Culture and Productivity

4 Ways to Ensure the Shift-Left Approach Does Not Cause Developer Burnout
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Leadership and Management ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

What Is the Shift-Left Approach and How You Can Prevent It from Making Your Developers’ Job Harder?

Read this blog to learn about the shift-left approach in software testing and how to ensure it doesn’t drain your developers’ productivity.

The software testing market is estimated to reach $70 billion by 2030. An enormous market such as this is bound to experience continuous evolution, especially with the growing expectations of deploying high-quality software in shorter durations. Automatically, IT companies are looking for alternatives to meet the market’s need to shorten software release cycles. One such alternative is the shift-left approach, which has recently gained massive popularity. While it offers multiple benefits, it also comes with a stark disadvantage: draining developers’ productivity. 

This blog will discuss what this approach means, the shift-left benefits in software testing, and how you can ensure it doesn’t affect your developers. 

What is the shift-left approach in DevOps?

Let’s first review the traditional software development model to understand the shift-left approach. Here’s what it looks like: 

Stage 1: requirement analysis -> Stage 2: feasibility study -> Stage 3: architecture design -> Stage 4: software development -> Stage 5: software testing (QA) -> Stage 6: software/product deployment

As you can see, the testing phase enters the development cycle towards the extreme right, i.e., at the end of the process. The shift-left approach literally pushes the testing to the ‘left,’ which is at the early stage of the development pipeline. 

Shift-left process: by definition

DevOps teams adopt shift-left testing to begin security and testing processes as early in the SDLC (software development lifecycle) as possible – which can be a boon to developers. Theoretically, the shift-left approach saves a developer’s time and effort by decreasing the work they need to do later in the development pipeline. 

You can also apply the shift-left strategy on various SDLC processes, as it simply means pushing a particular process earlier in the development process than when it should’ve traditionally begun. 

For instance, if you shift software security left, you prioritize security when your developers design the code. The usual process here would be to wait till they’ve built the complete application to start addressing security risks. 

Also, read: 10 Popular Software Testing Trends in 2023

Shift-left benefits: theory vs. reality

Theory 

On paper, the shift-left approach is advantageous as it allows development teams to identify problems early on in the SDLC. This feature is helpful as problems are easier to solve when you detect them as quickly as possible. 

For example, if your developer or QA team detects an input validation risk in a new source code, they just update it to fix the issue. Solving such a problem would be more challenging if it remained unidentified until the developers had already built the source code and written the other code based on it. Here, the developers would probably have to make much bigger changes to the code and even recompile it after the changes.

Reality

Yes, shift-left development is helpful as it saves resources and reduces the threat of introducing severe software issues into production environments. Plus, the shift-left approach also helps to increase efficiency in the SDLC, improve product quality as the bugs are detected earlier than usual, and reduce time to market. 

However, there’s a massive potential disadvantage to implementing shift-left testing principles. They often lead to developer and programmer burnout as shifting-left increases a developer’s work and involves them in workflows that typically require other engineers. 

For example, QA (quality assurance) engineers usually work on performance testing during the SDLC. Here, developers provide code to the QA team, and they test it. But if you want to shift left performance testing by testing code as soon as it’s written, you will either need your developers to run the tests or incorporate the QA engineers into the development team so that they can run tests whenever new code is ready. 

Also, read: What Is Software Quality Assurance, and Why Is It Important?

Burnout isn’t the only problem

Apart from developer burnout, another problem with the shift-left approach is that a developer is more likely to face the blame if anything goes wrong. When adopting a shift-left strategy, you’re likely to ask your developer to also act as a QA and security engineer. When that happens, the actual QA and security engineers in your team can blame the developers for security or performance bottlenecks. 

How to ensure the shift-left approach doesn’t hurt your developers?

The above-mentioned problems don’t mean you must discard shift-left testing. Shift-left testing isn’t an inherently bad idea and does offer actual benefits. All you need to do is adopt the approach in such a manner that it doesn’t hamper your developers’ productivity and lets the SDLC run seamlessly. Here’s how you can do so.

  • Clearly defining how the shift-left strategy is implemented

    Organizations that want to shift left must consider the added burden it puts upon their development teams. Hence, they must ensure that shifting left doesn’t make their developers’ jobs harder. This process begins with specifically defining how the company decides to shift processes left.

