The IT unemployment rate is low, and job growth in the industry is expected to continue to outpace other sectors.

It’s easy to see how it’s a competitive market for employers. Attracting and keeping the best IT talent is critical to making your business competitive. Sure, good compensation and benefits are important. But they’re not the only factors that contribute to employee retention.

By being mindful of the culture your company fosters, you can make your organization a place where the best employees in the industry want to work.

This takes some planning and investment of time, but in the long run, it will be worth it. Here are three ideas for creating the kind of company culture that brings in and keeps the best IT staff.

Prioritize Communication

Across industries, employees rate communication between leadership and staff as one of the biggest factors that makes working for an organization a positive or negative experience. Summit’s recent survey of over 1,000 IT professionals confirms this. “Lack of team communication” was rated 3rd by respondents when asked about the most common problems they encounter on the job. A quarter of those surveyed cited this as a top issue.

Communication helps employees feel connected and valued. Understanding management decisions and goals gives people a clearer view of how their work contributes to the bigger picture so that they can stay motivated.

It reduces errors and duplication of effort. How things get communicated between management and employees may be different depending on the size and makeup of your company, but establishing regular communication channels, especially during times of transition, will help you to attract and keep your best IT professionals.

Reward Good Performance and Skill-Building

Most people don’t show up to work wanting to do a poor job. They want to be successful and proud of what they do. When performance drops, it’s not usually because employees aren’t motivated to begin with – it’s because they become demotivated. One of the fastest ways to demoralize employees and and make them start looking for other opportunities is to let good work go unnoticed. Clear performance expectations, recognition, and rewards are some of the most important things you can do as an employer to create a culture that values great employees.

The best employees also want to build new skills. This can come through formal means like training, or informal means like being given challenging new opportunities on the job. A great company culture is one that promotes and rewards professional development. Consider some or all of these ways to promote a culture of skill-building:

  • Include development planning in the performance review / goal-setting process for employees
  • Keep internal training programs refreshed and up-to-date with the latest IT information
  • Provide stipends for external classes, certifications, or conferences
  • Allow employees to dedicate a certain portion of their work hours each year to training and development
  • Consider regular “lunch and learns” where employees can informally share lessons learned from their projects with their colleagues
  • Encourage leadership to model training and development as well

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Create Flexibility

When asked about their most common on-the-job problems, the second most cited issue by Summit’s survey respondents was work-life imbalance. While you can’t always control the workload and demands on IT staff as much as you may want to, giving employees more flexibility can help mitigate work-life balance concerns. If you’re not already allowing for remote work at least occasionally, it’s worth considering.

Reducing commute time and giving employees the opportunity to work from home even one day a week can improve morale. Flexible work schedules that give people the option of completing their duties outside of the regular 9-5 time block can also be helpful to employees who have family or other obligations and interests.

Let your employees know that you value more than just their careers. The right work-life balance will help them to bring the best of themselves to their jobs and increase loyalty and retention.

In the present job market, good IT workers have their pick of companies. Communication, performance recognition, and flexibility are three components of a positive company culture that will help you to hire and maintain the best IT teams.