Attrition in technology companies during pandemic
Attrition has been a major initiator for many conversations in the year 2021. It all starts with rumour mongering, he/she is leaving, he/she is going where and more.
For those thinking of exit, there is that usual process of discussing with various levels of leadership, there is also a % of those who finally stay back after those discussions and a subset who wanna move on.
For those not leaving yet, there is fear of missing out or the anxiety that you’re not qualified enough to pocket the same kind of jobs that others are getting [The grass on the other side is greener].
Most project leaders, managers at various levels discuss, retrospect involving the Director, HR partners about things that are supposedly driving attrition — like compensation, the environment, the market, the competitor companies setting up new teams in the same domain, and so on. For a project leader, this is an experience and brings the best out of you.
1.Attrition is a natural event in a technology company. Everyone moves on one day or the other as its a knowledge industry and there is huge demand suddenly due to various factors. There is no need to project attrition like melodrama.
2. Attrition can be grouped into various groups. There is usually more than one reason for someone to decide to leave a team or a company. Careful analysis is needed to be able to the right set of grouping.
3. Attrition is an last act of multiple events that are building up. You can’t control it at last. Instead, you should focus on what you can control before hand.
Let’s see what a project leader or first level managers should focus more which are in their space of control, besides many out of control reasons.
Lets look at how well the work is aligned with your members through a OKR Or similar goal setting mechanism? How are the business results in your product line or department, if its regularly communicated to team? Is your team generating value to the product and if member appreciate that? Is there a clear SP[Strategic planning], BP[Business plan] for your business? Are you investing in the growth of the engineers with a clear CDP[Competency development plan]? If there is integrated project plan and all critical paths identified, any resource overloading situation is there in the team? Is the One on One communication effective, regular? Has the personal connect established with your members? Are members recognized and rewarded instantly for their contribution?
I’m sure you will be asked to do a RCA when a member leaves, its OK, you can execute it well and find working actions, give inputs to senior management, HR partners with some actions.
Even after implementing many actions which are pro people, people will leave the team or company, wish them luck and continue your focus on building team, which is an continuous process and management will surely support such initiatives with necessary resources.
Every attrition gives the project leader/manager, an opportunity. Its time to figure out how to rebuild and come out strong. Keep calm and focus on the product’s long term architecture and roadmap. In parallel also continue the work of solving immediate customer pain points.