These resignations in the tech sector can be attributed to numerous factors such as low compensation, limited career advancement options, less opportunity to go abroad for onsite projects, higher burnout rates, etc. Moreover, reluctance to resume work from offices has aggravated it further.

Today, employees prioritize company culture, leadership, career development, quality of life, and work environment more than just reasonable compensation.

It suggests that if firms do not cater to these evolving employees’ needs appropriately, they can lose their top talent, thereby affecting the firm’s profitability and sustainability.

This blog elucidates the causes of unplanned attrition in the IT industry, discusses effective ways to retain them, and how resource management software can help.

Let’s get started:

What causes high unplanned attrition in the IT industry?

The IT industry is currently plagued by a phenomenon known as the Brain Drain, where highly-skilled employees are leaving at high rates due to funding crunch, rising inflation, layoffs, etc. This has led employees to seek a more flexible work environment with better work-life balance, job security, and growth opportunities.

Additionally, the rapid digitization of industries and increased focus on emerging technologies drive high demand for advanced digital skills. However, some companies may not be fully equipped with the necessary infrastructure to provide right opportunities. These limited career advancement opportunities can lead to dissatisfaction resulting in unplanned attrition.

Further, employees may feel demotivated when IT firms do not offer higher salaries and other incentives, such as bonuses, stock options, and flexible working arrangements. This will cause them to seek job opportunities elsewhere to secure more favourable compensation and benefits packages.

Besides, the demanding work culture of Silicon Valley, characterized by long hours and little time off, can lead to burnout and other adverse effects. It includes issues such as fatigue, anxiety, and an increased risk of illness among tech workers. These factors, along with experiences of micromanagement and a lack of promotion, can contribute to a high rate of employee turnover.

Now, let’s dive into the strategies that can help manage unplanned attrition and keep your skilled employees on board.

Best ways to reduce unplanned attrition in IT companies

Everyone has heard the adage that hiring someone new costs more than retaining the talent you already have. Let’s take an example to understand this- if an employee leaves, the cost of attrition includes training a new employee, salary paid during non-billable activities, and the foregone billings in the training phase, among other down sides.

This is why controlling attrition rates matters. Below listed are a few proven strategies to reduce it.

Allocate work to IT consultants as per skills & interests

Every IT project has unique skill requirements, and misalignment in resource competencies and demand can impact project quality or timeline. For instance, a data analytics expert with a strong background in statistics, ML, and data visualization is frequently deployed on tasks such as troubleshooting hardware issues and writing documentation. In the long haul, this could lead to disengagement and demotivation, with the data analyst leaving the organization.

Additionally, when an under-skilled employee is allocated to skill-intensive tasks, it hampers the project’s progress and delays its deadline. Thus, a resource manager must diligently assess each project’s requirements and the IT consultant’s skills and interests to allocate work accordingly. This will keep them engaged, eliminate boredom, and reduce the risk of unplanned attrition.

Monitor and track tech consultants’ utilization levels regularly

A study shows that 42% of IT workers facing high burnout levels are considering quitting their company in the next six months.

The high burnout levels among IT workers are a concerning trend and can be attributed to insufficient staffing, tight project deadlines, misalignment of skills and tasks, etc. These factors can eventually lead to increased physical and mental exhaustion and heightened stress. Conversely, when IT professionals are not utilized their full potential, they will become disengaged and demotivated in their current role and look for opportunities elsewhere.

To reduce the attrition rate, managers must monitor and track the utilization levels of the consultants. By optimizing the resources’ schedule and distributing workload evenly, managers can effectively utilize IT employees’ skills and knowledge. This enhances performance, boosts productivity, and prevents burnout or disengagement while lowering unplanned attrition.

Minimize the bench time of IT consultants efficiently

IT firms often maintain a pool of consultants on the bench to ramp up resources for new projects quickly. If they don’t, they may end up firefighting for resources at the last minute, causing a loss of business. This can be avoided by working closely with project managers to anticipate future project completions, identifying and securing new initiatives for ramp-down resources.

So, it is imperative for managers to efficiently manage the bench by proactively assigning them to billable or strategic work. In case their skills are unsuitable for emerging project vacancies, IT firms can implement on-the-job training or reskilling  programs to make them billable. This will improve their morale and make them feel valued and important, thus reducing unanticipated staff turnover.

Redesign the work environment into a remote/hybrid model

A study found that hybrid work reduced the attrition rate in a large tech firm by 35%.

The above data suggests that a mix of in-office and remote work aids employee retention. This can be attributed to the benefits of a hybrid work structure, such as increased flexibility, improved work-life balance, and better performance and productivity. So, managers should make efforts to redesign the work environment to suit the needs and preferences of the tech workers.

The resumption of work from offices in phases can also help IT firms to slow down attrition rates. Further, firms must invest in the right remote collaboration tools and implement stricter security measures to protect the company’s data. Additionally, firms can adopt flexible work schedules to accommodate employees’ evolving needs. This would lead to greater job satisfaction and better employee retention.

Leverage job rotation to break consultants’ monotony

When IT consultants are frequently deployed on similar projects, the monotonous, repetitive work can cause boredom and a feeling of career stagnation. This will result in lower morale, productivity, and unplanned attrition.

According to research, 85.7% feel that job rotation resulted in positive attitudes towards work and enhanced career development.

Therefore, managers can implement a job rotation strategy that helps resources diversify their skillsets and project portfolio. This attracts talent to stay with the company as they see a lot of opportunities to upgrade their skills and follow in the footsteps of their leaders to achieve career goals.

Facilitate succession planning for critical positions

High attrition rates, particularly in IT firms, require effective succession management to maintain business workflows. If not, it may lead to disruptions in the company’s operations, loss of key employees, and costly hiring cycles. This can also negatively impact the firm’s productivity, morale, and stability.

However, one strategy to manage unplanned attrition in the IT sector is to identify and groom potential successors for critical positions. For instance, managers can evaluate which junior developers have the skills, experience, and track record to fill the role of a senior developer in the future. Providing these potential candidates with a clear career path and development plan can give them a sense of growth. This will make them more likely to stay with the company long-term, reducing attrition.

