Prevent the brain-drain taking place at your company. Stop employees from leaving you rapidly one after the other. In today's highly competitive IT industry, software companies are competing for top talent in the IT field and are going to extremes to acquire and retain such talent.
If you think you can bind your employees with all sorts of rigid legal chains to keep them from flying away then think again. No matter how legally binding the papers you made them sign are, they will still run away as soon as they find a better opportunity catering for their inntermost and deepest needs. The key to employee retention is to recruit suitable candidates who match your company and then satisfy their needs during their employment.
Start by first figuring out what your IT employees do need. There is no better way of doing this than asking them. Until you do ask them however, keep in mind the following common needs that most IT professionals share:
- Strong desire to learn new technical skills and to constantly improve thier level of technical competency.
- Desire for recognition of their talent and technical savvy and recognition for their creations and their role in the company.
- Desire to work in exciting and engaging projects that stretch their talent to its limit and make use of their full potential and skills.
- Desire to get promoted with time and work and follow a continually advancing career path.
- Desire to get a reasonable salary that is within the lines of the competition.
- Desire their team members to be equally competent and not for a totally unqualified person to be forced onto them.
- Desire their manager to be frank with them and honest about whatever he says.
The above few points are some of the most common needs shared by most IT professionals. Keeping them in mind and working on providing them will foster employee loyality. Forget about trying to keep a low turnover rate without satisfying the above needs. Only incompetent staff would tolerate working at a place that does not satisfy their deepest needs.