5 innovative ways to retain quality talent

By Lakshmi Mittra, SVP and Head – Clover Academy

The post-pandemic world has been a tough one for technology companies in terms of managing their talent. While the demand side had seen an unprecedented surge with new-age digital requirements, the supply side has seen disruption with skilled human capital being chased with new and exciting opportunities across the IT products and services landscape.

In such times, trying to attract and retain talent is critical. In discussions around the topic, a common consensus that arises is that the talent is leaving because of the higher salaries or offers elsewhere. However, a deeper analysis of the reasons throws a few surprises. Some of the reasons that arise are: -

1. I am seeking opportunities to work in new-age technologies such as Cloud, Artificial intelligence (AI) etc.

2. I want to transition into the business side and want to take on the role of a business analyst

3. I want to work on projects that are driven using the agile methodology.

4. I want to be trained in project management, or I want to become a scrum master etc.

So, the first step would be to stop assuming that all resignations and exits are due to monetary reasons. Once that is done, organizations and their teams can objectively look at the issue and find better ways to address it. Here’s a list of steps that might help: -

* Skilling in new-age technologies- One of the key things that employees, especially at the junior and mid-level, are seeking is opportunities to upskill themselves in areas such as Cloud, Data Analytics, Business Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Agile methodologies, DevOps, Intelligent Automation etc. It is very encouraging to see that many employees have expressed interest in continuing with the organization if they get the requisite up-skilling and training.

* Empowering them with diversity of exposure – Some of the employees may not want to work in a specific technology area. If they are given an opportunity to work on different project in the technology area of their liking, the chances of them continuing with the same organization is much higher.

* Enabling them to realize their career aspirations – Sometimes, the employee may want to change the monotony and that could be the sole reason for him/ her looking out. An avenue for them to express interest on working in a different role can do the trick for the organization. For example: - If an employee wants to become a Business Analyst or move on from a database administrator role to that of a cybersecurity expert, then ensuring that such employee can be retained and given a new role is very much in the control of an organization. Controlling attrition in such cases is then just about the willingness to accommodate such a request.

* Exposure to a new domain – Many employees would like to gain exposure to a new domain such as banking, insurance etc. and specialize in the same. If such an inclination can be discovered when the manager/ human resources team has a talk with the employee, attrition due to such reasons can be completely avoided.

* Proximity from the place of work – In critical projects, there are times when employees must stretch beyond work hours. The added pressure of having to spend unnecessary time commuting can be a cause of stress. Employees may want to seek opportunities which are closer to where they are located. If organizations have multiple delivery centers within the city or clients that are closer to the residence of employees, they can plan the allocation of the human capital to projects/ engagements much better and address the above concern.

Believing that attrition is always due to monetary reasons will pronounce the death knell for an organization’s retention efforts. It might be a great practice to spend time having an interaction with the employee who wishes to exit and take him through the above points. You may be astonished with the number of employees that would express interest to be retained once you drive your retention efforts using the above techniques.