#5 Common Mistakes Done By Small IT Companies Every employee plays a specific role towards the growth of the company, regardless what is his designation. And in order to retain that growth, the companies are required to retain their employees

A company is made by the employees; if you are establishing a building or an office, installing necessary equipment and saying it a company then you are wrong. It is just a commercial building which will become a company only when the employees will start working for it as a family, taking its success as their own success.

Undoubtedly, a company's growth is also driven by the sincere and dedicated efforts of the employees. Every employee plays a specific role towards the growth of the company, regardless what is his designation. And in order to retain that growth, the companies are required to retain their employees. But the IT companies are ignoring this fact and are doing some big mistakes that prevent them from experiencing success. Let us tell you about these mistakes and their effective solutions.

1.IT companies don't make efforts to retain their employees

It is the biggest mistake that most of the IT companies are doing now. They don't aim at retaining their employees and hire freshers as it lets them reduce their costs. But they don't try to understand that what they are going to lose.

No doubt the new employees can help them reduce the expenses and the chances are there that they would bring new talent but they cannot have the loyalty or passion that old employees would be having for the company. New employees will complete their job responsibilities but will not work for the company.

Solution

Efforts must be made to retain the employees because they would be well aware by your goals and effectively know how they can be achieved. This cannot be expected from the new employees because they will take the time to merge in your system. Instead of hiring the new employees, you must focus on training your existing employees and updating them as per the latest industry trends.

"Employees are a company's biggest asset- You must attract and retain the best; encourage them and make them realize they are an integral part of the company's mission."- Gurpreet Walia, CEO of Suffescom Solutions.

2.They keep their entire focus on outsourcing services

Outsourcing has become a common trend in IT as it lets the service seekers reduce their costs and service providers deliver their services all over the world. No doubt it is good but focussing entirely on the outsourcing is a mistake. Such a behavior keeps these companies away from the local market and thereby, from the opportunity of expanding their customers.

Solution

IT entrepreneurs need to understand that local customers matter a lot when it comes to making permanent clients. Along with outsourcing, they must make efforts to make their name in the local market. It will not increase the number of the permanent clients but will also help in brand building.

3.No efforts for employees satisfaction and happiness

You must agree that IT industry demands much efforts; along with making sincere efforts, the employees are also required to do over time so that the targets can be met. In such an environment, the employers are required to give gifts, incentives or other treats to their employees because these things will work as an appreciation. But, it is sad to say that there are only a few IT companies that understand this fact and make efforts for the happiness and satisfaction of their employees.

Solution

The main thing that resists employers from doing so is the expenses. However, there are numerous options by which they can make their employees feel appreciated and happy, without getting out of their budget. They should plan such treats that would not be much costly but will give happiness to the employees. For an instance, incentives can be given in the case you earned big profits, a small party can be arranged, you can appreciate them in written by giving an achievement certificate and more.

Also, events within the organization should be organized on a monthly basis as it will enhance the engagement among the staff and will give them a break from work.

"Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that."- Herb Kelleher, co-founder and CEO of Southwest Airlines.

4.Expanding business but not expanding staff

Growing business is the dream of every IT entrepreneur but they do a big mistake while doing so. They create plans for expanding their services or the working area but don't create a plan for how the things will be handled. They don't focus on the fact that growing business demands big staff and don't hire staff when required.

As a result of this, the existing staff gets overburdened with the responsibilities and this leads to stress and frustration. And their output gets affected to a great extent.

Solution

Employers are required to sit down and create a plan for the proper management of the work. They must take a look that to what extent the workload will be increased and should inspect whether this can be handled by the existing employees or they would need to recruit the new ones. In the case, the work can be handled by the existing staff, employers need to inspect that how much time would be required and which person can take over the task efficiently.

5.Not mentoring your staff

Mentoring the staff is really crucial in the IT industry. As the trends keep on evolving, employers need to train their staff for these trends, so that they can enhance their skills. But this quality lacks in the IT industry. Employers treat their employees as workers who work for 8 hours and get their wages. Such a behavior does not let the businesses experience growth as employees don't want to work at a place where they are unable to see their growth.

Solution

The employers should teach their staffs the goals they need to accomplish and should guide them to strategize the things for achieving those goals. It not only keeps the employees motivated but also leads to goof employer-employee relationships.

To say in short, the employers should not treat their employees as workers, but they should consider them as junior business partners. They should allot their employees the purpose, give them the time to achieve that purpose and then, give incentives on regular basis.

"Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first."- Angela Ahrendts, the senior vice president of retail at Apple Inc.