In an industry that seems to have endless new developments, work opportunities and exciting tech starts ups, how do IT companies attract and retain IT professionals in this fast-paced job market?
In a new study, job site Glassdoor looked at a sample of over 5 000 job transitions from thousands of CVs shared by job seekers on their site from 2007 to 2016. The study revealed that two of the main reasons people were leaving their current employer was because they felt they had stagnated in their career, and they were looking for a company with a better company culture.
As an organisation our emphasis is on our people, and some of our staff have been with the company for several years. We wanted to take the time to understand what had supported them staying and thriving with us over the years.
Career Growth Opportunities
In the 2015 study ‘Work Motivation of Software Professionals’, published in the International Research Journal of Business, career opportunities was listed as the most important factor professionals considered when applying for a job. According to the study, this means career growth opportunities are more important to professionals than other factors such as salary and employee benefits.
For our Operations Manager of Technical Consulting, Neale Evert, career growth opportunities has indeed been a factor in his career journey with us over the past 10 years. Neale originally joined our team back in June 2008 as an Intermediate Developer, and over the years he’s worked on various client projects before becoming involved with recruitment and line management.
One of the main reasons Neale has stayed with the company for a decade is because every year brought new lessons and opportunities for him to grow. “Working with the then Head of Technical Consulting, I had the role of Demand Principal and this gave me the opportunity to learn about the commercials of the business and account management, while also being exposed to our peoples’ career goals and objectives.”
Neale believes the mix of project opportunities and working with knowledgeable people has been of great benefit to his career growth over the years and has taught him many valuable lessons. “There is a focus on the people – your career, your life events, your challenges and adversities, these are all taken into account during all facets of your career at Saratoga” adds Neale.
Michelle van Kesteren, our Operations Manager of Business Consulting, has also had a similar journey of career growth over the past 6 years. Michelle initially joined the team as a Senior Business Analyst and during this time she worked on client-facing projects. At the time we also had the Analyst Centre of Excellence (ACE), which Michelle contributed to and eventually assisted in shaping. Eventually Michelle moved in to the operational side of the business and now forms part of the broader leadership team. “If I reflect on my career progression over the last 6 years, I’ve had the opportunity to grow significantly as a result of having phenomenal mentors in the organisation as well as outside of the organisation. I really do believe that this is what has accelerated my career over the years.”
The opportunity for career growth, and control of this growth, seems to be an important aspect for several of the staff we interviewed. Dorothy Mhlanga started her career with us as a Graduate Business Analyst fresh out of university and during her first few years she worked with a number of junior and senior consultants in the company. “This supported me in developing my analysis and consulting skills, and with the experience I gained I moved to an Analyst position, and I now work as a Consultant”.
Supportive Company Culture
Beyond career growth opportunities, company culture and feeling supported by the company you’re employed at are also very important to IT professionals. Hays, a specialist IT recruitment firm in the US, found in a 2017 report that 47% of people actively looking for new positions claim the company culture of their current employer is the main reason for wanting to leave. The report further discussed how a poor company culture can often be one of the main reasons staff leave their current organisation, while a positive company culture played a large role in attracting job seekers to an organisation.
A supportive company culture and career growth opportunities seem to go hand in hand, and for Dorothy this means organisations ensuring their staff have a well-rounded and holistic set of opportunities available to them. “This includes providing meaningful and challenging work that allows staff to develop and enhance their skills, as well as showing a commitment to corporate social responsibility.”
A sense of being supported is also important for Sharon Hendricks, who has been with the company for 12 years through company mergers, and this sense of support is something she appreciates. “If you are interested in your own personal growth, the sky is the limit. The support structures are all in place and yours for the taking.”
With over 8 years at the company, Nico van der Walt has also stayed with the team through mergers and acquisitions. While out of necessity the company structure might have become a bit more corporate over the years, Nico still feels our leaders are always down to earth and an open door policy is an important aspect of our company culture.
