Retaining the services of top techies will be a big challenge for organisations this year, reckons research by employment standards agency Investors in People which indicates that 75% of IT professionals could switch jobs in 2017.
Figures also suggest that confidence in the tech job marketplace is already up 6% on last year, with the main prompts to jumping ship being the need for a new challenge and better pay, while 36% cited a lack of career progression within their current role as a reason for moving.
"To avoid losing valued employees, organisations should foster a culture of innovation that enables employees to channel their aspirations," stated Peter Groucutt, MD of disaster recovery service provider Databarrack.
"Some larger organisations have looked to address this through a formalised process, such as Google's Area 120, a start-up incubator that allows employees to work on personal projects full-time.
"But initiatives like this often only take place in large enterprises where there is sufficient funding and support. What we need to see is more SMEs embracing this incubator culture."
Groucutt explained that Databarracks encourages its staff to develop products and solutions. Successful initiatives can even be spun out into new businesses, like Kazoup, a solution for analysing unstructured file data which was founded and developed by Databarracks employees.
Kazoup was launched as a new business led by its heads of R&D and Business Development, with shares held in the business by senior members of the Databarracks team.
The company has applied this model to other areas of the business including its marketing operation which now operates independently and provides marketing services to other organisations as well as Databarracks.
"This approach provides employees with the freedom to develop new skills and ideas, giving them greater ownership over new projects," stated Groucutt.
"The purpose of an incubator culture is to ensure that you are able to retain your most skilled employees by enabling them to explore and develop new projects and ideas outside of their usual remit."