Offer competitive compensation and benefits

“According to research, salaries and benefits remain the primary motivator for workers changing jobs.”

In today’s highly competitive job market, offering a competitive salary and benefits package is crucial for retaining top talent in the tech industry. Therefore, by providing employees with a comprehensive package that includes a wage revision cycle, viable bonuses, ESOPs, and other additional perks, employers can improve employee morale and motivation.

This can, in turn, lead to better performance and productivity. Moreover, offering frequent promotions and salary hikes during the appraisal will help attract and retain top talent. It also allows the company to maintain a favorable reputation in the industry.

Organize team-building activities regularly

Effective collaboration is essential for the success of IT projects and for the team to function efficiently. The shift to remote work since the pandemic has caused IT employees to feel disconnected and led to a decrease in team communication and cohesion, which can lead to a hostile work environment.

To address this, managers can implement team-building activities such as team outings, yearly retreats, etc. They can also arrange online workshops, training sessions, or webinars to support professional development and foster a sense of community among remote employees. These pursuits provide opportunities for informal social interactions, which allow team members to bond on a personal level, despite being physically distant, and contribute towards employee retention.

Encourage IT employees to take paid time off

IT employees often work long hours, have tight deadlines, and feel pressure to resolve last-minute technical issues. This high-pressure work environment can lead to increased stress levels, fatigue, and burnout, affecting employee morale and productivity in the long run.

To combat this, managers should encourage employees to take advantage of their paid time off to reduce stress and improve overall well-being. By providing employees with the opportunity to relax and rejuvenate, they will return to work feeling happier, well-rested, and more efficient. Furthermore, when employees take appropriate time off, it helps enhance employee satisfaction and reduces the likelihood of unplanned attrition, creating a healthier work environment for all.

Engage senior IT consultants in strategic roles

Senior IT consultants bring a wealth of experience and industry knowledge to the organization. Still, due to their seniority and higher cost rate, they are often limited to top-priority, billable projects. However, this can lead to monotony and stagnation, and they may seek new opportunities elsewhere. To retain them, managers should give them more prominent roles and assign them to lead new projects or mentor junior employees.

For instance, when an IT firm receives a new project, a senior developer’s role may go beyond implementing complex software systems. Instead, the expert could be assigned a critical role that includes mentoring and guiding junior developers, helping them to develop their skills and improve their performance. This way, by keeping them more involved in these strategic roles, IT firms can create a more rewarding work environment that is more likely to retain top talent.

Let’s now examine how resource management software can be beneficial.

How can resource management software helps minimize unplanned attrition in IT firms?

Today, organizations are leveraging technology to create an environment that fosters employee engagement and satisfaction. Similarly, advanced resource management software can help IT firms to retain top talent.

Here’s how-

• The ERM tool’s enterprise-wide visibility and advanced filters enable managers to identify the right consultants for the projects at the right time.  Moreover, the competency matrix within the tool also empowers managers to understand who can be considered for strategic and critical roles.
• The forecasting capabilities help predict resource shortages and surpluses in the long and short term, bridge that gap in advance and ensure efficient resource allocation. In addition, it boosts productivity and engagement, which lowers attrition.
• Managers can track their team’s utilization with color-coded heatmaps and associated reports and take corrective action if the tech workers are over or underutilized. Ensuring optimal utilization helps reduce burnout, boredom, and unplanned attrition.
• The collaboration function allows real-time communication to start conversations with team members across various touchpoints, encouraging a cohesive work environment and reducing attrition.
• Lastly, managers can use the open seat feature to publish open positions for various projects. Employees can express their interest in a project and get selected as per their capability. Allowing IT consultants to work on projects of their interest leads to improved motivation and retention in the workplace.

Conclusion

Unplanned attrition can be a significant challenge for the IT industry, leading to project disruptions, increased costs, and a loss of institutional knowledge. However, by combining the abovementioned strategies with robust resource management, IT firms can effectively manage unplanned attrition, leading to greater organizational stability and success.

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solution for managing your enterprise resources effectively and efficiently. With over 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has created its global presence across 50 countries and helped more than 100 customers achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has highly customizable products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software based on business requirements.

Finding the right staff members is only the first hurdle; the next task will be to keep them engaged. So, what initiatives can firms adopt to attract and retain the A&A workforce?

Building a robust talent retention strategy that focuses on compensation, benefits, and flexibility, along with career advancement, can make a huge difference.

It will help strengthen your talent pipeline, improve employee engagement, increase productivity, and more.

This post emphasizes some effective strategies to help F&A firms retain talent and drive your business into the future.

Before that, let’s understand the effects of attrition in the audit and accounting industry.

Consequences of high employee turnover in the audit and accounting industry

The “great resignation trend” has significantly impacted the global workforce, including the audit & accounting industry. As auditors and accountants are the most valuable assets of these firms, high employee turnover rates can hinder the success of these organizations.

Let’s discuss some of the outcomes of employee turnover.

Decreases profitability- When accounting personnel leaves, the organization bears the additional financial burden of recruiting and training new consultants. This impacts the company’s revenue and decreases its profitability.

Poor work quality – Employee turnover will affect the day-to-day operations such as bookkeeping, accounting, etc. This may lead to poor work quality due to a lack of competent consultants, increased workload for existing consultants, and more. As a result, it affects the project delivery, ultimately causing customer discontent.

Reduces team efficiency – When one of the consultants or auditors working in a team quits their job, it disrupts the entire team workflow and affects collaboration. This, in turn, reduces the efficiency and productivity of the team.

Loss of professional consultant knowledge – Senior accounting personnel possess knowledge, skills, and abilities gained through experience. When they leave the organization, it becomes challenging to replace the tacit knowledge they have.

Having listed the repercussions of employee turnover, let’s move on to understand some effective techniques that A&A firms can implement to retain their top talent.

7 ways to retain talent in an audit and accounting firm

Consider the impact on your business if one of your key employees suddenly decides to quit. It will have a negative implication on the project’s progress and adversely affect the team morale. Therefore, preventing this from happening is the best solution. But how do you achieve it?

