4 modern strategies to retain your offshore developers
Today, one of the primary reasons why businesses are considering hiring offshore developers and building distributed teams is the acute talent shortage. In fact, according to Manpower Group, there will be a global shortage of over 545K software developers by 2026. By going offshore, organisations can access massive talent pools and significantly reduce their operational costs, without compromising on quality.
While there are many advantages of working with distributed teams, there is one factor that has often been a pain-point — attrition. Today, skilled engineers are hopping from job to job, and taking their technical expertise with them. If your company plans on offshoring to cut costs, then a high employee turnover rate is not going to work in your favour. While salaries, perks, and benefits may cost you less, your business may still be struggling to retain the talent you need.
So how can you hire and retain your offshore developers for the long term? In this blog post, we’ve outlined four strategies that businesses across the globe can implement to reduce employee turnover when working with distributed teams.
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The need for companies to scale quickly and meet capacity is at an all-time high. In such a scenario, it can be challenging to allot time and resources to building a bulletproof recruitment process. However, in order to retain good employees, a company must first hire the right people.
How can you do that?
This is where an offshore development company comes into the picture. Partnering with the right company that can take over the recruitment process for you is critical. They not only hire the right offshore developers for your business but also instill in them the unique DNA of your organisation.
The right offshore partner will implement a recruitment process that includes skill tests, personality tests, and HR discussions to gain insights into the candidate’s thought process. Even existing developers of your offshore team can have a quick chat with a potential candidate to see if they can be a good fit for the team. Small measures like this can go a long way to retaining your offshore employees.
2. Offer unique incentives
Given the massive demand for engineering talent, if there are no perks attached to a job offer, retaining your offshore developers can be extremely challenging. Almost every company offers standard perks such as free transportation, healthcare benefits, performance-based bonuses, and stock options. The key lies in providing unique perks that your competitor does not offer.
For instance, Wipro grants its employees access to exclusive employee discounts and rewards at over 30,000 retail brands. Other untraditional perks include interest-free loans, contingency loans, or even free movie tickets.
Incentives like this can significantly help in building a strong relationship with your offshore developers. After all, they don’t share the same office space with you. Making your offshore team feel like a value-adding extension of your workforce can be the one reason they choose to work for you. Establishing well-thought-out incentives and rewards not only makes them feel valued and appreciated but will also ensure that they are happy working for you.
3. Challenge your employees
A study conducted by LinkedIn showed that over 36% of the respondents stated that the primary reason why they left their previous employer was because they didn’t feel challenged enough.
Offshore developers in countries like India love a good challenge. More often than not, they are looking for a clear career path with increasing responsibility, challenges, and achievements. Keeping this in mind, companies like TCS and L&T Infotech have incorporated programs that rotate employees into different disciplines once every two years. This gives them exposure to different projects, tech stacks, and sometimes, even locations.
What can you do?
Create opportunities where your offshore developers can enhance their existing skills or learn new ones, and they don’t always have to be technical. Consistently provide feedback about their performance at work. Ask for suggestions and solutions to problems, and encourage the sharing of ideas. Assign challenging group activities and promote teamwork amongst your employees.
This will not only keep them on their toes but will also give you invaluable insight into the capabilities and expertise of your offshore team. On the other hand, your employees will never have a dull day at work. It’s one of the surest ways to retain your offshore developers.
4. Ask and Listen
Employee retention and satisfaction are two sides of the same coin. Often, managers just presume that they understand how an employee feels about a task, an incentive, or a sudden change. However, the reality may be entirely different. This is why communication in the workplace is so important.
Establishing a transparent line of communication with an offshore team can be difficult, given the logistical challenges. You can’t take them out for a drink or have an honest conversation over coffee. Other times, your remote team may even be feeling isolated from your in-house team. But that makes it all the more important to ask questions.
Conducting periodic surveys to know your offshore developers is a simple yet effective step. It not only helps you understand individualised needs but also enables you to personalise rewards and incentives. You can also meet your offshore team once or twice a year, and get to know them on a more personal level.
If you do not care to ask, or listen, the chances of your offshore developers heading for the door as soon as the year-end bonuses are handed out is quite high. So, always make an effort to practice an open-door policy, especially with your remote team.
High attrition can destroy the value of going offshore. Companies lose talent, incur significant expenses, and get caught up in the never-ending cycle of hiring and being unable to deliver. Though these activities are time-consuming they are worth the effort, especially if you want to successfully retain your offshore developers.
At The Scalers, we not only hire the best talent, but we help you every step of the way, to retain them. If you have any questions, you can fill out the contact form below, and we would be more than happy to help you out.
