7 Key Ways to Resignation Proof your Organisation

What happens if you get hit by a bus?

That was a question I was always asked by our very first client at Cousant.  At the time, I was the only employee at Cousant and I was developing and supporting a business critical software for the Client. Of course, the Pentecostal Christian in me would bind and reject and cast out etc. However, there was a deeper issue my Client was trying to solve

What happens if a key engineer should leave?

Every successful product needs to have tons of fail-safes and contingencies that ensures the product can recover from most errors and exceptions.  And whenever there are errors that a product fails to recover from, the team would usually update the product to ensure if does not happen again.

However, I have noticed some managers in Nigeria do not have contingencies in place for when a team member resigns. As I mentioned in my previous article, resignations are almost a certainty given the high job mobility of technology professionals in Nigeria and its almost crazy not to plan for this. Larger organisations may have business continuity plans that may address such issues but smaller organisations usually give little to no thought to planning for resignations. Yet startups and smaller organisations in Nigeria are most impacted by the high attrition rates.

...resignations are almost a certainty given the high job mobility of technology professionals in Nigeria and its almost crazy not to plan for this

One reason I believe managers do not plan for the risk of resignation is the mindset. Managers have the mindset that they only need get past the next milestone or launch their products before putting the right structures in place. Unfortunately, projects usually take far longer than planned and, in that process, resignations do happen.

Whenever key team members resign, managers usually go into fire-fighting mode and immediately try to hire a replacement. Key resignations force managers to hire too quickly which can bring about a whole new set of issues down the line. In addition, it can take anywhere from 2 to 3 months for new hires to become fully productive which can throw project plans into disarray.

Key resignations force managers to hire too quickly which can bring about a whole new set of issues down the line

From experience, there is no perfect contingency plan and resignations will always be disruptive. The idea is to find ways to structure our processes to mitigate the impact of resignations on our operations. Below are 7 key ways, managers can use to start making their teams resignation proof. These are simple measures that organisations of all sizes can start putting in place today without breaking the bank.

These are simple measures that organisations of all sizes can start putting in place today without breaking the bank.

1. Tracking the Average Programmer Longevity

In my previous article, I wrote on a powerful metric called the Average Programmer Longevity (APL).  The APL measures the average time software engineers spend in an organisation before being fired or resigning. By keeping track of this metric, managers can learn to predict how long an engineer may stay with the company and better plan their resourcing needs accordingly.

2. Partner with a Technology Recruitment Firm

Organisations can sign a blanket agreement with a recruitment firm to provide search and recruitment services on demand.  Whenever a key staff resigns, all a manager need do, is simply send an email to the recruitment firm and the search for a replacement begins immediately. Such blanket agreements can really shorten the time it takes to hire a replacement and minimize the impact of resignations.

 We have signed such blanket agreements with many clients at Cousant Connect (our technology recruitment business), and I have seen first-hand, how such agreements have really simplified the lives of their technology managers. Managers can really focus on execution while passing the burden of maintaining a stable talent pipeline to the recruitment firm.

3. Use of Short-Term Staff

From my experience, organisations use short term staff for a number of reasons. The first is for augmenting existing teams to fill a skills gap. Another reason to use short term staff is for replacing staff in order to meet a short term goal. One advantage of using short term staff is that they are quicker to onboard than having to hire replacement staff. 

 Access to experienced contract technology staff in another reason to partner with a technology recruitment company that can provide short term staff on demand.

4. Maintain a Unified Technology Stack

 One of the benefits of adopting a unified technology stack within an organisation is the ease of getting team members to cover for each other.  Since everyone understands the stack, it is easier for other team members to fill in whenever there is a resignation.

5. Adopt Core Development and Design Principles

In order to set the team up for success, managers must consider the core design and development principles for the organisation. These principles must be clearly articulated and enforced so everyone applies them to their daily work. These guiding principles helps the team work in a consistent way and as such, makes it easier for newcomers to quickly get up to speed and understand the work structure.

The Salary Competitiveness ratio should be tracked annually, and organisations should ideally aim for a ratio of 0.7:1 or better

6. Keep track of your Salary Competitiveness

 A key factor that affects attrition rate in companies is the compensation structure. A competitive salary is key to retaining good people and as such organisation must keep an eye on their salary competitiveness in comparison to competitors.

Salary competitiveness can be measured by using a simple formula

Salary Competitiveness Ratio = Salary offered by your company / Average Salary offered by your competitors

The Salary Competitiveness ratio should be tracked annually, and organisations should ideally aim for a ratio of 0.7:1 or better. Whenever this metric falls below 0.7:1, organisations must be prepared to do a review of salaries.

 To get an data of average salaries in the Nigerian IT job market, you can check out our free IT Jobs Report.

7. Peer Reviews

Building a culture of peer code reviews in the team is not only good for quality assurance but also great for knowledge sharing. Peer reviews allows a team member to familiarize themselves with the work of other team members. For software engineers, peer code reviews helps other team members understand each other’s code structure and thought process, thereby making it easier to provide cover whenever there is a resignation.

The most successful products are designed to have fail safes to help recover from errors. Likewise, managers must design their teams and processes to better recover from resignations. No matter the size of your organisation, its never too early to start putting structure and processes in become more resilient even in the face of key man resignations.