Although some attritions cannot be avoided, fortunately, most can be avoided with effective strategies.

Here are some proven ways to help your organization build a cohesive team of professionals that will stay in the company for the long haul.

Align the hiring strategies with project requirements

According to a survey, 80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions.

The first step is for managers to assess the project demands and estimate the skills required. Then, they can evaluate consultants’ skills to meet short and long-term goals in advance. If they cannot source the consultants within the organization, the next step is to coordinate with HR and create a hiring plan that aligns with the project requirements. For instance, the A&A firm has landed a pipeline project of managing a company’s tax functions and policies. For this, they need tax analysts and consultants.

However, if the firm does not have the necessary consultants within the organization, they must create a well-structured hiring plan to procure the required skill sets. Managers must assess the short- and long-term project requirements and accordingly request the HR to hire permanent or contingent consultants. This will help eliminate last-minute firefighting, enable organizations to achieve their goals, and boost profitability.

Ensure competent allocation of consultants and auditors

Assigning accounting personnel to a project based on their skills and experience is critical to retain talent. However, when an experienced or skilled consultant is allocated to low-priority work, it will lower their morale and lead to disengagement in work. For example, suppose a senior auditor whose job is to plan and implement strategies for complex auditing projects is given the work of junior auditors, like checking the accountant’s work or examining documents. In that case, it will bring down their confidence and affect productivity.

Moreover, if this kind of work persists for longer, it will make them leave the organization. Conversely, when junior consultants are given high-priority critical work, they will feel overburdened and experience burnout. Additionally, being overloaded with work will jeopardize the project quality, cause project delays and impact business efficiency. Hence, accounting managers must ensure the competent allocation of work to consultants based on qualifications, abilities, availability, cost, etc. This will improve the productivity of the consultants’ quality of work and reduce turnover rates.

Facilitate stretch assignments for F&A professionals periodically

Stretch assignments are short-term projects assigned to employees that enable them to build their skills and abilities. Due to technological advancements, there is a rise in the demand for skilled F&A professionals; hence these assignments are gaining prominence in the audit and accounting industry. As a result, accounting managers must provide challenging opportunities beyond consultants’ current capabilities in the form of a new project, task, or role.

For example, Suppose an A&A firm has got an overseas accounting project. For this, they need specialized professionals with advanced accounting knowledge. Managers can identify suitable consultants from the resource pool and provide them with a stretch assignment related to accounting, like reviewing and verifying client documents, understanding the country’s tax laws and accounting standards, etc. If consultants perform well, they can be considered for multiple projects. In this way, when consultants are given on-the-job training and opportunities to explore new skills, they feel motivated and purposeful. This leads to employee job satisfaction, making it easier for companies to retain them.

Optimize the workload of accountants and consultants

According to a survey, almost 99% of accountants experienced some level of burnout, with an average score of 47 points.

Without insights into the utilization levels of consultants, managers can allocate them either excess or minimum work. To combat these issues, managers must have foresight into the current and future bookings of the consultants and their utilization rates. In case resources are underutilized, managers can mobilize them from non-billable to strategic/billable projects to boost financial returns.

When consultants are overutilized, it will lead to burnout and productivity issues. To combat this, managers can implement resource leveling for projects with flexible timelines by adjusting the start and end dates. Likewise, resource smoothing can be applied for time-restricted projects, where either the work can be redistributed as per consultant schedules or additional resources can be deployed. This way, managers can ensure the optimal utilization of consultants and equal workload distribution across the team members, thereby improving employee retention.

Implement mentor and mentee programs across the organization

According to a survey, the retention rates of mentees are 72% higher than 49% who do not participate in mentorship programs.

Organizations must include workplace mentoring programs wherein the mentors play a crucial role in improving the mentee’s career trajectory significantly. As audit and accounting is a skill-intensive industry, it is essential to focus on the consultants’ career growth to retain the top talent. Senior members can serve as mentors to their less-seasoned peers and help shape their finance skills and development in other areas.

Alternatively, these mentors can also teach, advise, and direct mentees to reach their individual goals.

This will help them expand their network and grow professionally. In this way, organizations can secure employee loyalties and promote internal progression within the company.

Provide career development opportunities for consultants

As per a survey, Investing in your team’s training & development is a technique that can prevent people from exiting.

Hiring and retaining skilled accounting staff is a perennial concern for A&A firms. For this, the organizations must facilitate Individual Development Program (IDP) to help consultants pursue their interests. For instance, the evolution of data analytics, AI, and ML enables accounting firms to make better strategic decisions and significantly improves consultants’ productivity and work quality. Therefore, managers must identify the existing or current skillsets and facilitate learning platforms or training programs to equip the consultants with the in-demand technical skills.

Moreover, to prevent accounting personnel from leaving, companies must implement measures such as cross-training, job shadowing, blended learning, peer-to-peer coaching, etc. When organizations show commitment toward the individual success of the employees, it makes them feel valued. Thereby improving employee engagement and retention.

Formulate effective employee recognition and incentive programs

As per a Gallup survey, companies that make employee recognition a priority have workers who are 56% less likely to be looking or watching for job opportunities.

Employee recognition, incentives, and benefits are vital to the talent retention strategy. The incentive and acknowledgment plans must include retirement benefits, bonuses, salary hikes, celebrating the crucial achievements of employees, reward programs, etc. Furthermore, recognizing the employees’ efforts positively impacts their performance and motivates other team members to strive harder to achieve their goals.

For instance, one of your onsite consultants delivers excellent services to the client by tracking their financial transactions accurately, ensuring the payments are received and paid on time, etc. Now, it’s important to provide words of positive affirmation and recognize the efforts with appropriate incentives, reward programs, etc. This motivation will have a direct impact on higher productivity and engagement.

Having discussed the effective strategies for talent retention, let’s see how an effective resource management software can help improve it.

How can resource management software help improve retention in audit and accounting firms?

As we look at the data on talent management trends, we see that technology and advanced tools significantly support many retention strategies. Thus, leveraging a next-gen resource management tool can help audit and accounting firms to streamline their talent strategy.