    More often than not, the shift-left process is vaguely defined, creating scenarios where a developer is burdened with more than they can handle to operate within the shift-left approach. Instead of this, you can make the process open-ended where teams operate according to their assigned roles and responsibilities. For instance, before shifting left the testing or security, you can assign that your developers will perform A, B, and C tasks, while your QA team will work on X, Y, and Z, and they will stick to that.

  • Include developers in testing activities

    It’s a good idea to let your developers test their code before deploying it to the main branch. This way, the merged code is less error-prone and cleaner. Moreover, an individual code unit is easier to test as they are smaller, and hence, more navigable. This practice ensures that the developer doesn’t have to do much when testing such code and has enough on their plate to manage all tasks effectively. 

  • Include your QA testers early on

    The shift-left approach works best when you include your QAs from the very first brainstorming session. This way, they’re aware of the fundamental concepts and your developers’ ideas about building the app or website, allowing them to create better tests for the testing phase.

    Additionally, including QAs early on also gives a developer a clear idea about the potential bugs that can emerge and how to avoid them. This clarity further reduces the burden on developers when you shift left as they have a better understanding of what bugs to tackle and overcome.

  • Implementing a blameless culture

    Lastly, it’s also important to foster a blameless culture within your organization when you adopt the shift-left approach in DevOps. As mentioned earlier, developers can easily face the blame for things going wrong when they assume extra responsibility. With a blameless culture in place, the entire software development team shares collective responsibility for any issue. A culture like this reduces the risk of blaming specific team members, in this case, the developers, allowing them to work with maximum productivity. 

Also, read: 9 Effective Ways to Improve Remote Work Productivity as a Developer

The takeaway: What is the benefit of the shift-left approach?

Ultimately, the shift-left approach should help developers, along with everyone else on the team, save time and energy while creating high-quality software. However, this is only possible when you take the necessary steps to ensure the shift-left strategy doesn’t cause developer burnout.

Having said that, there are two sides to every coin. In this case, while you put effort into shifting left to the right way, your developers must be skilled and mature enough to step up to the task when needed. Shifting left means they will definitely have a few extra tasks on their plate, and the developers must have the right set of technical and soft skills to handle them. 

If you’re looking to hire pre-vetted developers at unbeatable prices, we’ve got you covered.

At Turing, we offer the most high-quality remote developers with the help of our AI-powered Talent Cloud. The Talent Cloud uses over 20,000 ML signals, including job descriptions, past experience, interviews, and vetted skills to source and provide you with deeply vetted developers aligned with your needs. Head over to Turing’s Hire Developers page to know more.

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By ● Jan 20, 2023
DevOps Burnout Causes and Ways to Prevent It
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

DevOps Burnout: Causes and Ways to Prevent It

DevOps burnout has become a persistent challenge owing to the high-stress nature of DevOps jobs. Here’s how you can prevent it: 1. Establish clear communication and leadership

The DevOps industry is facing a major problem: DevOps burnout. The fast-paced and high-stress nature of the DevOps career path has taken a toll on the mental and physical well-being of DevOps engineers. What are the signs of DevOps burnout? What are the causes of this burnout? How can you prevent DevOps burnout in your organization? Let’s find out. 

What are the signs of DevOps burnout in your organization? 

The signs of burnout can vary from person to person. But, there are some common signs of DevOps burnout you shouldn’t ignore. Let’s take a look at them.

  1. Constant fatigue: Your DevOps engineers show constant signs of exhaustion, both physically and mentally. 

  2. Loss of motivation: Are your DevOps engineers no longer excited to work on new projects?  Are they losing interest in their work? These are common signs of burnout in DevOps engineers. 

  3. Increased absenteeism: Are they calling in sick too frequently?  Do they always have excuses ready for not showing up to work? Don’t confuse this with the usual time offs. It is likely that your engineers are feeling demotivated to work and looking for ways to avoid it.

  4. Lack of control: Ask your DevOps team these questions. 1. Do they feel like they are being pulled from multiple directions?  2. Do they feel they are losing control over their work? If the answer is yes, your team is probably suffering from burnout. 

  5. Social withdrawal: Are your DevOps engineers avoiding social events being held at your organization? This means that they’re probably going through a burnout phase and are trying to distance themselves from any social interaction.

The best way to know if your team is suffering from burnout is by having an open conversation with them.  Ensure that everyone is given the opportunity to express their emotions and concerns, irrespective of their position in the organization.

Related Post: 11 Ways to Motivate Remote Software Developers in 2023

What are the major causes of DevOps burnout?

There are several reasons that can lead to burnout in your DevOps team. Let’s take a look at them.

