Tech SMBs should offer "higher pay, career progression and flexible working" to retain skilled staff, says Databarracks MD

Culture of innovation required to keep good people, says Groucutt.

Technology companies are failing to innovate in order to keep skilled staff, and SMBs are particularly to blame, Databarracks' MD has said.

Peter Groucutt, responding to recent research from Investors in People saying 36 per cent of staff move on due to a perceived lack of career progression, said "business agility is critical", and it's important to pass this notion on to employees.

"Business agility is critical to the future success of any organisation. In practice this might be a firm's ability to adapt to new technologies, or respond quickly to changing customer demands," said Groucutt.

"Finding and retaining skilled staff is critical to the process, but many businesses struggle to retain top staff in a competitive market. Higher pay, career progression and flexible working are all factors that the research from Investors in People has identified as reasons for tech talent considering a job change in 2017."

Groucut said that while "many larger organisations have looked to address" this process "through a formalised process" - such as Google's ‘Area 120' startup incubator scheme to allow full-time work on personal projects - smaller organisations are less able to offer such facilities.

"The problem is, initiatives like this often only take place in large enterprises, where there is sufficient funding and support available to facilitate it," said Groucutt.

"What we need to see is more SMBs embracing this ‘incubator' culture.

"The purpose of an incubator culture is to ensure that you are able to retain your most skilled employees," reinforced Groucutt.

"he misconception is that only the biggest firms have the capabilities to support this, but through our own experiences we know this is not the case. Nurturing innovation is critical to the success of any organisation. By enabling your employees to explore and develop new projects and ideas outside of their usual remit, you are inadvertently allowing them to control their own career progression."