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How to Attract and Retain Talented Tech Employees

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(Today we’re sharing a guest post from our friends over at Career Karma. Attracting and retaining talented employees is the name of the game for any business, but especially in the rapidly-changing technology sector. To help you compete and stay ahead of the competition, here are three ideas you can implement to help you hold onto your most talented employees.)

The American workforce is going through a period of disruption, the likes of which have never been seen before. Advancing technology was always going to merge with the workforce, that much was clear. However, the recent Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this change via the widespread integration of remote work at companies. Rather than first getting their feet wet with technology, many companies were forced to take the plunge.

Not surprisingly, traditional jobs have begun to decline more than they already were, as more and more companies see the importance of tech jobs. Online business is the way of the future, and securing tech employees who can propel your company above the competition should be the number one priority of any human resources division. The question, however, revolves around where to find this talent and how to attract them to your company. Fortunately, both aspects of that question have prominent solutions.

Source From Different Educational Backgrounds

Far too often, companies focus solely on going to universities and colleges around the country in an attempt to hire recent graduates who have no experience. However, one of the best ways to attract top tech talent is to show that you are willing to source employees from different educational backgrounds.

An alternative to the traditional four-year path, that has been rising in popularity, is attending an intensive trade school that prepares students for specific fields. In fact, CNBC discussed how the premium that comes with a college degree is declining while trade school attendees are able to become skilled workers and already have some industry experience.

Popular options such as General Assemblyoffer multiple courses in pressing tech fields such as web development and engineering immersion. An added benefit of attracting potential employees from trade schools is that they graduate far quicker than their college counterparts. When it comes to finding talented tech employees, the specialized training received from trade schools makes this a great option.

Offer Jobs With a Wider Variability of Tasks

In the past, employees with traditional jobs typically had one daily task that they excelled in. Tech students and employees are different than these traditional workers, though, and provide more freedom and variability in their work. Harvard Business Review discusses how employees of today want to feel as if they are performing meaningful work.

To that end, offering numerous tech jobs at your company can attract new types of tech talent. One such dynamic tech field is data science which is growing at an exponential rate. The day-to-day tasks of a job such as this change daily and can provide a great source of dynamic work to any talented employee.

As a company, numerous tech jobs need to be offered to employees to keep them interested in applying to your company. The best way to stay up to date on this is by modernizing your company and ensuring you are adapting to the times as they change.

Competitive Benefits

When it comes to actually retaining your employees, it is incredibly important to offer competitive benefits. Keep in mind that the different generations of your employees will require different things to retain them. Millennials typically prefer benefits that are structured to give them more freedom and paid time off.

Consistently offer feedback options amongst your employees and ensure that none of the criticisms that arise line up with some of the common reasons for leaving a job. This can help you to keep your company as an attractive place to work for tech talent. The most important key to retaining talented tech employees is to understand what they desire and to be knowledgeable about their specific demographics.

In the end, one of the best benefits of a job is undoubtedly the salary. It is also important to make sure that you are offering comparative salaries to your employees and not giving them less than they are owed.

When it comes to attracting and retaining talented tech employees, it’s important to think outside the box. The workforce is changing and so are the employees who make it up. Benefits and perks that attracted workers from past years are no longer relevant. Millennials and Gen Z are the future of the workforce and benefits that appeal to them do not appeal to older employees. Understanding the demographic of your company and where you are hiring your employees is important to take the steps needed to retain your talented workforce.

Employee Development in the Virtual Workplace Matters Now More Than Ever

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Employee development really matters. It always has. But now look at this: we’re all working remotely, interacting virtually, and dealing with uncertainty, stress, and anxiety surrounding the pandemic. It’s never been more important to invest in employee development, especially for the younger generations, Millennials and Gen Zs. They want to matter in the workplace and want a career plan. We all did. How do we know all this? Easy, we just asked them! They’re human beings, too.

In Deloitte’s recent Global Millennial Survey, they found that 41% of Millennials and 43% of Gen Zs expressed concern over their longer-term financial future. Similarly, 40% of Millennials and 46% of Gen Zs worried about their job or career prospects. From start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, in diving deeper, they discovered that respondents felt less confident that they possessed all of the skills and knowledge necessary for future success.

Guess what employers – you have to be the guide! As an employer, it’s your job to make sure your people get what they need from your organization. And organizations that provide that support outperform their counterparts. It does not just happen and how you do training and mentoring matters. Good news, while the Deloitte survey found that companies are doing a better job of this (with 65% of Millennials and 68% of Gen Zs saying their employers are providing enough support in this area) we need to be doing more to win. Investing in your people is one of the key ways to make sure your organization not only survives this pandemic but thrives in the world that comes after.

At launchbox, here is how we help. We know each client is different and they need customized products and solutions to reach their goals. Increase your employee development offerings in the months ahead with these 3 simple ways to give your people what they need and want to achieve success:

 

Virtual Workshops

In this disconnected world, help your team pull together to solve the disconnect because we can’t afford for our people to be anything other than highly engaged in the workplace. We need them to bring their best selves to work every day. Offer a transformative system that will help your team find, build, and share connection. Then empower them through simple and unique tools and strategies to own their growth and get to that next level.

 

On-Demand Training

We’ve worked with thousands of young Millennials and Gen Zs and if there’s one thing we know about them, it’s this: they want things on their own terms. And that includes access to employee development training. MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE. Try a system for coaching and mentoring that is sustainable over time. We use virtual training systems that employees can access anywhere on-demand called Hooga, however, just make sure they can access people when they need help. Help your people figure out how to work from the inside out, to discover who they are, and the value they have to contribute to the world. Then show them how to use their learnings about their own Strengths & Story to connect with others and build better relationships. Ask us how you can try Hooga for free today!