Let’s see how:

The advanced ERM tool offers 360-degree visibility of the consultants’ profiles, including their skills, competencies, experiences, availability, costs, etc. Additionally, the custom filters enable the accounting managers to identify and deploy the best-fit resources to the projects and pre-empt allocating over/under-skilled consultants.

Moreover, the competency matrix enables managers to identify and consider the right consultants for stretch assignments.

Furthermore, centralized visibility into the consultants’ skill inventory will help the organization make informed decisions regarding implementing effective retention strategies. Accordingly, managers can develop training and upskilling programs for the consultants.

Accounting supervisors can also periodically analyze the utilization levels of the consultants with real-time BI reports like color-coded heatmaps and actual vs. forecast reports. These insights can help implement appropriate techniques to optimize consultants’ utilization levels.

Moreover, the tool’s collaboration feature enables accounting professionals to foster communication between teams within a single system.

Finally, managers can publish open positions for various projects with the open seat feature. It allows consultants to apply for vacancies based on their interests. This way empowering the workforce helps prevent a “Great Resignation trends” at your firm.

Wrapping up

Employee retention is something every accounting firm faces and often struggles with, but it’s critical to firms that are focused on success—and succession. – Illinois CPA Society.

Retaining finance and accounting professionals is one of the significant challenges faced by A&A firms. Organizations can improve employee retention by implementing the above-mentioned strategies paired with advanced resource management software. This will help them achieve their business goals and boost profitability and sustainability.

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solution for managing your enterprise resources effectively and efficiently. With over 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has created its global presence across 50 countries and helped more than 100 customers achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has highly customizable products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software based on business requirements.

While employee attrition has been a problem for professional services firms, the rise in economic uncertainties, market volatility, and a paradigm shift in the work culture after the pandemic has aggravated it further.

If not addressed appropriately, unplanned attrition can cause a shortage of the right personnel and a loss of billable opportunities, thereby affecting the firm’s sustainability.

Therefore, Professional services firms must strive to curb the rising attrition rate before top-talent employees start walking out the door.

This blog elucidates the impact of unplanned attrition in a PS firm, discusses proven practices to retain them, and how resource management software can help in the process.

But first, let’s understand,

What is unplanned attrition?

Unplanned attrition refers to the departure/exit of employees from an organization for reasons that could have been avoided. Over time, it diminishes the size of the organization’s workforce and affects productivity, revenue, sustainability, etc.

What causes unplanned attrition?

Following are the reasons that can lead to resignation, early retirement, etc., in professional service firms.

Low morale and disengagement – Failure to assign consultants to tasks matching their skills and availability can significantly bring their morale down. For example, assigning niche-skilled employees to a low-priority jobs can make them feel less valued. Moreover, if consultants are not utilized to the best of their capacity, it can cause underutilization. If the situation persists, the employees will be disengaged and lose interest in their daily activities. Eventually, they may look for better opportunities, leading to unplanned attrition.

Burnout – Consultants are often booked on work beyond their capacity, leading to overutilization. It is more noticeable during the seasonal peak when the scarce niche-skilled resources are often booked on multiple projects at once. This stretches their schedules thin. In the long run, this overallocation/utilization of consultants can cause stress and burnout and thus cause attrition.

No career advancement opportunities – Every consultant has personal aspirations and growth goals. They aspire to grow and develop new skills and diversify their career portfolios. If an employee doesn’t get adequate growth opportunities, they may leave for the companies that assist them in their career trajectory, resulting in attrition.

Incompetent pay packages – If a firm fails to match pay scales and compensations with market standards, it can leave consultants discontented. Additionally, biases in salaries in the same roles can also generate dissatisfaction among consultants. As a result, professionals may decide to quit for other firms that facilitate better financial growth.

Inefficient management – Failure to build an efficient leadership generates an environment of discontent among employees. It also gives rise to a lack of trust in the management. Further, micromanagement in the form of frequent check-ins on updates, focusing on irrelevant details, not trusting team members, etc., can demotivate the workforce. As a result, consultants may ultimately leave, causing unplanned attrition.

Let’s look at the ill effects of unplanned attrition on professional services firms.

How is it detrimental to a professional service firm?

Unplanned attrition can make professional service firms lose their competitive edge, affect team productivity, and reduce overall profitability.

Following are the repercussions of unplanned attrition in detail.

• Affects team dynamics – Effective collaboration is vital for a team’s smooth functioning. So, if one consultant leaves, it affects the whole team’s dynamics, and the tasks that depend on them get delayed. Thus, the team’s efficiency and productivity go down.
• Loss of tacit knowledge – While explicit knowledge is easily accessible via training, study materials, etc., tacit knowledge comes with years of experience. Therefore, if a seasoned consultant working on a long-term project resigns, replacing their tacit knowledge, insights, and intuitions becomes challenging.
• Project delays and client dissatisfaction – Unplanned attrition leads to last-minute firefighting for consultants. Further, it sometimes leads to the wrongful hiring of less competent employees or professionals with non-matching skills. Deploying these consultants on projects results in subpar deliverable quality and schedule overruns, causing client dissatisfaction and business losses.
• Excessive workload – If several consultants leave the organization, especially in the middle of a project, managers may delegate additional tasks to the other teammates to expedite the project delivery. However, it may result in work overload for them, causing burnout and lowered productivity.

Given the reasons and consequences of unplanned attrition, the following section elaborates on the proven practices to reduce it.

How to address unplanned attrition in professional service organizations?

Unplanned attrition can significantly impact a professional services firm, as explained above.

Here are a few proven strategies to reduce it.

Establish an effective retention strategy for the new joinees

A study reveals that around 43% of freshers and 38% of associates hired for intermediate-level positions in PS firms resign within 6 months.

So, managers should focus on making the onboarding process engaging for new hires. The new consultants should be made familiar with the organizational structure and introduced to all the team members, seniors, etc. Managers should also ensure that new hires understand the processes, daily responsibilities, and performance metrics. They can also assign individual mentors to these new hires as appropriate to expedite the addressal of their queries.

