Labour shortage is a challenge for every company, especially in the field of IT. But what if you already have good IT talent on board? Holding onto people is at least as important as attracting new profiles.

A competitive salary, flexible working days, opportunities to work from home – these are undoubtedly factors that can help win a candidate over. But if the competition is offering the same or better options, there’s no guarantee that someone will commit to your company for the long term. Because in a sector such as IT, people with expertise and experience are in strong demand.

What’s more, recruiting a new colleague is an expensive and time-consuming process, so you want to avoid having to do it all over again after a few months. That’s why it’s important – from the first interview onwards – to focus on retention. What are the reasons for someone wanting to work for your organisation? The following tips will help you to increase the retention rate in your organisation and ensure that your IT talent doesn’t abandon ship prematurely.

1. Put enough time into onboarding

The onboarding process itself is a vital moment in a new employee’s career at your organisation. Think of it as being like the first level in a computer game: it needs to make a player want to go for the next levels. Make sure your new recruit doesn’t feel lost during his or her early days in a new job, for example by immediately involving the entire team. Ensure there are enough moments for giving feedback too, so that employees have the opportunity to ask questions and raise problems.

Good onboarding is a firm foundation for the rest of the adventure. Without this process, it’s often game over after the first level.

2. Focus on professional development

To make it to the next levels, it’s important to learn new skills. The days when an IT employee could focus on a single field for an entire career are over. Technology is evolving so quickly that continuous learning is essential for a successful career. Unsurprisingly, this means that learning opportunities are a decisive factor for the younger generation when they are considering a job, so this is something you should definitely emphasise during the job interview.

Get senior employees to help with this too. This way, they can use their experience to coach and guide younger colleagues as mentors, which has a positive impact on the motivation and involvement of experienced colleagues that your organisation doesn’t want to lose either.

3. Focus on growth opportunities

Is someone feeling tired of their current level? If so, it’s important to create a new challenge for them quickly. Even if an employee feels that his/her current role has little that’s new to offer, that doesn’t mean that this person has to leave the organisation. It may be possible to progress to another position or team. The advantage of internal mobility is that a colleague’s expertise isn’t lost and you don’t have to start from scratch again.

In any case, keep your finger on the pulse and check that people still feel happy in their job. You can also proactively discuss career options or offer training programmes.

4. Make IT part of your corporate narrative

Your culture is an important reason for someone having chosen your organisation. That’s why it shouldn’t stop at nice words, but be a real culture that people experience every day. In the past, IT was sometimes a little separated from the rest of the organisation in this area. Nowadays, technology is so important that it plays a crucial role in business success. For example, sustainability is a priority in every organisation and IT makes a serious contribution to this – a developer who reduces the company’s footprint by coding sustainably, for instance.

Whatever else you do, remember to give people a pat on the back every now and then and congratulate them on the part they have played in a success story. If you have a positive feedback culture, you increase colleagues’ engagement, which gives them another reason to commit to your company for longer. In other words, a small reward can make someone keen to move up to the next level.

CHRLY takes retention seriously too

Does your HR department lack the time to focus on retention? If that’s the case, it pays to work together with an IT recruitment agency such as CHRLY. Our task doesn’t stop at placing IT talent: we continue to support our consultants afterwards. We check whether they feel happy in their jobs and help them to discover career progression opportunities. The fact that most of our workers stay on board in an organisation or in the world of CHRLY says it all.

Are you looking for IT talent that will strengthen your organisation over the long term? Be sure to check out what CHRLY can do for you.