New IT Recruitment and Retention Tactics

Kim Boatman

As enterprises almost universally become more reliant on technology in day-to-day operations, one aspect of the CIO’s job description becomes trickier. Public and private organizations are projecting shortages of qualified IT workers, so recruiting and retaining good employees becomes more critical than ever.

The first mistake many CIOs make is to think it’s not their problem, says Mark Murphy, the CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Leadership IQ, a training and research center that teaches executive and management best practices.

“It has been easier for leaders to outsource recruitment and retention to HR and say ‘That’s an HR issue,’” says Murphy, co-author of The Deadly Sins of Employee Retention. “Every company on earth says ‘People are our most important assets.’ But they spend more time monitoring the copy machine as an asset than they do their people. The big question for IT executives is how much of their time is spent engaging this resource they purport to value so highly.”

It’s becoming increasingly clear, say Murphy and other experts, that a traditional approach to recruitment and retention won’t help CIOs maintain a skilled, dedicated IT workforce. Creative tactics are needed to both recruit and retain today’s IT workers. Here are strategies worth embracing:

1. ID an enterprise’s best people Knowing and understanding the current workforce is critical, says Murphy. This is essential for both retention and recruitment. A Leadership IQ study found that a staggering 47% of high performers are actively seeking other jobs. Step one in keeping those employees is identifying them. “Ironically, the people we least want to lose are the people we are most likely to lose,” Murphy says. Once the upper-echelon workers are identified, put together individual action plans directed toward retaining those employees, he says. Understanding what makes these employees tick and keeps them happily employed is useful when a company begins recruiting new workers as well.
   
2. Make it personal It takes flexibility and creativity to manage today’s IT worker. The old “blanket” approach, where every worker was essentially treated the same, won’t work, says Lily Mok, a research vice president in CIO workforce management for Gartner, an IT research and consulting firm. “Your recruiting and retention practices really need to meet individual needs,” says Mok. “Personalize the package.” Understand that while one worker might value flexible hours and workdays, another might prefer the option of telecommuting when feasible. Work-life balance is a consideration IT workers expect from employers these days, she says.
   
3. Bridge the generation gap It takes nimble management to deal with the differing expectations of aging Baby Boomers and the up-and-coming Gen Y crowd. One solution is to establish coach or mentor relationships where Baby Boomers share knowledge and valuable work experience. In some cases, companies are dealing with shortages of IT workers by luring Baby Boomers back out of retirement, says Mok. Consider offering retirees the opportunity to work part time or on a contract basis. Asking these workers to serve as mentors answers their need to be respected, Mok says. Understanding the incoming generation of workers is necessary, too. The traditional hierarchal structure, advancing up the corporate or workplace ladder, isn’t what this group seeks, she says.
   
4. Provide diverse experiences Young workers enjoy the excitement of trying different opportunities that help them develop a diverse, marketable skill set. If a CIO or IT executive follows a traditional set schedule, expecting the young employee to advance in two or three years, the employee likely will leave. “Two to three years is probably too long for these folks,” Mok says. “If you miss the window, they’re going to look for opportunities elsewhere.” Increasingly, young workers also expect aspects of their work life to mirror the connectivity with which they’ve grown up. That’s why a Gartner client uses Second Life to recruit employees, holding virtual job fairs and allowing potential employees to create avatars. “Younger people want the technology they’ve been using for years,” Mok advises.
   
5. Conduct "stay" interviews An annual review isn’t enough to stay on top of an employee’s satisfaction level, say Mok and Murphy. And certainly, an exit interview is too late when an enterprise is losing a valued employee. Mok recommends a “stay” interview instead. Taking the time to talk to employees about their job satisfaction and concerns is time well-spent. “It could be as simple as a 20-minute conversation once a month,” Murphy says. Consider that it’s the high performers who are looking for work, and an organization can ill afford to ignore an employee until the exit interview. “What we hear from clients is it’s not just about the quantity of workers out there,” Mok says. “It’s a matter of the quality that drives some of these shortages.”
   
6. Recruit for aptitude and attitude Evaluate what type of person works best in the enterprise, then recruit for the person, not the skill. Technical skills can be trained, and technologies are constantly evolving anyway. Identifying what sets a high performer apart, then recruiting people with that aptitude makes for a better employee.
   
7. Recruit by selling Too many job ads or recruiting approaches focus on a job description, entailing the tasks involved or the technical skills required. In today’s market, workers want to know what a company or enterprise has to offer them, according to Murphy. “It’s a fundamental mindset shift,” he says. Explicitly spelling out the benefits of working for an organization is more likely to attract a high-level performer gainfully employed elsewhere.
   
8. Meet pay expectations The bottom line is still, well, the bottom line. “Money still talks,” says Mok. “When people start looking elsewhere is when they realize their value is not recognized in an organization.” While employees will attempt to measure how they’re paid compared to co-workers, the real measurement comes against industry standards. Mok recommends regularly benchmarking pay positions to retain competitiveness.

Ultimately, recruiting and retaining the best workers is primarily about what Murphy calls “softer” issues, involving leadership, engaging work opportunities and support.

“Our high performers want to work on teams with great people; they want to know the manager has their back,” he says. “It’s really about understanding.” 

Kim Boatman is a freelance business journalist in Silicon Valley, Calif. She spent more than 15 years reporting for the San Jose Mercury News.