How to properly recognize and reward IT talent

Finding, recruiting, and retaining IT talent has been a huge challenge for many companies nowadays.

Due to a competitive market and high demand for technical roles, the right IT professionals are difficult to find and keep. 

The dynamic software industry offers a wide variety of perks, work-life balance, learning opportunities, and projects, not to mention increasing compensation. Several companies are aware that, to keep their IT talent, they have to invest in their company culture and properly recognize their team members.

So, how do you recognize and reward your IT talent to increase happiness and overall retention in your company?

The difference between recognizing and rewarding employees

In simple terms, recognition is non-tangible, while rewards are tangible. 

Recognizing employees for their effort and performance plays a crucial role on the emotional side, while rewards play an important role on the material side of work. 

Recognition can be done in many ways, such as through words of appreciation, publicly praising an employee, and expression of gratitude. It helps create positive communication and encourages professionals while fostering a good relationship between employer/manager and peers.

Rewards, on the other hand, will include bonuses, salary increases, awards, and occasional compensation to professionals showcasing good results. Monetary compensation is likewise impactful as it validates the recognition and words of appreciation you made before. Compensation will also help retain IT professionals as other companies keep offering attractive salaries.

Recognition
Every human is different, so proper recognition might look different for everyone. But here are some global strategies that might help you create a positive relationship with your IT team:

• Get creative with thank you messages, funny memes, and postcards to showcase appreciation either in digital channels or in-office.
• Start having a spotlight in monthly/weekly meetings where you highlight achievements and acknowledge hard work and dedication in front of other team members.
• Show off your high-performers by showcasing their work, projects, achievements, roles, and faces in your company’s socials, newsletters, and company gatherings.
• Offer them more responsibility so that they have a chance to lead projects, make decisions, and contribute to strategic planning, as it empowers them and provides a sense of trust and ownership.
  

Rewards

Monetary compensation is a must, yet it can be a struggle if you’re a startup or have a limited budget, but there are many other ways you can reward your best performers. Here are some examples: 

• Negotiate and propose a salary increase that makes sense according to their experience, your budget, and market offers.
• Provide occasional performance bonuses based on project completion, company milestones, and exceptional results.
• Give out nice gift cards to team members, on stores and activities that they enjoy doing.
• Offer additional PTO to your best performers so they can come back well-rested.
• Allow time for employees to work on personal projects or explore new technologies that they are interested in.
• Offer learning opportunities such as certifications, workshops, conferences, and online courses, this is important as it shows investment in their career growth and professional development.

To conclude

Finding and recruiting new IT professionals that deliver the same performance is timely and very costly. Therefore, ensuring your best performers feel happy, fulfilled, and recognized is crucial to maintaining good results in your tech projects and business. 

By showing appreciation and recognizing individuals, you’ll create a productive and positive environment for your IT team to shine. Monetary rewards will also be crucial in keeping them satisfied inside your company as other companies keep offering higher salaries and other perks.

And if you’re having issues finding and recruiting tech talent into your projects, feel free to reach out for our help at humanit.pt/contacts/.