Moreover, they should provide regular constructive feedback on the performance. For instance, if a fresher is given a shadowing opportunity to work on a Java project and learn the language alongside. During the process, the consulting manager can conduct regular tests to evaluate their learning pace. They can monitor their performance, appreciate good work, and convey areas of improvement. It will help increase their engagement while staying motivated and committed to the firm.

Allocate work to consultants as per qualifications and experience

Assigning the right work is pivotal in retaining employees. If a highly experienced or niche-skilled consultant is assigned to low-priority or mundane jobs, it may make them feel less valued and disengaged. If it persists, these consultants may decide to leave the organization for better opportunities.

On the contrary, an incompetent or less experienced consultant booked on a critical project or task may feel overwhelmed and burned out. So, managers should assess individuals’ qualifications, skills, competencies, experience, availability, etc., and book them on projects accordingly to ensure competent resource allocation.

Challenge junior/mid-level consultants on stretch assignments periodically

A stretch assignment is a project or task beyond an employee’s existing skill sets or knowledge. Every professional service firm strives to utilize each consultant’s current skills and competencies effectively. To achieve that,

The management must also provide capable junior or mid-level consultants (or associates) the opportunities to work on stretch assignments.

For example, consulting managers can assign a fresher Java developer with the task of learning a new programming language and build an app based on that in a stipulated period. If the developer succeeds, the organization can consider them for multifaceted projects and promotion. This on-the-job development makes the consultant purpose-driven and encourages them to take on more challenging tasks. Thereby making them feel engaged to stay in the organization.

Consider senior consultants for strategic roles besides regular assignments

Senior consultants often look to diversify their areas of work and take up jobs that enable them to exhibit their learnings, insights, and vast knowledge. So, managers should consider them for more strategic roles or decision-making activities besides their day-to-day duties. This will reduce their job mundaneness and keep them engaged.

For instance, managers can deploy senior consultants to train and mentor a new pool of newly hired freshers in their respective departments. These experienced consultants can also be trained for managerial or strategic jobs like leading a project team or helping strengthen a client retention strategy. These practices will help instill a sense of belonging and motivate them to continue working in the organization.

Create a training and development program for every consultant

Every consultant aspires to learn and grow professionally. The absence of proper career advancement opportunities may make them exit the organization. So, considering individual consultants’ career goals while creating a training and development program is paramount. Managers can create an effective Individual Development Program (IDP) to help employees achieve their personal career aspirations and objectives.

They should also ensure the skills and competencies that employees learn align with the company’s long-term strategic goals. For this, they can assess and implement the most suitable learning method, such as peer-to-peer coaching, reverse mentoring, blended learning, shadowing, etc., for each consultant. Thus, a personalized training method for each individual ensures higher participation, engagement, motivation, and employee retention levels.

Implement effective compensation planning as per market standards

Benefits and compensation planning is a part of retention strategy that supports a company’s business goals, operating objectives, and employee needs. A comprehensive compensation plan includes salaries, benefits, incentives, equity, retirement plans, bonuses, and all the other relevant elements.

For instance, let’s say a technical consultant working on the client’s location succeeds in bringing additional business besides delivering the project successfully. So, managers should incentivize them appropriately to value their exceptional effort. This way, creating a comprehensive compensation plan enhances engagement levels, increases productivity and profitability, and makes them committed to stay, reducing unplanned attrition.

Formulate a 360-degree feedback mechanism at regular intervals

Feedback helps employees understand their performance and determine the scope for improvement. So, managers should focus on conducting real-time feedback at regular intervals. For example, if a consultant is deployed at the client’s location, the manager should give regular feedback on their performance to help understand if they are meeting performance expectations. The client’s feedback can also be considered while reviewing the on-site consultant’s performance.

Besides, firms should enable teammates and juniors to review their experience with the current team leader, preferably through anonymous feedback surveys.

It can encourage team members to give feedback about their seniors and raise any concerns without any fear of retribution. This 360-degree feedback mechanism helps eliminate unfairness, enhances trust and transparency, and facilitates a quick addressal of issues to retain trust and commitment in the management, mitigating attrition.

Given the effective ways to control attrition, let’s understand how resource management can help.

How can resource management software help minimize unplanned attrition in PS firms?

Getting a clear picture of increasing attrition rates in your professional services company can be difficult. Advanced resource management software can help these PS firms to create a robust strategy to retain your top talent.

Here’s how-

The ERM tool provides 360-degree visibility into all the consultants’ profiles, including skills, competencies, experience, etc., across the organization. The advanced filters help resource managers identify the best-fit professionals for each project and prevent the allocation of under/over-skilled consultants. Moreover, the competency matrix within the tool also empowers leaders to understand who can be considered for stretch assignments.

Managers can also take the guesswork out of understanding attrition with real-time business intelligence (BI) that turn data into insights. This enables them to make informed decisions ahead of the curve.

For instance, color-coded heatmaps and forecast-vs-actual report help foresee consultants’ utilization levels and identify under/overutilized individuals. Accordingly, managers can mobilize underutilized consultants to billable opportunities or implement appropriate optimization techniques for overutilized consultants. This will help ease the workload and reduce burnout.

Further, the project vacancy report helps foresee pipeline projects’ demands and helps determine if they are one-off or recurring. Accordingly, resource managers can hire permanent or contingent consultants.

The tool also allows to publish open positions for various projects across the organization. If there are consultants with matching skillsets, they can apply for these vacancies. Consulting managers can then assess each profile and book the best-fit candidate for each open position. This practice promotes flexibility and empowerment, enabling consultants to pursue their lines of interest.

Conclusion – Additional tips

Professional services firms rely heavily on their human resources. Therefore, countering unplanned attrition is very crucial to stay sustainable and profitable for them.

One can implement some best strategies discussed above and leverage resource management software to retain consultants and reduce attrition. Here are a few additional tips:

• Provide leadership roles to high-performing consultants.
• Give performance-related feedbacks at regular intervals.
• Foster a culture of trust and transparency.
• Encourage every consultant to take up additional responsibilities.
• Implement a transparent reward and recognition program.
• Clarify the roles and responsibilities to avoid confusion and conflicts.
• Allow consultants to create their Individual Development Plan (IDP).
• Promote an open-door policy for consultants.
• Create and conduct well-being programs and activities regularly.