As part of the leadership team, Michelle has found that the supportive company culture is enabled by the high ethical standards demonstrated by our leadership team and staff. Our leadership team strive to be egoless leaders, who are open and supportive of the contributions and insights of the larger team, and this seems to make a positive contribution to our overall company culture.
People Matter
For IT companies and professionals, who often spend their days working with systems, it could perhaps be forgotten that people are actually the most important asset of an organisation. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which has been polling at least 1,000 American adults daily since January 2008, showed in 2011 that people were feeling worse about their jobs than any previous year. From the nearly 12,000 daily work diaries that were collected as part of the index, it was identified that managers didn’t know how to show people that they are valued, and this was having a huge impact on the job satisfaction and motivation of people.
With ‘People Matter’ being one of our three core company values, we try to constantly remind ourselves of the importance of our staff. Our values guide us in all the decisions we make as an organisation, and we believe we are the company we are today because of the people who have contributed to the organisation over the years. For Sharon, this focus on people is very evident. “Saratoga is invested in their people, and you’re not just a number in the company. It’s a home away from home, which is exactly what we all need as we spend so much of our time at work.”
Nico agrees that the emphasis on people is one of the reasons he chooses to stay part of the organisation. “It was highlighted again at our most recent company strategy get together – the focus is on the people, and this in turn creates the culture of the company. This outlook has meant investing in the staff, be it coffee mugs, to new computers or professional training.”
For Neale, the people he’s worked with over the years within the organisation is one of the main reasons that he’s spent a decade of his professional career with us. “I’ve been privileged to work with great people over the years who have all taught me invaluable lessons, without which my career would not be where it is today.”
For the continued growth of our company and our people, we’ll keep working towards creating a supportive company culture and to provide our staff with meaningful career growth opportunities. We’re always on the lookout for IT professionals who share our values and desire to work with interesting clients and technologies, so if Saratoga seems like a company you would like to join take a look at our open roles on our career page.
“The pace of organisational change is constantly accelerating, driven by advances in technology and a shifting global business paradigm. The Business Analysis profession is uniquely positioned to make sense of this change, its business impact and how organisations and their systems need to adapt”, Mark Gebhardt, CEO at Saratoga.
As an organisation, it’s a priority for us to not only invest in our business analysts, but also to invest in the greater Business Analysis community. “We are delighted to continue our long-running involvement with the BA Summit which provides a key platform in the South African business landscape where BA’s can engage, understand and learn in order to better shape our responses to this change” adds Gebhardt.
As with other years, our involvement with the BA Summit also extends to some of our thought leader business analysts presenting at the summit. Charlene Seini, a Senior Consultant at Saratoga will be discussing the growing need for generalist BA’s in her talk. “Companies need business analysts who have the breadth of knowledge across all Business Analysis competencies backed by sound business knowledge. This will enable businesses to quickly recognise problems, assess impacts and find innovative solutions to not only react to changes in the market but respond in such a way that it potentially transforms the way things are done.”
Dorothy Mhlanga, Consultant at Saratoga will also be presenting at the summit and will use her talk to explore failing IT projects. Her talk will cover how to identify struggling projects, steps to take in order to save such projects, and why in some cases it can be beneficial to companies to cancel failing projects early. “The idea behind my talk is that though challenging, there is a lot of business value in cancelling projects that are clearly failing instead of spending a lot of time and resources trying to salvage them – which is what tends to happen.”
“Saratoga is proud to continue our support of the BA community as a sponsor of this year’s BA Summit. Our investment in using Business Analysis as the foundation for our Business Consultants ensures that we have the skills necessary to adapt to a changing technology environment. Business Analysis is not just about IT projects, but provides the foundation for our Business Consulting team and ensures that they have the tools and context to create great customer experiences” believes James Neethling, Business Consulting Competency Lead at Saratoga.
Join us at the 2018 Business Analysis Summit to discover how organisations, in partnership with the Business Analysis profession, can embrace change and transform businesses to realise value.
