Attract and Retain Top Talent: What CIOs and CDOs Need to Know

(US and Canada) The past few years have been a tumultuous time in the world of business, and the pandemic changed how companies work, connect, adjust to change, as well as sped up the digital transformation journey for most organizations. New technologies are continuing to emerge and upend business models, from the metaverse to web3 /blockchain to the shifting landscape of social media and streaming. So, how do companies attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead their teams to success?  

The pandemic also strained and tested the worker-employer relationship beyond anyone’s anticipation. Going forward, thriving in an uncertain future depends on having a compelling vision for where that relationship should go. Following on the heels of January 2022’s “great resignation” where over 4.3 million people quit their jobs, attracting the right talent is still top priority for most companies. 

Yet, amid the challenging economic environment, the focus on hiring the right talent sharpens alongside retaining top talent. In a recent Forbes article, Mahesh Saptharishi, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Motorola Solutions, explained that “employees are re-prioritizing what they look for in a company, from innovative cultures and achieving a sense of purpose to a healthy work-life balance and better benefits. Recruits are also taking note of how an organization functions as a ‘corporate citizen,’ meaning its impact on society and the environment.”  

Organizations are now rethinking their talent strategies at all stages of the employee lifecycle, vying for top talent in a highly transparent job market, and becoming laser-focused on their external employment brand.

Moving forward in 2022 and beyond, the roles of a CTO, CIO, and CDO have evolved beyond the traditional definition. Recruiting and retaining top talent is an ongoing and increasing challenge as companies continue to move further into the digital age. As the CEO and founder of WLDA (Women Leaders in Data and AI), an invitation-only peer-to-peer community for Fortune 1000 senior tech leaders, I have had the privilege of talking with and learning from a number of top leaders about strategies and tactics they have been using in their organizations to attract the right talent teams and build inclusive cultures. 

Here are some takeaways: 

• Highlight Purpose 

While employees and people may connect with a company's products or services, they also want to buy into the reasons why a company exists and how it can contribute to having a positive impact on society. Concisely articulating your purpose, for example, through an employee value proposition (EVP), can give recruits something tangible to hold on to and a way to envision their future at your company. Further, intertwining your purpose into everything your company does, from business decisions to meetings with customers and employee events, establishes a clear, common goal the entire company can rally around.  

• Prioritize Career Advancement and Growth Opportunities

Tech leaders must make space for their employees to create, lean into their interests and learn. Set up structured time for your employees to work on projects outside of their typical day-to-day tasks. Protecting this time for employees promotes a healthy balance between daily responsibilities and personal and professional development. In the Forbes article mentioned above, Saptharishi pointed out that “a great example of this is Google's longstanding initiative of "20% time," which is a formalized process focused on encouraging new skill development and creative thinking. Projects can range from chasing a passion project, taking a training course or addressing a deprioritized task.” 

• Clearly Define your Company’s Culture 

Netflix, the streaming service pioneer, in a lengthy article titled “Netflix Culture - Seeking Excellence” on their Netflix Jobs website states, “At Netflix, we aspire to entertain the world—creating great stories from anywhere and offering greater choice and control for people everywhere. To help us succeed, we’ve created an unusual employee culture.”  They clearly define that what makes working at their company special is how much they:

• Encourage decision-making by employees

• Share information openly, broadly and deliberately

• Communicate candidly and directly

• Keep only our highly effective people

• Avoid rules

The rest of the article goes into thorough detail about what specific values, behaviors, and skill sets (both hard and soft) that they look for in attracting leading talent that deliver exceptional business outcomes, as well pointing out that they model themselves after a professional sports team, not a family. They recruit the best and the brightest who are self-starters and ambitious, stating “dream teams are about performance, not seniority or tenure.”  

• Advance Diversity Equity & Inclusion Strategies 

Several studies show that diverse teams achieve better outcomes. Despite this, there are few women in technology leadership roles in corporate America. At the largest 1,000 companies, less than one out of five CIOs or CTOs are women. A study of 250 active CDOs in the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany reported that 26% were female. That is a slight improvement on the wider gender gap found across data science roles, where as few as 15% are women. While female workers make up 26.7% of hires in the technology workforce, research suggests about half of young women who win tech roles will leave them by the time they turn 35, citing a non-inclusive company culture as the primary reason. 

Clearly, there’s plenty of room for improvement in the way that companies promote more diverse and inclusive tech workforces. One of the missions of WLDA is to help our C-suite members accelerate racial equity and equip their future leaders with the skills, peer networks, and sponsorship they need to achieve their aspirations and grow within their organization. 

About the Author 

Asha Saxena is the Founder and CEO of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WLDA), an exclusive membership organization for senior leaders in Data and AI, helping them succeed both personally and professionally. She is also a professor at Columbia University in NYC, teaching graduate students’ healthcare consulting and entrepreneurship, and is a partner with CEO International where she coaches CXO leaders. As a serial entrepreneur, she has built and sold three successful businesses. Most recently, she has served as CEO and Chairperson of Future Technologies Inc., a data management firm that provided warehousing, analytics, and intelligence services. She was also the CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of ACULYST, which provides best-in-class healthcare analytics services through a pre-built model that integrates clinical, financial, and operational data. Saxena has served on several for-profit and nonprofit boards, and is a contributor and international speaker on a variety of technology, data, AI, and women-related issues.