The Glossary

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in helping multinational clients manage their resources efficiently and effectively. With over 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence across 50 countries and has helped 100+ clients with their Workforce Planning Software. Saviom also provides tools for Enterprise Project Resource Management, Project Portfolio Management, and Professional Service Automation. Boost your remote team collaboration with Saviom.

Instead, it has become vital to maintaining the right blend of generalist and specialist (niche-skilled) resources for business continuity.

Let’s understand it better with an industry-related stat.

A report reveals that active job openings for Metaverse-related niche skills such as AR/VR, blockchain, and AI have seen a huge surge in the recent past.

While this stat pertains to just one industry, the same holds true for almost every industry across the globe. In other words, the demand for niche-skilled resources has gained significant momentum worldwide.

This blog elucidates the challenges with a niche-skilled workforce, proven tips to retain it, and how resource management software can help.

But first, let’s first understand the basics.

What are niche-skilled resources and their importance?

A niche-skilled resource is someone who either has specialized knowledge in a specific technology or is equipped with skills not commonly available in the market. This expertise in a specific field is garnered through relevant certifications and continuous effort to advance and hone their skillset.

Let’s take some IT industry examples to understand the concept better.

Microsoft .NET developers are readily available in the market as one can learn these .NET skills through study material, online courses, etc. On the contrary, Teradata (Relational Database Management System or RDBMS) skills are not easy to acquire as there are not many training materials or online tutorials available for the same. Therefore, Teradata developers can be considered niche-skilled resources.

Similarly, certain Jave frameworks, such as “Spring or Hibernate” need more time and experience to master. So, the resources with the hands-on experience and knowledge of these frameworks besides core Java skills can be considered niche-skilled resources.

As industry experts, niche skilled resources enable organizations to complete domain-specific tasks with precision. In addition, the deep knowledge in their respective fields allows them to delve deeper into their tasks and bring innovative results. They also help organizations cater to specific client demands and bring in more insights to execute and complete a critical project successfully. Thus, it helps a firm acquire more projects that demand niche skills and increases the client base and retention rates. As the resource pool equipped with critical skills is not readily available, firms can maintain a competitive edge in the industry and boost growth and profit margins.

Now that the basics about niche skilled resources are clear, let’s explore some of the key challenges with niche skilled resources.

What are the challenges with niche-skilled resources?

While niche-skilled resources are undeniably great assets, organizations often face some challenges while hiring and retaining them.

Here are a few prominent ones.

Lead time to onboard is significantly higher

As niche-skilled resources are often scarce in the market, the demand for them is higher. Therefore, companies often compete against one another to hire them. Thus, it becomes challenging for an organization to find suitable candidates to fill critical roles.

In addition, there are more screening tests and interviews for niche skilled resources at multiple levels to evaluate their industry knowledge, technical acumen, etc. As a result, the lead time to onboard niche-skilled resources is significantly higher than for generic resources.

Skills cannot be acquired using standard training/upskilling

As mentioned earlier, there are generally no standard study materials, courses, etc., to learn most niche skills. In addition, companies generally don’t have subject matter experts in these skills and identifying suitable niche-skilled external trainers is also challenging.

Even if an organization can provide standard training and upskilling programs, it will only be theoretical knowledge and aspects of the skillset. Thus, the lack of practical knowledge makes it challenging to utilize these skills in real life.

Project delays due to unplanned attritions

As niche-skilled resources are in high demand, an increased level of competition for them exists among organizations. Every firm tends to offer lucrative job offers, including higher pay packages, recognition programs, better insurance coverage policies, and other non-monetary benefits to attract them.

Consequently, these resources may leave an organization if they find a better opportunity elsewhere. When this unplanned attrition happens, especially in the middle of a crucial project, it causes delays and even client dissatisfaction and profit losses.

Burnout due to excessive workload

As niche-skilled resources are often fewer in an organization, managers tend to book them on multiple projects without considering their available capacity. This results in an excessive workload, and their schedules get stretched thin.

As a result, they have to complete multiple projects simultaneously, making it difficult for niche skilled resources to maintain the project quality and meet the deliverables within the stipulated time. It eventually causes employee burnout and lowers productivity and performance.

Reluctance to learn or work on generic skills

As niche-skilled resources have very specialized knowledge, finding suitable work for them can be challenging for an organization. Therefore, managers sometimes consider deploying them on projects requiring generic skills when they are benched to prevent underutilization.

However, most of these resources are apprehensive as they might lose their competitive edge and show reluctance to learn or work on generic skills.

So, finding another suitable project as soon as they are rolled off from one becomes challenging. Resultantly, when they hit the bench, it increases idle time and billable losses for organizations.

7 effective strategies to retain a niche-skilled workforce

Retaining the niche-skilled workforce is more challenging as one has to cater to their aspirations and ensure they are not often made to work on generic skills. However, one can follow a few time-tested and effective strategies to retain critical resources, as given below.

Here are a few time-tested ones.

Offer salaries and benefits as per market standards

Niche-skilled resources are scarce and expensive as they specialize in skills that are generally not available. Therefore, providing competitive salaries as per industry standards is crucial to avoid their loss to your competitors. It helps keep the workforce’s morale high and enhances job satisfaction and the sense of belonging, increasing employee retention rates.

Additionally, organizations can consider providing other benefits such as free gym memberships, sponsored courses, parental leave, stock options, free mental therapy sessions, etc. Besides, facilitating a flexible or hybrid work culture will help boost the satisfaction and work-life balance of niche skilled resources.

Assign the work matching skills and expectations

Niche-skilled resources acquire their specialized skills through years of experience and hard work. Therefore, they often don’t prefer working on projects that require generic skills instead of their niche skills. Assigning these employees to generic work may make them disengaged and demotivated to continue working, increasing unplanned attrition rates.

So. it is imperative for managers to find and assign them projects that match their hard-earned skills and expectations most of the time. For instance, if an employee is an experienced AI developer, managers should look for projects that require AI skills. In case the resource is assigned to a core Java project for an extended period, they may decide to leave to join an organization that lets them use their hard-earned artificial intelligence development skills.

