What can scaleups do to retain their tech talent?

Author and business strategist Jim Collins once said: “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” This seems a particularly pertinent truth for startups and scaleups as these fledgling years of growth depend on human ability and endeavour.

The advance of technology has never replaced the need for businesses to find and retain great people. This is something that, as recruiters specialising in tech and engineering, we are in pole position to witness.

But, given we are recruiters, it may seem counter intuitive to create a report that seeks to understand and deliver solutions on helping companies keep people – rather than promoting freer movement in the market.

However, we know that creating an employer brand that works not just to attract people but also retain them is essential. The “sell” to candidates has to reflect what is really going on in the business.

The ISL Retention Report 2019 – Tech Scaleups surveyed nearly 200 people who had left their post in the previous four months and found that more than three quarters (80%) cited the working environment as the reason.

The report findings highlight a trend: people leave a role because of poor culture or management style but that salary is the main reason they will accept a new job.

Startups and scaleups in today’s market may well be competing against higher salaries, potentially from bigger companies.

So investing in the culture becomes more important than ever.

Dom Hallas, executive director of the Coalition for a Digital Economy, wrote the foreword for the report, and he’s well posted to know how key a challenge retention is to tech startups. Dom commented on how often he listens to startup and scaleup founders explain how hard it is to find and then retain the right people.

Dom says “The important part about this report is that it examines a deeper question – the additional burden placed on startups / scaleups, as the outsized demand for skilled labour now requires employers to go beyond standard recruiting strategies, to add staff retention as a key priority for their growth strategies.

I’d like to personally thank everyone who took part in this report, it’s been fascinating hearing people’s point of view. We hope it’s useful for founders and scaleup leaders as they build the businesses and workforces of the future. I’d love it to play a role prompting debate and furthering retention in the tech sector and beyond.

We’re intending to further research some of the key challenges that tech scaleups face around skills and talent. If you’d like to play a part in that, or get involved in a future report, please do connect with me. 

To read the report, click here.