See also:
8 Ways to Retain and Attract Talent in a Recession
Keeping your top IT talent on board should be a top priority in good times and in bad. Here are some suggestions from CIOs and IT staffing experts on how to hold onto your most valuable workers and keep your organization operating at its highest level.
⢠Create and promote a healthy, productive work environment. It should enable staffers to feel they are valuable members of the team and encourage collaboration with peers. Avoid punishing staffers when things go wrong with projects; instead, focus on positive reinforcement.
⢠Give people more responsibilities and a variety of tasks. IT professionals want to feel that they’re responsible for helping the organization succeed, and they want to be challenged. Look across the organization for opportunities for workers to move between roles in marketing, sales, finance and so on.
⢠Provide ongoing training–not just in technology. Many people in IT want to learn about the business and how different processes work within an enterprise. Give staffers an opportunity to learn not only about new technologies, but also about the latest business trends and theories.
⢠Create new incentives and offer new perks. Find interesting ways to encourage innovative thinking, such as contests for the best ideas to make a process more efficient or generate new business. Sponsor clubs for sporting events, games and other nonwork activities.
⢠Develop a mentoring program. IT workers can benefit from having mentors and serving as mentors. More senior workers benefit from imparting knowledge to newer employees and enhancing communication and training skills. Those receiving mentoring learn from the experiences of their colleagues.