How to retain your top IT talent

We hate to break it to you, but unfortunately, the rules of “finders, keepers” do not apply to your IT talent.

That means organizations need to invest time and effort into strong employee retention programs to decrease the chances of top-notch employees jumping ship.

Preservatives. There are several reasons why companies may want to prioritize employee retention. Iccha Sethi, SVP of engineering at Vanta, told IT Brew long-standing employees are key holders of business context, making them crucial players for supporting business growth.

“It makes them more effective at taking on more complex challenges over time, solving problems faster,” Sethi said. “They also become a great resource for helping onboard newer employees.”

Megan Slabinski, a district president at management consulting company Robert Half, added that the hiring market is currently picking up. According to a 2026 report from the firm, 78% of tech hiring managers plan to increase full-time headcount in the second half of this year. Companies losing talent not only have to compete with other businesses that are hiring, but may need to hire for more roles than expected.

“If you are losing your existing staff at the back door when you already have to bring in net new headcount in the front door, you’re just making your job that much more challenging,” Slabinski said. “You’re going to have to hire for more positions than you anticipated or planned for in the year, so retention, especially when the proactive hiring is heating up, becomes really paramount.”

Companies with a turnover problem also risk damaging their reputation within the industry, potentially dissuading talent from joining.

“People know people and they talk,” Slabinski said. “It can make it very challenging for you to attract the caliber of applicant that you’re looking for when you’re trying to hire if you have a turnover problem.”

How to identify top performers. One of the first steps to retain talent is to identify those top performers who drive impact within their organization.

“One of the things I always ask myself as a manager is, ‘Who on my team makes my life easier?’ and those should be the people that I’m spending the most time engaged with and retaining,” Slabinski said. “You also need to think from a technology perspective: Who has a skill set that is very difficult to backfill if I were to lose that person?”

Slabinski told IT Brew “most people leave managers, not organizations,” making it important for IT leaders to have proactive discussions with high-performing employees about what it takes to retain them long-term.

“Are you investing time with your employees as a manager and asking questions about their career trajectory, what motivates them, what might cause them to leave or look for a new opportunity?” Slabinski said. “I call them pushes and pulls. What’s either pushing you out of the organization or what might pull you to a new company, and what, if anything, can you do about that?”

Culture and growth. Part of retention is also building an environment where employees actually want to work. John Lullen, director of marketplace inclusion at TEKsystems, added that organizations should prioritize “intentional leadership development that builds trust” to create an environment where employees want to work for the long term.

“If employees don’t trust the leadership and they don’t feel psychologically safe, they’re not going to stay,” he said.

Employee recognition is another driver of employee retention.

“The most classic form of recognition companies and everybody knows is compensation,” Sethi said. “But beyond compensation, there are other forms of recognition like a quick thank you…[and] recognition in more public channels.”

Perks. Lullen told IT Brew compensation alone is no longer enough to retain top employees. Instead, he said, organizations need to focus on creating a culture where employees can grow and receive continuous learning opportunities.

“Are there learning platforms that exist inside the organization? Are there opportunities for me to grow and upskill or reskill myself? Do I feel like I’m doing meaningful work?” Lullen said.

Workplace flexibility, or giving employees the freedom to work remotely or with a hybrid schedule, is another important benefit for many tech employees.

“That’s the…primary driver that we see affecting turnover and subsequently retention,” Slabinski said, adding that several non-traditional benefits are increasingly trending among employees: “People are asking for stress management benefits, GLP-1 benefits, family benefits, and support around in vitro support or adoption assistance.”

An ongoing conversation. Once IT leaders identify their top performers, Slabinski said they must take a personalized approach to retaining them.

“What it takes to retain that individual is going to be different for employee A versus employee B,” Slabinski said. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all.”

Sethi said it’s important to understand that employee retention discussions shouldn’t be a one and done occurrence, and encouraged IT managers to be continuous advocates for employees: “Have the conversation, understand what they need in this space, have it regularly.”