Discover our top tips for maintaining employee satisfaction and learn how to improve employee retention in the competitive tech sphere.

How do you retain the best tech talent when there are so many opportunities available to them?

Although there’s no one answer to this question, and each employee has a unique set of values and professional goals, there are some things you can do to boost your employee retention rate.

In this blog, we cover everything you need to do to keep your employees satisfied. From frequent salary reviews to transparent career progression, you’ll find the tips you need to reduce your employee turnover and maintain a happy workforce.

5 employee retention strategies to implement

1. Learning and development

In the ever-evolving world of technology, the demands placed on tech employees are constantly shifting.

If you want to appeal to your existing employees, you need to provide them with the skills and training they need to evolve as technological experts.

There are myriad ways to invest in your employees’ development, and the following initiatives are a great place to start.

Tailored development plans

Allow them to create a plan with team leaders that suits their personal goals and professional strengths. Utilising key performance indicators is a great way to monitor their progress and quantify your investment in each employee.

Not only will these tailored meetings help your employees feel valued, but they will also give your leadership team insight into how to support employees and retain their loyalty to the company.

Recognise and reward progress

One of the best ways to retain your top employees is to celebrate their achievements and make them feel appreciated by your company.

If they don’t feel as though their wins are noticed, they might seek that recognition from elsewhere. Besides, commending great work is an effective way to incentivise continued dedication to the job.

Gift cards and features in the company newsletter are a good starting point when it comes to rewarding employees, but to stand a stronger chance of retaining your high-performing employees, you need to give them rewards that they really appreciate.

Where possible, consider issuing rewards such as additional paid leave, a more flexible work schedule, or a one-off bonus. You could even discuss rewards on a case-by-case basis to determine what your employees want and make them feel seen.

Create an employee feedback loop

Utilise your most accessible resource – your employees!

Creating a feedback loop can inform you of your employees’ needs and desires for development. Your employees might have specific areas for improvement that they’d like the company to be aware of. They may even have valuable ideas for learning opportunities and developmental courses.

A feedback loop can inspire you to invest in the right learning resources for your team and is another great way to make your employees feel seen and valued.

Transparent career progression

As well as developing as individuals, your employees need to know how they will develop as a part of your company.

Make sure you regularly review employee progress, so that deserving employees get the promotions they desire and the responsibility they crave.

2. Salaries

One of the most influential drivers of employee retention is a company’s ability to provide fair, competitive salaries.

Demand for tech candidates is constantly increasing in 2024 and many companies have the resources to pay above-standard wages for the right candidates.

So, there are a few things you can do to ensure your employee salaries are good enough to maintain employee retention.

Conduct regular salary reviews

Regular salary reviews allow employees to discuss their worth with the leaders of the company.

To employees, these meetings show that:

• You’re consistently considering their pay.
• They’re being taken seriously as professionals.
• Their compensation matches their work performance.

Undertake salary benchmarking

Look into the tech market and research the industry standard for employee salaries.

If you can remain on the same level as industry standard or above, you have a good chance of retaining your employees.

Compare your employees’ salaries with those of employees in similar areas of tech, in similarly-sized companies, and remember to factor in location.

Salary benchmarking will not only strengthen your employee retention but will also augment your appeal to future candidates.

To help with this, you can download Revoco’s 2024 UK Salary Survey, which covers the latest insights and trends in the world of tech, digital, and data.

3. Valuable perks

As we’ve briefly discussed, employees want rewards that they truly value.

Whilst employee of the month awards and recognition on the office bulletin can help employees feel valued, most competent employees desire perks that augment their work-life balance and benefit them tangibly.

So, as well as providing free fruit in the lunchroom and bi-annual pizza parties, consider implementing some of the following perks that could really make a difference to your employee retention.

Flexible working models

One of the only perks of the Covid-19 fiasco was the introduction of a more balanced work schedule.

These days, most employees want the flexibility to work from home. In fact, recent research shows that at least 98% of employees want the option to work remotely at least part-time, and the tech industry has the most remote workers in 2024.

What’s more, employers considering a return-to-office mandate are being met with disappointment across the board, with many employees being pushed to consider moving to competitor companies.