Prevent over/underutilization of niche-skilled resources

As niche-skilled employees are fewer, they are often deployed on multiple projects beyond their capability during peak demand. It leads to overutilization, which causes burnout and affects their performance. In other cases, projects with niche skill requirements may be very few or minimum during the trough period. It can lead to their underutilization and cause billable losses.

Therefore, managers must track and optimize their utilization levels with the proper optimization techniques. For instance, resource leveling can be applied for projects with flexible timelines to adjust their start dates per the availability of critical resources to avoid overallocation. For the trough period, managers can either assign these resources to projects requiring generic skills if they agree or sell their excess capacity.

Provide upskilling opportunities to prevent skill obsolescence

In this hyper-competitive global business world, staying relevant is the key to maintaining a competitive edge. The same holds true for the niche-skilled workforce. While these resources are highly specialized in their domain, they, too, need to stay abreast of the changing skill demands and keep up with evolving trends in their niche expertise.

For instance, X Analytics in data analytics can help solve challenges such as climate change, disease prevention, etc. So, data analysts can be trained in X Analytics to keep them relevant. It will help them stay competitive in their niche to cater to ever-evolving demands.

Regularize the competent on-demand niche-skilled resources

Sometimes, contingent niche-skilled resources become a great asset to a company as they help share the workload of permanent employees at times of peak demand. However, once the contractual period is over, their services will no longer be available. Along with this, the knowledge acquired by these niche-skilled resources will also exit the organization once they leave.

Therefore, organizations should identify and select this on-demand niche-skilled workforce and consider regularizing them. Managers can renew their contracts, pay them competitive salaries, or coordinate with their staffing agencies to promote them to permanent positions and retain them.

Offer an alternate career path to keep them engaged

Niche-skilled resources are often required for short-term projects or the initiation stage of long-term projects. So, finding suitable projects to keep them deployed and engaged becomes challenging. Moreover, such resources also feel a sense of saturation owing to the monotonous nature of their work in various projects. So, instead of being booked on projects demanding generic skills, they look for an organization that caters to their growth aspirations.

So, to keep them engaged and motivated, managers must offer leadership roles like senior management posts, team leads, etc., to assist their career advancement. Moreover, providing opportunities to teach niche skills to juniors at regular intervals can also help make them feel valued for their skills, keep them motivated, and retain them.

Encourage them to build secondary niche skills as per interest

Maintaining niche-skilled resources booked on projects matching their skills all the time is an arduous job. The reluctance to learn generic skills makes it more challenging to make such resources billable for most of their capacity throughout the year. Therefore, managers can reason with and motivate them to consider learning new secondary niche skills.

Organizations need to conduct product research in the job market and identify niche skills that align with their long-term objectives.

This can then be presented to critical resources to choose a niche skill based on their interest. It enables them to diversify the niche employees’ portfolios. When niche-skilled employees see that their secondary niche skills are also being built, they stay more engaged and committed to the organization.

How can resource management software help retain niche-skilled employees?

Resource management software provides 360-degree visibility of resource profiles. It also helps managers to mark particular employees as “niche-skilled” resources while creating their profiles. It helps them keep track of them and apply advanced filters to pick the right fit for each project whenever needed.

Managers can also track their utilization rates once they are assigned to projects through utilization reports. If resources are found to be over/underutilized, appropriate course-corrective actions can be taken to optimize their utilization rates, avoid burnout or billable losses, and enhance profitability.

Conclusion

Niche-skilled resources are unarguably imperative to maintain a competitive edge. However, it is equally important to overcome these challenges to tap into their maximum potential and retain them in an organization.

The above-discussed practices combined with a resource management solution can help you streamline niche skilled resource management and ensure business success.

So, what’s your organization’s strategy to retain a critical workforce?

The Glossary

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in helping multinational clients manage their resources efficiently and effectively. With over 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence across 50 countries and has helped 100+ clients with its Workforce Planning Software. Saviom also provides tools for Enterprise Project Resource Management, Project Portfolio Management, and Professional Service Automation. Boost your remote team collaboration with Saviom.

According to recent Gartner research, “By 2030, the demand for remote work will increase by 30% as Gen Z will enter the workforce.”

While working from a brick-and-mortar office space, employees had the privilege to socialize at cafeterias, office desks, or work events. However, with the rise of remote work, communication and bonds between colleagues are slowly becoming strained. Therefore, organizations need to keep their virtual teams aligned with company culture while ensuring their productivity.

As rightly quoted by Bang Gae, “teamwork makes the dream work,” companies must organize virtual team building activities that leverage team empowerment and employee engagement. It includes weekly activities, happy hours, coffee meetings, virtual games sessions, and fun challenges. These practices reinforce employee morale, strengthen team connections, and maximize productivity.

This article will cover some best practices and benefits of virtual team building activities.

Let’s begin with understanding what exactly is virtual team building.

What is Virtual Team Building?

Virtual team building is a continuous process of bringing remote teams together and creating bonds with teammates through various communication technologies in a similar office environment. Since communication is not in person, trust and transparency are crucial.

Virtual team building activities require specific initiatives to be taken by the team leaders to keep the team on the same page. 

For example; Virtual lunch can replicate cafeteria lunch, casual coffee meetups, video streaming, stress busters games, and more. It helps teams connect personally by bringing human interaction to virtual work.

Now that we know the basics let’s understand different benefits in more detail here.

Benefits of virtual team building activities for remote teams

Regular virtual team building activities help your workforce quickly adapt to a new remote work lifestyle. It helps minimize the negative impact of online workplace cultures, such as the inability to separate work time from personal time, loneliness, and the added stress of a global health crisis.

According to Gallup research, “Virtual team building activities lead to an increase in employee performance rate, claiming 41% lower absenteeism and 21% higher profitability.”

Here is how virtual team building activities can benefit you:

Boosts Employees’ Morale

Constantly pushing teams to deliver work and adhere to deadlines can cause disengagement and burnout. Thus the ideal team leader must encourage the team to function cohesively by conducting virtual team building activities such as group discussions, online meetings, brainstorming, casual meetup, and more. These team bonding practices empower the team with positive reinforcement and make them feel valued.

