Remarkably, 42% of employees who have voluntarily left their organization in the past year have reported that their manager or organization could have done something to stop them from leaving, according to a recent Gallup survey. So, with this in mind, amid a slowing jobs market, what should US tech companies do to keep their staff happy and content?

An example of what works best for maintaining a positive company culture can be found at Synechron, a leading provider of innovative technology solutions for business. The company has implemented several innovative internal initiatives to help retain the best technology talent.

Reevaluate traditional working methods in favor of innovative approaches

In 2024, the world is embracing artificial intelligence. Despite fears among sections of the workforce that AI is coming to replace them, the reality is that the technology works best when it complements human capabilities. AI can now be used to do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of data analysis and research, with Gartner already predicting that, by 2025, GenAI will play some sort of role in 70% of text- and data-heavy tasks, up from less than 10% in 2023. At Synechron, our extensive AI program already provides practical business solutions and is used internally by our staff, to save them time and lighten their workloads.

Internal mobility initiatives and staff wellbeing

According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report, employees who have made an internal move within their organization during the first two-years of being there are 75% more likely to stay, compared to employees who didn’t make an internal move (in the same period), who only had a 56% chance of remaining. So, an internal job move is more likely to keep staff happy. That’s why we have a ‘global mobility policy’ at Synechron that allows us to support our employees when they wish to move to one of our many overseas offices.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

At Synechron, we foster an inclusive culture through programs that embrace everyone. We’re extremely proud of our award-winning focus on DEI and host several events and opportunities for our employees to celebrate and gain exposure to different cultures and backgrounds.

Our ‘Synclusive’ Employee Resource Group (ERG) includes events and learnings focused on ‘lead, learn, and return’ pillars, designed to increase, empower, grow, and retain female talent in the organization; our ‘Women Back To Work’ program, which reskills/upskills women returning to the workforce after time away was further expanded during the past year. We also recognize and provide training and awareness for events like ‘Black History Month’, ‘Juneteenth’, and ‘Hispanic Heritage Month’. These programs ensure our people feel valued (especially in times of economic uncertainty), and we were recognized with a Diversity and Inclusion win at the 2023 US FinTech Awards.

Ensuring the right cultural fit

We use skills ‘smart mapping’ to clearly identify and illustrate where people’s strengths lay – this controls staffing costs and ensures agility. Finding the right cultural fit is hugely important for firms – and people who’ve been with a company for a number of years know its idiosyncrasies and ways of working. It naturally takes time for any new hires to get up to speed, so hiring from within saves time and money.

At Synechron, we support a culture of continuous learning, which helps us to innovate and to stay competitive. We do so by encouraging employees to upskill and/or reskill through on-the-job learning, workshops and conferences, together with certification courses and the provision of financial support through our professional development policy.

Nurturing the next generation of tech talent

In addition to learning support, we’ve also launched a global Synechron Employee Enablement and Development (SEED) program that’s focused on nurturing the next generation of talent. This initiative sees us guide recent graduates through a comprehensive training program, consisting of technical training/certifications, ‘power skills’, and capstone projects, all of which encourage collaboration and learning and provide crucial exposure to senior leadership. Each SEED participant is allocated a skilled mentor, and is issued an individualized performance plan that focuses on their development needs and goals; many of these young people are then deployed to billable roles at the end of their program. We’ve also had success working with interns and will be launching a more formal and structured intern program in 2025 to strengthen our future talent pipeline even further.

Focus on quality not quantity

The hiring slowdown shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a bad thing. Rather, it gives companies the chance to retrain and reskill current employees and concentrate hiring efforts on finding exactly the right people for the open positions that can’t be filled internally. Bringing new people into an organization should be a focused effort, concentrating on outstanding candidates and finding the right cultural fit for the organization. Getting the right people for the right jobs is something we’re very proud of here at Synechron – and it ensures we have a happy and motivated workforce.