Modern strategies to retain your offshore developers

However, one factor that has always been a pain-point is attrition. Whether its in-house employees or offshore developers, skilled engineers are hopping from job to job, and taking their technical expertise with them. If your company is offshoring to cut costs, then the high employee turnover rate is not working in your favor. While salaries, perks, and benefits may cost you lesser, your business may still be struggling to retain the talent you need.

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?

The 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 offshore developers can have a quick chat with a potential candidate to see if they can be a great fit for the team. Small measures like this can go a long way in retaining your employees.

Given the massive demand for engineering talent, if there are no perks attached to a job offer, retaining employees 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.

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 content with working for your company.

Challenge your employees

Offshore developers in countries like India love a good challenge. More often than not, they are looking for a clear career path dotted 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.

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 all ideas. Assign challenging group activities and promote teamwork amongst your employees.

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.

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.

Read more about modern strategies to retain Offshore Developers

At The Scalers, we help innovative global businesses build highly talented software development teams in Bangalore — the second largest tech ecosystem in the world.