QAT Global’s 20-Year Club
Staff Retention and Engagement is at an Industry High at this IT Company
Here at QAT Global, we take great pride in our employees and their dedication and commitment to us. Any company can say they have a great staff and that they are treated well. We can prove it. The technology industry, specifically software companies, has the highest turnover rates out of any other major sector. At a whopping 13.2%, they are even higher than retail.
Many people would assume that working for a huge tech company like Google or Amazon would be a dream job maxed out with benefits! Sadly, those “dream” companies and many others in the technology sector have a median tenure of just 1 or 2 years. The fact is that people working in this industry are high demand and are constantly trying to be poached and offered higher salaries. According to Forbes, software developers were getting up to 20 calls a day from headhunters back in 2016, and those weren’t even the ones in high-demand areas.
Anke, our Principal Programmer Analyst, who celebrates her 15th anniversary with the company this year, can vouch for how many offers she gets on a regular basis. In a recent discussion about the challenges in the industry, Anke commented that “Clients are constantly trying to hint at me working for them permanently.” Anke also brought up the fact that there is pressure to move around in the software industry and staying anywhere too long can be risky if they keep you in the same place since everything becomes outdated so quickly.
Julie Parsons, a member of our 20-year club, describes her experience here as “QAT is like nowhere else, you work with such a variety of different clients, industries, and contracts that it teaches you to expand your mindset and horizons. Over the years I have been able to see technology grow and change and have watched companies utilize it in different ways, QAT has pushed me to succeed with those changes.”
That is why what we have here at QAT Global is not only virtually unheard of in the industry today, but truly remarkable. Somehow, we managed to find the best of the best and have been able to hold on to them. For a little background information, we have 24 employees working at our headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Remember when you just read that the average tech employee leaves after two years? Here at QAT Global, we have six employees that have been here for over 20 years. That is 13.6% of the employees who work in the office! Not only that, but 31.8% of our US staff have been with us for over ten years. There are many others that are on track with those numbers as well. It’s not just a US phenomenon at QAT Global; our Brazil office also has impressive retention rates – 97.6% over a five year period.
When you look at the industry statistics, it is clear the odds are not in our favor for our talented specialists to stay with us and for this trend to continue. Yet, year after year they get offered opportunities and choose to stay. One thing all companies with high retention rates have in common is strong leadership. Our leadership groups here at QAT Global offer a corporate culture that is not forced; it is based on open communication, integrity, and respect. Chuck Snyder, a member of our 20-year club, described our culture as “One of respect and is a place where everyone’s opinions and ideas are sought and listened too.” We all see a clear vision and goals for the future, and everyone knows they play a key role in those goals becoming a reality.
One of the primary reasons employees chose to stay at QAT Global for so many years is the fact that they know their ideas and actions are valued and have a real impact on the company. Unlike larger corporations, were peoples voice gets drowned out and lost in the crowd, our employees know that their ideas are not only valued but encouraged! From the technology path we take to the clients we work with, our team has a voice in decisions large and small. The size of our business also enables our staff to grow their skills, be involved in many different pieces of the operation, and move into new roles over time. Throughout their careers at QAT Global, developers have transitioned from old technologies to new, see their career path progress from developer to architect or delivery manager, and had an active hand in shaping in the company’s offerings as new technologies have come along.
While the technology industry is known for wooing employees with benefits like playing video games in the office, in-office massages, and nap rooms, we take pride in giving our employees something much more valuable, their time. Sure, we have our perks, like a wellness program, great benefits, and birthday treats, but those aren’t the reasons you stay at QAT Global. Our employees are not living out of our downtown office, nor are those who work remotely tied to their desks day and night, so they are not burnt out from being overworked. (Even after 20 years!) A key element of QAT Global’s company culture is a focus on our employees having a proper work-life balance. When you have long-term employees, you get the ability to build trust and know that everyone will get their work done, whether that is in the office or not. We know that our employees and their families must come first.
One word that continually came up after talking to our 20-year club members was autonomy. Our staff values the fact that they are not being watched over, because they know they don’t need to be. The level of trust and consideration that has been built cannot be found anywhere else.
Julie Parsons says it all “I want to do my best for QAT because they do their best for me.”
