Given the competitive nature of the technology industry – especially when it comes to hiring and retaining top talent – your organization needs to ensure its staff stays professionally satisfied. IT pros need to know their daily efforts are keeping their career on the right path: headed upwards. If they find themselves stagnating, they may look elsewhere for a better opportunity to build their career.
In short, any IT company needs to provide a “career ladder” to ensure its employees are able to grow as tech professionals. Here are a few ideas on implementing this concept at your office. Good luck in your efforts!
Create a Formalized Career Advancement Path
Many of the leading technology organizations feature a formalized career development plan to help their employees understand how to grow as IT professionals. This is part of fostering the kind of company culture able to compete for the best talent in the industry. If your firm doesn’t have a similar program, work with your HR team to put one together as soon as possible. The successful retention of your top employees is at risk without it.
Staffing expert, Michael Neidle commented on what a career ladder entails. “Those people who have advancement potential are given new tasks to broaden themselves with progressively increased responsibility. This path can be in a management position or a senior technical position. This is called the dual ladder concept,” said Neidle.
Career Ladders Can Be Difficult at Smaller Organizations
Larger tech companies typically enjoy the extra resources and a variety of project work enabling them to offer employees different opportunities for additional responsibility and eventually, a management role. Accomplishing this at a small to medium-sized company is naturally more difficult. In these situations, take extra care to ensure your most valued team members get the chance to show off their fledgling leadership skills.
Neidle notes the most successful IT companies – no matter their size – dedicate 20 percent of their time creating career ladders to keep their employees inspired and focused. Failure to do this means potentially losing your best workers to the competition. Cross-training, mentoring programs, and a generous tuition reimbursement benefit (paired with a requirement to stay a period of time after graduation) are all good ideas for keeping your best talent in-house.
When you need additional insights on growing a winning team at your company, talk to the knowledgeable staff at Venteon. As one of the top IT staffing agencies in Michigan, we also offer a robust supply of great candidates when it comes time to look for someone new. Schedule some time with us as soon as possible!