It aids in developing mutual respect amongst employees, boosts employee morale, and eliminates internal conflicts.

Promotes Workforce Collaboration

Projects cannot succeed without team efforts as most tasks are interdependent and demand coordination between the resources. In a concrete workspace, it is easier for team collaboration. But when employees are working virtually, it gets challenging to align the team with the project’s progress. There are greater chances of discrepancies in communication.

Therefore, conducting virtual team building drills proves beneficial. It helps employees stay connected with coworkers and promotes them to work cohesively. It also makes resources aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and enables them to coordinate and complete tasks according to their competence, saving time and additional effort.

Supports Innovation Management

Innovation is a key to gaining a business advantage in the competitive industry. Virtual team building is a medium to bring all employees under one roof,  promote creativity, brainstorm, and foster innovation. When there are multiple perspectives, any idea can lead to a breakthrough innovation for a firm.

The innovation management strategy will boost team collaboration and allow people to interact, share, and receive constructive feedback. When employees look at an issue or challenge through the lens of innovation, they become more involved in achieving the company’s long-term goals.

Increases Productivity

When teams are siloed, chances are they don’t have a clear work direction which can lead to lower productivity. But virtual team building activities allow team leaders to explain organization goals with utmost clarity.

When employees have a sense of purpose, it motivates them to work with all their might to reach the goal. It, in turn, results in improving the resource pool’s performance index without any form of employee burnout.

Encourage Versatility

Several organizations now demand a versatile workforce to respond quickly and effectively to ever-changing developments. Thus, organizing team-building activities enhances resource skills and expertise in more than one discipline. It is also a safe zone for employees to try new tasks and make mistakes without the fear of repercussions.

technology, and people.

Reinforce Positive Work Culture

Using the diligent intuitive tool, organizations can ensure that remote teams have clear insight and visibility of all ongoing work. It will make all team members accountable for producing quality work.

Regular office catch-ups, work-related discussions all lead to a significant influence on employees, thereby reinforcing positive workplace cultures. Virtual team building games, lunch or a coffee break, book/music clubs, contest nights, virtual happy hours, birthday celebrations can boost positive work culture in an organization.

Build Diverse Relationships

The best work culture leverages resources from different time zones, embraces diversity (cultural/gender/race difference), and celebrates it. Thus, virtual team building activities help organizations build meaningful relationships and connections among geographically distributed teams and develop cross-generational relationships. It exposes virtual teams to new ways of working across boundaries through systems, processes, technology, and people.

The advantages of team-building activities are substantial. Let’s now look at some of the best practices that support virtual team-building with it.

Best Practices For Virtual Team-building

Team leaders can avail the benefits of the virtual work environment and promote team bonding  by following some tips given below: 

Regular check-ins & feedback with teammates

It is easy to check in on employees in traditional workspaces and keep a tab on their work rate by just visiting their cubicles. However, it gets challenging when the team is dispersed across boundaries. Managers must therefore make it a point to conduct regular check-ins with employees. It will help resources enhance their performance and get a clear picture of the process and scope of improvement from their perspective.

Aside from support, most managers’ and employees’ critical need is to find a shared understanding of what work to prioritize. The one-on-one conversation with employees will help managers understand how best to support employee’s work, productivity, growth, and success.

Foster virtual water-cooler chats

From casual office breaks to impromptu chats at a colleague’s desk, physical office space provided several opportunities for interaction with colleagues. To replicate this experience, managers can schedule virtual water-cooler discussions weekly where team members can indulge in a casual conversation or icebreaker questions over a cup of tea or coffee.

These simple yet effective initiatives can positively impact remote employees’ mental well-being and help them feel less isolated.

Conduct employee wellness programs

Employees are struggling to embrace the sudden shift of virtual work culture due to the challenging times of pandemic. As both of these factors have a significant impact on employees’ wellbeing, companies should consider investing in 3 domains of wellbeing initiatives, i.e., mental, physical, and social wellbeing.

Companies can provide wellness packages to employees and introduce the concept of mindfulness. Other supports include free and accessible counseling for mental well-being in remote employees, reimbursement for fitness activities, etc., to address employee’s stress, work concerns, and challenges.

Provide Recognition and Awards

Team leaders can deliver praise and acknowledgment to well-performing employees by providing recognition and awards. The recognition awards such as employee of the month, team hero, etc., will boost employee morale and motivate others to perform better in tasks.

Beyond financial incentives, other perks for employees can include online training, workspace upgrades, a wellness package, technology allowances, etc. It will make everyone aware of the performance expectations and drive them to take ownership of their work.

Conduct Daily Stand-ups

Regardless of whether the team is working remotely across different geographical boundaries or co-located, organizing daily stand-ups will bring all employees to the same page. A short, consistent, and focused daily stand-up will align resources on the highest priority tasks before the day starts. The success of any stand-up meeting depends on team participation and effective communication. People can move in sync only when everyone is aware of the team’s objectives, project deadlines, and team member availability.

Conclusion

In a post-pandemic world, most companies are considering remote work culture as a permanent option. The employees can save significant travel time while the organizations can cut down on expensive real-estate costs. If the activities are well-coordinated, it can be a win-win for both parties.

Thus, team-building drills can help organizations to prepare their workforce during this impromptu work transition period. It is known to be more effective when it is intentional and has a purpose as it transcends cultural and physical barriers. It also allows employees to participate without typical corporate hierarchies and across diverse geographical boundaries.

In a nutshell, team-building activities are essential to building a stable remote workforce for any business. By creating a fun and collaborative virtual environment where transparent communications are encouraged, you can help your team thrive and gain business profitability, even when they’re working virtually.

What are the key team-building practices you have adopted for your virtual employees?

The Glossary

The SAVIOM Solution

SAVIOM is the market leader in offering the most powerful and configurable solutions for managing enterprise resources efficiently and effectively. Having more than 20 years of experience, this Australian-based MNC has a global presence in over 50 countries. It is also popular with more than 100 customers and helping them to achieve their business goals. SAVIOM also has products for project portfolio management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software which can be easily customized as per business requirements.