In particular, embed flexibility for new parents through generous parental leave policies. One of the biggest motivators for women leaving the tech industry is the industry’s inability to accommodate their new lifestyle after having a baby.

The more flexibility you give your employees, the more they will be content with their work-life balance, and the less likely they will be to seek alternative employers.

Insurance

To help make your employees feel valued as people, show them that you care about their well-being by supporting their health. If you want to go the extra mile, consider extending this support to the well-being of your employees’ families – including their pets.

Having an awareness of the value of health insurance and pet insurance will increase your personal connection with your employees and strengthen their loyalty to your brand.

Skin in the game

Give your employees the opportunity to buy stock and equity in your company at below-market prices.

Having a personal financial interest in the success of a company increases an employee’s motivation to contribute towards its success, and therefore heightens your chances of employee retention.

4. Company culture

If you want to have a shot at maximising your employee retention, focus on optimising your company’s culture.

You can refine this by focusing on your company’s mission, values, reputation, approach to employees, and more.

The culture of a company directly affects its employees’ satisfaction, well-being, loyalty, motivation, and more, so it’s important to invest a lot of your resources into strengthening it.

There are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to improving company culture; each company has a unique identity and set of values.

However, the following approaches are a great place to start.

Lead by example

One of the most impactful ways to ensure a positive company culture is to have strong company leaders, who are transparent in their missions.

Employing leaders who reflect the values of your company is one of the most important approaches to solidifying company culture. The more supportive these leaders are of the company’s mission and that of its employees, the more appreciative your workforce will be.

Finetune your screening process

Although leaders of the company play a big role in determining the atmosphere of a company, the rest of your employees are just as important.

If you have a vision for your culture, you need to ensure you are only hiring those whose values align with the company’s. During your hiring process, consider including compatibility with your company values in your hiring criteria, and interrogate candidates’ attitudes in the interview process.

If you are thorough during the talent acquisition process, you will have more like-minded employees and a more robust company culture.

Establish a culture of trust

One of the best ways to truly reach your workforce is to make them feel as though there is a mutual level of trust between employees and their leaders.

Give them the responsibility they desire and trust them with integral duties. Another way to display your trust in employees’ capabilities is to implement their feedback into your company’s progression. If your employees feel as though they have a voice, they will feel as though their opinions are trusted and respected by those who are higher up in the business.

5. Invest in your employees

Although investing in your employees’ development is an essential part of employee retention, you must also consider the other investments you need to make in your team.

To be content in the workplace, employees want to feel respected and fully supported by their employers.

Below are some great ways to invest in your employees and keep them content in their roles at your company.

Provide adequate support

Be it through effective management, innovative team building, or the encouragement of well-being in the workplace, employees should feel supported at work.

Mental health initiatives are a great way to show your workforce that they matter to you aside from their professional duties, and fostering organic conversations surrounding mental health is more important than ever.

If your employees don’t feel as though their well-being is a priority, they might seek out a new employer who prioritises it.

Strategic staffing

Ensure that your workforce feels supported by their team by doing everything in your power to avoid employee burnout.

If you are understaffed, find solutions quickly, as employees shouldn’t have to carry the weight of an employer’s inability to organise their staff correctly.

Equally, provide adequate training for new employees so that existing employees are not placed under undue pressure when new candidates are onboarded.

Invest in management

Managers have a huge impact on their teams, and failure to effectively develop those who you place in positions of power could lead to an unhappy workforce.

Provide managers with training to prepare them for leadership, such as coaching sessions, training on your core company values, and the development of communication skills.

The happier your employees are with their management, the more likely they will be to stay at your company.

Retain your workforce with confidence

Here at Revoco, we know it isn’t easy to please every employee. However, by following the advice set out in this blog, you’ll have a great chance at keeping them content in your company.

The importance of fair salaries cannot be understated when it comes to maintaining an exceptional workforce, which is why we’ve collated our industry insights to create an in-depth tech salary guide.

For more guidance with employee retention, or to learn more about our bespoke tech recruitment services, reach out to our expert team today.