Low-Code: A strategy for retaining talent

According to Forbes, at the end of last year there were more than 330,000 open jobs for software developers in the United States alone, a number that, according to IDC, will reach more than 4 million by 2025.

If finding talent has become a huge challenge, it doesn't seem to be the only one. At least that's what the recent study released by OutSystems, in partnership with the research institute Evans Data Corporation, points out.

In this study, around 1,000 software developers were surveyed across multiple industries and regions of the world, in order to better understand the level of satisfaction of these professionals with their current jobs, and the results are not at all encouraging, indicating that talent retention also deserves a lot of attention from companies.

While the majority of developers (64%) love their jobs, less than 1/3 of them (29%) intend to stay in their current job for a period of 2 years, less than half (48%) intend to stay for at least 1 year, and only 61% intend to stay in the same job for the next 6 months (!).

In general, the study indicates that developers aspire to introduce changes in their working environment, as around half of them say they need to better balance their professional and personal lives, and around 45% point out that dealing with the continuous demands of the business areas is their main challenge, but that's not all.

In the group of developers who don't intend to stay in their current job for more than 6 months, less than half (42%) are satisfied with their work tools, and only 1/3 (38%) are satisfied with the productivity of their development team, which is 50% less when compared to those groups of developers who intend to stay in the company for longer.

But it is as the study begins to stratify the information that we are able to see more clearly the introduction of Low-Code development platforms not only as a strategy for meeting business needs, but also as a strategy for retaining talent.

Although low-code developers have teams that are generally 1/3 the size of traditional development teams, the study points out that 59% of them are satisfied with the productivity of their teams compared to only 41% of traditional developers. In addition, 57% of low-code developers are also very satisfied with the quality of their deliveries, compared to only 36% of traditional developers.

Low-code developers are also much more satisfied with communication within development teams (54%) and with business areas (50%) compared to traditional developers, who have satisfaction rates of around 35% and 36% respectively.

Low-code developers have also been more recognized by their superiors, receiving an average of 3.5 job promotions in their current companies, while traditional developers have only been promoted 2 times. As a result, more than 71% of low-code developers are open and available to work 40-hour weeks compared to only 44% of traditional developers.

Finally, the study also points out that low-code developers are happier in their work, with 63% of low-code developers indicating that they are satisfied with their salary and benefits, a rate 50% higher than that of traditional developers, which is only 41%.

While not every organization can afford big pay rises or to adopt a four-day working week, there are things IT leaders can do to keep their teams engaged: provide technology to help developers feel more productive and in control of their workload. This can be the key to retaining the best talent and creating a culture where developers want to stay.

As the demand for developers continues to rise, IT decision-makers won't be able to simply hire their way out of the talent gap. They need to implement operational and technological changes that optimize resources, speed up the training and onboarding of new talent, while easing the workload on current teams.

This technology mix must include low-code development platforms, which create greater satisfaction, productivity and the desired talent retention.