 

Individual One-on-One Coaching

For the employee, manager, or executive who desires to take their development to the next level, we believe in direct individual or group high-performance coaching that is tailored to the needs of the individual. Make sure you place an emphasis on creating a connection to self first, so they can then build the tools to win with others. Through one-on-one coaching you will help them discover, develop, and articulate their own impact: we call it Strengths & Story. Once you help them become self-reliant and create the work competency of knowing who they are, you can believe they will better connect to coworkers, team, boss, clients, etc. to deliver value and create greater impact for them and you.

 

The world as we knew it has changed. It’s time for us to step up and invest in developing next-generation leaders within our own organizations. We are here to help! If you’re not sure how to start, click here to reach out and book a free call with us.

4 Reasons Why You Need to Care About Creating the Worker of the Future Right Now

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The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only constant in life is change.” While I’m no philosopher, he certainly got that right! Just compare our world now to Heraclitus’s time. Hell, a lot has changed since I entered the workforce – and I’m no dinosaur!

So if we know the world is constantly changing and will continue to change, why do we keep putting things off for the future? Why do we keep telling ourselves that when the workplace of the future finally “arrives” we’ll just figure out how to adapt? Why are we not prioritizing developing our employees, our companies, and ourselves NOW so that we can make sure we WIN in the future?

As we’ve been talking about the worker of the future, you might have thought to yourself, “Okay Dan, I hear you, but why I should care about this right now? What’s so different about this moment in time that I should drop everything and shift my focus to worrying about a future that’s not even here yet?”

For starters, you don’t need to worry about the future if you’ve done the work to prepare for it. It’s only those who haven’t put in the time that need to worry! But to answer that question, to discuss why it’s so important that we care about creating the worker of the future right now, we have to look at a few things that are true about this moment in time:

Key Industries Are Being Disrupted

My wife is a Realtor and a damn good one at that. But whether real estate agents will eventually go the way of travel agents and she’ll be out of a job is up for debate.

“It’s a people industry,” they argue. “Nobody wants to buy a house from a computer.”

Well most people never imagined we’d push a button to have a perfect stranger come pick us up at our house and look where we are now.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Where there’s a need, or where we can create a need, there’s opportunity. Every industry has its own pockets of opportunity that could lead to significant disruption and choosing to ignore this fact is the equivalent of burying your head in the sand and pretending like it isn’t happening.

Every industry that hasn’t already been disrupted is ripe for future disruption. And the industries that have already changed will continue to do so. Speaking of Uber, I recently learned that in response to companies like Bird and Lime offering alternative, on-demand transportation options, Uber has also gotten into the scooter-sharing game. It acquired Jump Bikes in April 2018 to the tune of $200 million. Because even the disruptors can become disrupted!

We’re More Connected Than Ever Before

A 2015 study by Bank of America found that 71% of smartphone owners sleep with their phones either on their nightstand, in their bed, or in their hand. That figure is likely even higher now! The fact is, for the majority of us the phone screen is the last thing we see at night and the first thing we see in the morning.

And do you know what’s on those phone screens? Apps. Facebook. Instagram. Gmail. What’s App. Slack. All these things that allow us to be connected to others 24/7/365. This connectivity has not only dramatically changed our personal relationships, it’s changed the way we work.

Walk into an office six or seven years ago and it wasn’t unusual to find that most companies had a policy about their employees having their cellphones on their desks. Now? Bosses are sending their employees Instagram DMs and expecting them to respond if they’re on the clock. Or not on the clock because the lines between where our workday begins and ends have become incredibly blurred.

Used to be that every business had the same forty-hour workweek to get things done in. But now that we are all connected at the push of a button, it is always game ON.

The Speed of Life and the Speed at Which Things Change Has Increased

You’ve probably heard this old riddle before:

“There is a pond with lily pads in it. Every day the amount of lily pads in the pond doubles. If on the 30thday, the pond is completely full, on which day was it half full?”

The answer? The 29thday.

Just like those lily pads, the rate of change has been growing exponentially for hundreds of years and we are now at that 29thday! Earlier I mentioned how much had things had change since the time of the ancient Greeks. Now think about this: the first personal computer arrived in 1975, the Internet in 1991. Now we carry an Internet-connected computer around in our back pocket and use it to share cat videos with our friends on Facebook. How’s that for rapid change?

This culture of disruption and the increased connectivity between each and every one of us means that the speed at which things change will only increase. If you can’t keep up and your competitors can, you will lose. Period.

Trust is More Important Than Ever

It only takes one tweet with a screenshot of a supposedly private conversation to go viral and ignite a PR firestorm for your company. If we do not do right by our customers and convince them at every opportunity (and I mean every opportunity) that they can trust us, we open ourselves up to enormous amounts of risk. Your customers have a choice about who they buy from and who they work with. Companies do not have the power anymore. Consumers have all the power.

But it’s also not just about the customer. Employees want to work for companies that are real with them. And if you don’t deliver, they will find another company who can. It’s that simple. So you better pay attention and give them what they want because employees matter. Yes, you need the customer to buy from you, but it’s the employee that handles the customer and delivers the experience that gets the customer to come back and tell all their friends.

So now do you agree that it’s time we shift our focus to attracting, creating, and retaining the worker of the future? Because if you don’t, then whatever you’re prioritizing instead isn’t going to matter in five or ten years. Your company will struggle and probably get crushed by the competition who figured this out and made it a priority.

 

Need help? Sign up for your free coaching call and let’s figure out how to help you and your team win!