Best Practices for Employee Retention Within Two Years for New STEM Hires

Abstract

According to a survey conducted by DigitalOcean, about “64% of software developers with less than a year of experience have left their jobs between 2020-2021”. Additionally, 32% of software developers with 1-5 years of experience have left their jobs. These resignations have impacted organizations significantly in terms of retainment and recruitment. According to a survey done by Salesforce’s MuleSoft, “93% of organizations have said [these resignations] have made it more difficult for their IT teams to retain skilled developers and 86% say it has become more difficult to recruit them in the last two years”. The demand for software developers and engineers has been constantly rising with the technological revolution of the 21st century; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for these employees with organizations making digital transformation a priority. While there is a high demand for software engineers and developers, organizations also face high attrition rates for these employees. This executive summary will explore best practices for employee retention within the first two-years specifically for software engineering/STEM new hires.