It seems as if there is an endless stream of new tech companies sprouting up around the world. Every day we hear of a company that is innovating industries, from rentable scooters to dry cleaning.
Each of these companies needs to hire tech workers to build the apps, properly market, and ensure safety. With so many new openings, it’s no wonder that companies struggle to retain tech talent. Even with free lunches, fancy devices, and immaculate campuses, employees are jumping ship when a desirable opportunity presents itself.
Offering high pay is about as original as a pancake; every company offers desirable salaries to entice new talent. To differentiate your company from other “industry-disrupting” apps, consider offering unique benefits to attract employees that will stick around for more than a year.
Offer Mental Health Benefits
Tech jobs seem to operate at breakneck speeds. Launch dates, internal demands, and keeping up with top competitors create demanding environments the encourage burning the candle at both ends.
These extra hours at work wear down employees; if it is not apparent in their work, it may be affecting their health or relationships. Providing access to mental health services helps remedy these stresses.
It’s no secret that healthy employees, both mentally and physically, perform better. As much as anyone would like to believe they can work for 18 hours a day, our bodies and minds aren’t built to withstand such grueling hours. Therapy, meditation apps, and mental health days are promising ways to encourage employees to take care of their mental health.
It’s no secret that employees are already calling in sick for so-called “mental health days.” Stress in the workplace takes a toll when it creeps into non-working hours.
Countries with the happiest populations work less; it’s not absurd to believe production in these countries would be lower, but their outputs are actually similar to countries with work-all-the-time cultures.
Giving Mobile Developers tools to enhance their self-care practices and letting them know it’s okay not to work might go a long way to increase their tenure.
Allow Personal Projects
Employees have ideas of their own they wish to pursue. Often, personal projects get put off because they are too tired at the end of the day. It may seem counterintuitive to allow pay employees to work on their own projects, but there is evidence that working on different tasks sparks ideas for company projects. Some of 3M’s best products, like the Post-It, came from allowing engineers to work on personal projects.
With tech workers, there is the understandable fear that personal projects could leave your company, with a team of Web Developers founding their own company. Plot twist—your company could be an early investor in the new idea or even add the project to its portfolio. Supporting passion projects will keep ambitious employees under your roof instead of looking for the next challenge.
Create Cross Department Teams
There are people at tech companies in HR and marketing that don’t have tech skills. They might have an interest in building their tech skills. Working in cross-department teams allows workers to network and build relationships with individuals they might not regularly work with. We are often inspired by those we work with; this might be a catalyst for an HR rep to attend a coding bootcamp.
Networking among employees allows for easier collaboration and a sense of belonging. When employees don’t have a connection to their coworkers, they are more likely to jump ship to another company. Having friends at work might seem trivial, but, in fact, it is an excellent indicator of how comfortable an employee feels, thus affecting how long they stay at your company.
Turnover Might Not Be All Bad
When fresh faces come into a new work environment, they bring a whole host of nuanced and differentiated ideas to improve your products. Gaining new employees might show that your work is worthwhile for engineers. As long as you aren’t losing more than you can retain, a bit of turnover might not be awful.
Make sure exit interviews are conducted with fidelity, and let employees know if they are welcomed back. Just because an employee moved on doesn’t mean they are through with your company. There might be other ambitions or outside circumstances affecting their decision. Exit interviews might help your company learn the reasons for departure and allow you to implement employee retention changes.
