The talent crisis is poised for a comeback.
The economic consequences of Covid-19 wiped out previously low unemployment rates in 2020, making it an employer’s market for many industries. As the vaccine rollout continues and the economy rebounds, most organizations likely will be competing for talent again if they aren’t already.
That’s especially true in the technology industry, where 96% of leaders in a recent Robert Half survey said it’s very or somewhat challenging for their company to find skilled professionals. Almost the same number, 91%, said they are concerned with losing top IT employees to other job opportunities in the next 12 months.
Businesses are using a variety of talent strategies to remain competitive as employers of choice, which can include promoting flexible work schedules, benefits that support work/life balance and well-being, giving people a chance to make a difference, and a host of intangibles that make work feel fulfilling.
One local company based in McLean, Virginia gives its employees opportunities to do meaningful work inside and outside the organization. Appian, an enterprise cloud software company that specializes in low-code technology, believes culture plays a big role in attracting and retaining top talent. The tech company supports innovation; agile, collaborative teams; giving people ownership and input into decisions; and work/life balance while giving back to the local community. Appian has been on a hiring spree throughout the pandemic and has given employees opportunities to advance their careers and change the world by helping the communities in which they live and work.
Get creative to prioritize the well-being of your employees
At Appian, work/life balance and well-being are a priority. Sasha Cassidy, solutions success manager, said she especially appreciated the introduction of a few company-wide “days of rest,” in addition to the traditional holiday schedule during the pandemic. While Appian already offers a flexible vacation policy for employees, the recharge day was created so all employees would take time off on the same day.
“It’s difficult for people to want to use their own time or for people to speak up on their own and say, ‘Hey, I need a mental health day,’” Cassidy said. “Having our CEO initiate that was one of the best things I think that we could have done.”
Empower people to explore career paths and do impactful work inside your organization
Despite its fast growth — the company now has more than 1,500 employees — Appian has eschewed a hierarchical management structure and frequently uses cross-departmental teams to tackle projects. It encourages employees to grow their careers cross-departmentally as well, looking for opportunities where the company needs fits with an employee’s interest and skills.
When Nas Owusu, solutions success manager, joined Appian she was making a career transition. As a staff assistant at a government relations firm and later in her senator’s office, she was used to a heavy schedule of networking coffees and receptions on Capitol Hill. She carried that into her new role, inviting coworkers from around the business to coffee or lunch to get to know them. In her nearly four years with Appian, Owusu has spent time working in three different teams as she has advanced.
“There are lots of people that take advantage of the different opportunities,” she said. “The thing that I like about my story is that certain people had an impression of me and opened up a new door. They weren’t necessarily telling me to go through the door, but they showed me something new and gave me an opportunity to explore that.”
In addition to informal networking within the company, Owusu said she has benefitted from Appian’s network of seven employee-led affinity groups. For example, AppianWomen offers its members mentorship opportunities and workshops for both personal and professional development.
“It’s been interesting to see all of the different groups blossom,” Owusu said. “It’s sprawled away from just getting together in a room and having lunch and networking. It’s robust, with different avenues that people have gone down to make connections and make memories together.”
Like Owusu, Timothy Carroll, senior software engineer, has shifted his career during his time at Appian, moving from consulting to product management and now working as a software developer.
“People are very open to you pursuing your passion within the company,” he said. “Our CEO Matt Calkins reminds us all the time that we are a company made up of our people. Our value is in our people, and those people are going to produce the best work when they’re doing things that they love doing.”
Give your people a voice so they can make a difference outside of your organization
Carroll said he also appreciates Appian’s continued commitment to supporting employees with their community service projects. Two years ago, the company held a day of service to mark its 1,000th employee hire. Employees split up and helped out at several community organizations, providing extra helping hands on various projects. Carroll found himself picking up trash and building cabinets for an area nonprofit – and it got him thinking.
“I noticed that there were a lot of things they needed help with from a technology perspective,” he said. “There were tons of paper forms we were filling out, tracking how we were volunteering and what we were doing. Given that Appian is low-code and fast, I figured that we could build something for them or a different charity very quickly that would really help them.”
Low-code development allows enterprise-ready apps to be built with little to no coding. Many of the world’s largest organizations use these applications to improve the customer experience, achieve operational excellence and simplify global risk management and compliance.
Carroll spent a few months researching the idea before pitching it to the senior vice president of human resources and eventually CEO Calkins. The concept: Donating Appian’s software and services to a charitable organization to help them change the way they work from a technology standpoint. Appian’s leaders said yes, and ultimately identified DC Central Kitchen as the perfect partner.
DC Central Kitchen provides culinary job training for individuals facing high barriers to employment and maintains several social ventures, including serving scratch-cooked meals to area schools and operating a fast-casual cafe. Today, it uses multiple Appian applications, including a new Workforce Safety app that helps the organization manage the health and safety of their kitchen teams, which must be in-person to make food, amid the ever-changing Covid-19 landscape.
“We’ve been building apps with them for a year-and-a-half, two years and it’s been going great,” Carroll said. “If you’re a programmer, you are constantly learning new technologies and developing that skill. It makes sense, and it’s rewarding and interesting to volunteer that skill for someone else.”
Those are just a few of the ways one company is striving to show their people they are valued, both in the office and through opportunities to change the world by helping their communities in this competitive environment for talent.
Learn more about careers at Appian by visiting careers.appian.com.
McLean, Virginia-based Appian is a global leader across multiple enterprise technology markets, including low-code automation, digital process automation, intelligent business process management systems and dynamic case management.