial than ever before. By implementing effective approaches to grow and retain tech talent, your business can experience significant positive outcomes. Here are some of the key benefits:

• Mitigating the talent crisis: Investing in employee career development and retention strategies helps attract and retain top IT talent in a competitive landscape.
• Upskilling from within: By investing in upskilling initiatives, you tap into the potential of your existing workforce, saving time and money on hiring and onboarding new talent.
• Boosting productivity and talent acquisition: Upskilling programs increase productivity and improve talent retention, resulting in a more skilled and productive workforce.
• Personalized learning and career journeys: Supporting personalized learning and career development attracts job seekers and fosters a sense of belonging, ultimately reducing turnover.
• Strengthening performance management: An effective performance management system enhances trust, boosts employee satisfaction, identifies training needs, and establishes clear career paths.

Build the workforce of the future, today 

Want to thrive amidst the talent crisis? The most reliable way to do so is to invest in your employees’ digital skills and professional development. From building a strong performance management system through creating personalized career journeys and investing in skilling initiatives, you can continue to develop your teams and grow your business. These tech talent strategies build loyalty, drive satisfaction, and retain top-performing employees.

Want to know more ways to address digital skills gaps and survive the global tech talent crunch? Discover the key components of our tech talent solutions framework to better source, skill, grow, and scale your technical talent, today. Download our eBook to learn more.