In the wake of the “Great Resignation,” LinkedIn has been buzzing with career update posts and job change notifications. With 60% of tech professionals on the hunt for a new job in the next 12 months, you may be wondering what you can do to retain the talent you have (and maybe even attract some top talent from somewhere else, too).
Key Takeaways
- With 60% of tech professionals actively job hunting in the next 12 months, investing in employee growth and development has become one of the most effective retention strategies companies can prioritize right now.
- Pairing career-pathing conversations with on-demand, self-paced learning resources gives employees ownership over their own development, and virtual or hybrid learning options are often more effective for long-term retention than traditional multi-day off-site training sessions.
- Real-world stretch assignments make skill-building tangible rather than abstract, and opening these opportunities company-wide rather than restricting them to a single department also fosters cross-functional collaboration and breaks down organizational silos.
- Structured rotational training programs push employees out of their comfort zones by exposing them to skills or functional areas outside their usual expertise, benefiting both individual growth and organizational flexibility.
- When internal teams don’t have the bandwidth or specialized expertise to tackle certain IT projects or stretch assignments, partnering with an outside expert can fill that gap without overextending existing staff.
Investing in an employee’s growth and development is a vital part of employee retention.These are just a few ways companies can provide valuable opportunities for employees to expand their skills:
1. Offer on-demand, self-paced, and self-motivated learning resources.
Career-pathing conversations with managers are a great way to flesh out employees’ individual goals and ambitions, highlight areas for growth, and identify soft or hard-skills needed for career advancement. Pairing those conversations with access to virtual, always-available learning opportunities to develop those skills helps kick those career-pathing plans into action and puts the employee in the driver’s seat.
Though multi-day off-site training sessions can still have merit, fully virtual or hybrid options open a new world of possibility. Even pre-COVID, when travel was more frequent, didn’t we all find it difficult to take a large chunk of time away from the office? Those all-day cram sessions also aren’t necessarily an effective strategy for long-term retention and in-depth learning. (And nobody misses the stale donuts and cold coffee served during breaks.)
2. Provide real-world stretch assignments and challenges.
How many times did you roll your eyes during a high school math class and groan, “When am I ever going to use this?” Learning principles, rules, and frameworks is dry and boring without some sort of real-world application. Give employees opportunities to learn through stretch projects that have actual impact and implications—either within the company or as a company-sponsored volunteer effort.
Making these stretch projects and challenges open to anyone in the company—not just a single job function or department—can have other benefits beyond just skills building. Partnering with other employees across the organization organically fosters relationship-building, breaks down silos between departments, and encourages interdisciplinary collaboration.
3. Provide pathways for rotational training.
More formal, structured training rotations are another great way to push employees out of their comfort zones and provide opportunities for learning and growth. This could mean giving managers a chance to “get their hands dirty” with projects that require technical skills they haven’t used in a while or cycling employees through a project or two in a skill or functional area outside their expertise.
Want even more ideas? Read on for ten additional ways to develop your tech talent.
Have some “stretch assignments” that are a little too big of a stretch? For some projects, you just don’t have the time or internal resources to do it all yourselves. We’re here to tackle those IT challenges alongside you. Contact one of our Inteleca expert engineers to learn more.
FAQs
What should companies do when internal teams don’t have the capacity for a development-focused project?
When internal teams lack the time or specialized skills to execute a stretch assignment or larger IT initiative, partnering with an outside expert is often the most practical solution rather than abandoning the project or overloading existing staff. This allows employees to still participate in and learn from the initiative without carrying the full technical burden alone. Businesses managing this balance can benefit from IT partners who handle complex infrastructure or project work while internal teams focus on the parts of the project that offer the most direct learning and development value.
How can stretch assignments benefit a company beyond individual skill development?
Stretch assignments that are open to employees across departments, rather than restricted to a single team, create organic opportunities for relationship-building and cross-functional collaboration that wouldn’t happen otherwise. This breaks down organizational silos and helps employees understand how different parts of the business operate, which often leads to better problem-solving and more innovative thinking down the line.
What are growth opportunities for employees?
Growth opportunities generally fall into three categories: self-paced learning resources paired with career-pathing conversations to build specific skills, real-world stretch assignments that let employees apply new skills on projects with genuine impact, and structured rotational training that exposes employees to functional areas outside their usual expertise. Companies that combine all three tend to see the strongest retention results, especially in competitive fields like tech.
