Employee Retention

by Greg Miles - 3/7/00

The March 2000 article will focus on the retention of technical people. As a manager, the biggest challenge I have is finding people with the technical talent, the ability to work within a team, and a clean record to be able to get them cleared to work for our clients (mostly kidding there, but not completely). I have been running a worldwide information security support team for the last three years. We have 75 people in 3 countries and 12 states. It is a big challenge to keep up with the people side of such a spread- out team. Once I find an individual, then one of the biggest challenges if keeping them. This is a combination of many factors, but the biggest factor is being able to continuously peak the individuals interests in a job market where they can walk away to almost anywhere and get more money. Of course there are other factors. I will list them here in the priority that I think the workers see it. I was one of the managers on a team that looked at retention issues for AverStar, and here is what we came up with:

1. Challenging and interesting work

2. Company support (Training, Education, Benefits, Bonuses, Recognition)

3. Salary

4. Possibilities for promotion and advancement

My boss says "High Tech, High Touch". Technical people are people that as managers we need to reach out to frequently, let them know that we care, let them know they are doing a good job for the company, and give them recognition so others on the team can see their value. Its not so much an ego thing as it is building a respect for the individual and building the individuals self-confidence. If the group is big or spread out, delegate the day-to-day contact, but set a schedule so that you see or talk to everyone on the team at least on a quarterly basis. Take advantage of the opportunity for group gatherings. The social side is just as important in building teamwork as the professional side.

There, of course, is no perfect solution, but make sure you focus on the important issues. Keep your team focused, challenged, and happy, and they will take care of the customer requirements. compromised.

Dr. Gregory S. Miles, Ph.D. is an Information Assurance Program Manager with AverStar, Inc (http://www.averstar.com).