As the CIO of your organization, you must address several obstacles to overcome for your company to remain competitive. New technologies seem to appear daily to disrupt your business model, from the ever-evolving world of the metaverse to the constantly shifting ways businesses use social media to get the word out about their product and services. The IT department that you oversee has to adapt policies that incorporate Web 3.0 and blockchain technologies. Optimizing artificial intelligence tools to make your company a more efficient performing organization remains a priority, as does handling the seemingly endless cybersecurity issues that pop up every day.
You always have a lot on your plate and on top of that, your company is still trying to figure out the new workplace paradigm shift caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic forced a monumental shift in how companies conduct business. No other event has transformed the workplace more than the move to working remotely at least part of the time. On top of the fundamental shift to the remote workplace, CIOs have dealt with another issue over the past several years.
Attracting and retaining the best IT talent has emerged as the number one priority of CIOs across all industries.
The Great Resignation, which peaked in January of 2022, saw more than four million workers quit their jobs for a wide variety of reasons. This means attracting and retaining the brightest IT workers should be at the top of the list of things to accomplish for CIOs not only for the remainder of 2022, but also for 2023 and beyond. As Chief Technology Officer Mahesh Saptharishi of Motorola Solutions explained in a recent interview, “employees are re-prioritizing what they look for in a company, from innovative cultures and achieving a sense of purpose to a healthy work-life balance and better benefits. Recruits are also taking note of how an organization functions as a ‘corporate citizen,’ meaning its impact on society and the environment.”
Let’s discover four tips on how CIOs can attract and retain the best talent.
Tip #1: Increase Compensation
The more things change, the more they stay the same for the most accomplished IT professionals. Compensation remains the most important criterion for IT professionals searching for career opportunities. Offering compensation that at least rivals what your competitors offer levels the recruiting and retention playing field that CIOs face daily.
To meet the compensation criterion, analyze what your organization pays to fill each IT position and determine which jobs are the most vulnerable to experiencing high turnover caused by below-average pay.
Tip #2: Define Your Company’s Mission
Like other professionals, IT team members want to connect with a company’s products and services before they consider the other advantages of working for an organization. In addition, IT professionals want to connect with a company’s mission, as well as understand how their contributions help an organization achieve its goals. Selling your company’s employee value proposition provides talented recruits with a purpose, such as making contributions to developing technology solutions to determining the most effective strategy that addresses customer issues.
Tip # 3: Emphasize Career Opportunities
IT professionals are renowned for honing their technical and leadership skills to advance within organizations. From tuition incentives to formal mentoring programs, companies that provide career opportunities for IT professionals excel at attracting and retaining the best talent. However, it is not just about providing career opportunities. A CIO’s role is to help IT professionals create career advancement plans that encourage the development of new leadership and technical skills.
As Saptharishi mentions, a prime example of professional development is Google’s longstanding initiative of 20 percent time, which represents the standard for encouraging the development of new leadership and technical skills, as well as emphasizing the importance of the creative thought process.
Tip #4: Promote Diversity and Inclusion
IT departments that promote diversity and inclusion do a much better job of attracting the most talented professionals. Several studies demonstrate the importance of implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace. One of the most difficult barriers to overcome involves attracting and retaining more women to join IT departments. One startling statistic stands out when it comes to diversity and inclusion.
Fewer than 20 percent of all CIO and CTO positions are currently filled by women. Nearly 50 percent of all young women that work in IT leave their jobs before they turn 35 years old because of the lack of diversity and inclusion.
The Bottom Line: Be a Visionary for Attracting and Retaining Talent
Implementing recruitment and retention strategies for IT professionals requires a thinking outside-of-the-box mentality. Traditional strategies to attract and retain the best talent no longer are enough for your organization. For example, when it comes to compensation, consider strategies such as offering compensation that includes signing and retention bonuses to attract and retain the most sought-after IT professionals in your industry.
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