You found the right candidate. You made a competitive offer. You onboarded them smoothly. Everything’s great — your new tech hire is enthusiastic, engaged, and already making a difference.
But what happens after the giddy honeymoon phase?
In today’s market, finding and hiring great tech talent is just half the battle. Keeping them is where the real challenge begins. Tech workers have lots of options, and it doesn’t take much for them to start looking for a new role if they don’t feel fulfilled.
Here’s how some companies are keeping their tech employees engaged and motivated long after that new job glow wears off:
Invest in Career Growth and Mean It
Tech professionals value learning. And because the landscape changes so fast, being stagnant can feel like falling behind.
At LinkedIn, engineers have a “40% rule” — they can devote up to 40% of their time to learning new skills or working on projects outside their usual role. This freedom often leads to both deeper loyalty and frequent innovation.
But you don’t have to be LinkedIn to offer career development. Mid-size companies like Drift encourage employees to set quarterly learning goals — whether that’s mastering a new programming language, taking a leadership course, or earning a certification — and they reward progress just like they would a business goal.
Simple ways to implement this:
- Offer stipends for courses, certifications, or conferences
- Create clear, personalized career paths during performance reviews
- Host lunch-and-learns where employees can teach or learn from each other
Make Work Meaningful
It’s easy to forget, but everyone wants to feel that their work matters. It’s human nature.
Smaller companies like Basecamp do this well by involving developers early in project planning. Instead of being handed an inflexible list of features to build, tech employees at Basecamp help shape what gets built and why.
When developers understand the bigger picture, including how their work affects users, clients, or the business, they’re more likely to stay connected and motivated.
How to do it:
- Share customer success stories tied to your team’s work
- Involve engineers in brainstorming and decision-making
- Be transparent about how projects align with company goals
Recognize Wins Both Big and Small
Tech work can be invisible unless something breaks. That’s why it’s important to call out great work early and often, not just at annual reviews.
At Salesforce, managers use a simple “Thank You” platform where employees can recognize each other publicly. Whether it’s for saving a client project or simply helping a teammate, those small moments of appreciation add up to a culture where people feel seen.
Ways to show appreciation:
- Give shout-outs in team meetings
- Send a handwritten note for milestones
- Celebrate deployments, even the small ones
Keep Challenging Them Without Overwhelming Them
Great tech employees thrive on solving problems. If the work becomes too easy or too repetitive, they’ll get bored and start looking elsewhere.
At Atlassian, managers are trained to regularly check in with team members about workload and challenge levels. They adjust assignments to keep people in the “stretch zone” — challenging enough to grow, but not so overwhelming that it causes burnout.
Balance is key:
- Mix routine work with stretch assignments
- Offer chances to lead projects or mentor others
- Encourage experimentation (and accept that some experiments might fail)
Foster a Strong Team Culture
No one wants to feel like a cog in a machine. Building relationships at work — even for remote or hybrid teams — is essential.
GitLab, a fully remote company, invests heavily in building culture through informal “coffee chats,” virtual team building, and in-person meetups when possible. They regard protecting their culture as important as delivering on project goals.
Ways to strengthen team bonds:
- Schedule informal one-on-one chats
- Create interest groups around hobbies
- Organize occasional in-person or virtual events
Retention Means Keeping It Real
Retention isn’t about golden handcuffs or over-the-top perks anymore. It’s about helping people grow, ensuring their work is meaningful, and creating an environment where they want to stay.
If you treat retention as an ongoing investment and not just a problem to solve when someone gives notice, you’ll not only keep your best talent, but you’ll help them (and your company) do their best work.
In the market for top tech talent? Our boutique approach to recruiting focuses on quality, precision, and depth over sheer volume. Let’s talk!
