How to improve technology teams’ engagement and retention

There’s a lot of talk about employee engagement, high or low turnover rates, and how to increase retention, especially after many hallmark events such as the pandemic, the great resignation, and quiet quitting. Because of this, here we’re about to share all you need to know about engagement and retention, including how to keep it high, based on our vast experience working with software development professionals from across the continent.

Why are employee retention and engagement important?

Employees that are engaged are much more productive and willing to go the extra mile. Because of this, a highly engaged team creates an exponentially higher ROI than a disengaged team. While retention increases profitability as it reduces the high costs of replacing an employee and even having an unfilled vacancy for weeks or months. 

If you have a high turnover rate, you not only have a lot more expenses than other businesses, but you also have productivity issues due to the struggles of the learning curve of the position and the time invested in replacing the employee.

How do you increase employee engagement and retention?

Although each business and organization is different and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, we have seen over the years that the three following factors play a huge role in keeping employees engaged in the long term.

Professional growth is the key to high retention rates

In a recent survey, it was found that 41% of employees quit their jobs because they felt there was a lack of career development at their workplace. These opportunities don’t necessarily refer to promotions—they encompass every resource that allows employees to grow professionally. This could be through training and education in their areas of interest, assigning more responsibilities with their due recognition, making room for leadership roles, or a change in positions and job orientation inside the company.

Companionship and shared activities boost engagement

Creating a sense of belonging in the workplace can substantially reduce the employees’ need to look for opportunities elsewhere. In the end, most professionals value a good overall experience over just a higher salary, and having friends and a good environment at work can not only be a great motivator for long-term loyalty but also create more interest in everyday tasks and a more critical eye for outputs, as the person becomes personally involved with the work at hand.

Remote work allows you to build long-term relationships with your team

One of the most mentioned reasons for quitting on the survey mentioned above was a lack of workplace flexibility. A study by Buffer on remote work found that 96% of those who started working remotely as a result of COVID-19 would like to continue to work remotely. However, as some companies are pulling away from that flexibility, a sense of discontent has grown among employees, which has been one of the contributing factors to the great resignation. Because of this, it’s of the utmost importance to integrate a remote work team as a means to find more comfortable and motivated employees.

What is a work-life fit and why is it important to maintain employee retention and engagement?

The subject of a work-life balance is an increasingly discussed issue in today’s world of work, and pivotal when it comes to retaining employees. In fact, a Statista survey found that 53% of people having problems with recruitment and retention are facing them because they find it challenging to meet work-life balance expectations. 

With the advancement of technology, especially after the pandemic, many people find it difficult to disconnect from work and this can lead to stress and burnout. However, although work should not consume all our time and energy, it also shouldn’t feel like a burden. Why? Because regardless of how many breaks a team member has, if their work environment and dynamic are so stressful that they are craving an out, leaving the business is only a matter of time. 

The root of the work-life problem, thus, is not about separating an inevitably burdensome environment from life as much as we can, but rather making the workplace itself a healthy and safe environment where work feels fulfilling and exciting and part of an overall successful life. Because of this, we advocate for a work-life fit, that is, the consequence of connecting our personal lives and jobs to create one fulfilling life instead of only living outside of work.

How do you make sure the team is keeping a work-life fit?

There are two key factors in measuring a work-life fit: work culture and mental health. These are both crucial and often overlooked, to detrimental results. These two are the root of many high-turnover issues and can be solved without investing large amounts of money, but rather by making a few changes to internal dynamics. Let’s see how to take practical measures to monitor and improve both by exploring how we do it at BEON.tech.

A healthy work culture boosts engagement and productivity

One way we have found to add value to our team members is by creating a support network that allows them to feel safe and comfortable when it comes to working. This network is made of three elements:

1. Collaboration and communication: Through multiple communication channels, leaders open for feedback and changes, and an extra effort to involve all team members in our shared goals, we create a sense of unity that makes everyday activities compelling, preventing members from feeling lost, left alone with a daunting task, stuck, or unheard. 
2. Flexibility and rest: Besides being a fully remote team that spreads across Latin America, we’ve also implemented clear yet customized OOO policies and schedules with our team member’s needs in mind. Implementing and adhering to the promised time off is crucial for professionals to feel appreciated and rewarded for their hard work.
3. Development of interests: Beyond career growth, professionals often have a wide variety of interests that can contribute to their work in unique ways, and asking them about it and finding ways to help them develop such is a win-win strategy. That’s why we’ve created community chats around technical topics of interest, as well as a space for team members to give workshops or share their knowledge on our official blog for others passionate about those topics to benefit from them. 

Caring for your team’s mental health creates long-term relationships

A good mental health strategy plays an important role in fostering a work-life fit by promoting a healthy work environment and providing resources to help employees manage stress and burnout. However, a recent survey showed that 57% of employees don’t have or are unaware of mental health resources at their workplace. So by choosing a good mental health program, business owners put themselves way ahead in the talent engagement and retention game.

That’s why each team member at BEON.tech has an HR contact who will work closely with their team to provide a comfortable and welcoming work environment. The HR contacts are psychology professionals and are available when BEONers need to be heard. They also provide support on issues related to emotional well-being and provide guidance on issues related to company culture and policies. Furthermore, they are available to help with conflict management and to provide additional resources to help developers do their jobs effectively.

Following the same line of generating a mental health support network, it’s important not only to provide support at the work level but also to offer a private space so that they can express themselves freely. This is why we offer all our BEON.tech members the possibility of taking therapy sessions with a psychologist in order to help them manage any emotional or well-being problems they may have. These sessions are completely confidential and don’t have an impact on the collaborator’s work. With this space, we seek to improve the quality of life of our collaborators and promote a healthy and balanced work environment.

A new yet proven way of keeping employee engagement and retention high 

At BEON.tech, we developed the Talent Experience Manager figure, which is the embodiment of all the engagement and retention strategies we reviewed above, carefully applied not only to our company culture but condensed and boosted through this innovative job role as well.

When a developer joins BEON.tech, they are not only working for a US partner but are also part of our culture and have their Talent Experience Manager by their side. The TEM is the one who is in direct contact with the client and supports the developer in their professional development.

They are in charge of carrying out the onboarding of the dev in the company and are present through all communication channels, helping the developer in whatever they need and working on doing everything from a managerial perspective so that the developer has the opportunities that they want to have to develop professionally. This includes making a friendly yet thorough assessment of the developer’s career goals and areas where there’s room for improvement.

The TEM has the necessary soft skills to understand what is happening to the dev and find the most appropriate way to help them. As we make the professional development of our developers a priority, the TEM ensures that there are challenging projects that allow them to continue growing and taking on new challenges; and also that the developers are supported and accompanied in the process. For this reason, the role of the TEM is fundamental for the engagement and retention of our team.

Key takeaways:

• A highly engaged team creates an exponentially higher ROI than a disengaged team.
• Professional growth, companionship, and remote work increase engagement and retention in businesses.
• Making work an enjoyable experience and integrating it with each team member’s life is the key to a healthy lifestyle, creating a work-life fit.
• Warm work culture and good mental health implementations contribute to a work-life fit.
• If you want to leave engagement and retention to the experts, you can hire the #1 IT Staff Augmentation company in America.