  1. High stress levels: DevOps is fast-paced, with an emphasis on rapid iteration and continuous deployment. This creates a constant state of pressure and urgency which can increase the stress levels of DevOps engineers. 

  2. Long and undefined working hours: DevOps engineers are usually expected to be available 24/7, ready to respond to any issue that arises. These long and undefined working hours can adversely affect the mental and physical health of these engineers. 

  3. Insufficient support and resources: DevOps has seen accelerated growth in the last few years at a much faster pace than anticipated. The unexpected growth has led to a problem of less support and resources to match the demand. Due to insufficient support and resources, DevOps engineers are bound to face burnout. 

  4. Lack of communication: Communication plays a crucial role, not just in DevOps, but in any department of an organization. Not having a proper channel of open communication can lead to DevOps burnout in your organization.

  5. Limited growth opportunities: If the engineers in your organization feel that they are not getting enough opportunities to upgrade their skills and take up new challenges, they may feel demotivated to work. This can lead to monotony and eventually, burnout. 

So, these are the major causes of burnout in DevOps engineers. Knowing what is causing burnout in your DevOps team can help you mitigate the threat and retain your engineers better.

So, how can you prevent DevOps burnout in your organization?

DevOps has become a crucial part of organizations across the globe. With the increasing demand for DevOps, it is important that organizations implement certain DevOps best practices to retain their teams. So, how can you prevent DevOps burnout? Let’s find out:

  1. Prioritize work-life balance: Encourage DevOps engineers to take regular breaks, disconnect from work when they’re not on call, and ensure that they have enough time off to recharge. Excessive screen time without breaks can also affect the mental and physical health of engineers. This can result in burnout. So, try to limit the screen time of your DevOps engineers.

  2. Establish clear communication and leadership: Establish clear roles and responsibilities for your DevOps engineers. Communicate expectations, and provide opportunities for open communication. Clear communication helps to reduce confusion and increase efficiency which in turn helps reduce stress levels in engineers.

  3. Encourage and provide opportunities for skill development: DevOps engineers might want to expand their By providing opportunities for employees to learn new skills and take on new challenges, organizations can help increase job satisfaction and keep employees engaged in their work.

  4. Create a positive work environment: Creating a culture that prioritizes the well-being of employees, promoting open communication, and providing support and resources can help to create a positive work environment.

  5. Take preventative measures: Implementing processes and tools that can help reduce the pressure of tight deadlines and around-the-clock availability is a great way to prevent burnout. For example: automating repetitive tasks, implementing monitoring and logging tools, and having a clearly defined incident response process.

  6. Offer mental health support: Make sure mental health support resources are available and easy to access. Managers should also be trained on how to recognize the signs of burnout and how to support an employee who is experiencing burnout.

  7. Promote flexibility: Allow your DevOps engineers to choose their own working hours. Encourage flexible working arrangements. This way, your team can choose the best time to work when they feel the most productive. Such flexible arrangements can help them maintain good mental health, further preventing burnout. 

Here are some tools that can help you prevent DevOps burnout:

  1. Automation tools: Automation can help reduce the workload of DevOps engineers by automating repetitive tasks and reducing the need for manual intervention. This practice can help to prevent burnout by limiting the stress on DevOps engineers. Examples of automation tools are Ansible, Chef, and Puppet.

  2. Monitoring and logging tools: Monitoring and logging tools can help DevOps engineers quickly identify and resolve issues. In other words, these tools can help to prevent burnout by reducing the need for around-the-clock availability. Examples of monitoring and logging tools are Grafana, Kibana, and Logstash

  3. Incident response platforms: Incident response platforms can help DevOps engineers to manage and respond to incidents in a more organized and efficient way. This can help to prevent burnout by decreasing the pressure of incident management. Examples of incident response platforms are PagerDuty, VictorOps, and xMatters.

So, here is everything you need to know about DevOps burnout and how to prevent it. Today, companies face massive pressure to ramp up software delivery and react to evolving customer preferences. And the DevOps methodology is built just for this. However, adopting the methodology without establishing a strategy to address DevOps burnout is a battle half won. And so, every company must implement best practices to make the most of their DevOps team.

Want to hire pre-vetted DevOps engineers? Try Turing. Hire the top 1 percent from a pool of over 2M+ developers. Head to Turing’s Hire Developers page to know more. 

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By ● Jan 13, 2023
5 signs of toxic work culture and how to deal with them
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

5 Signs of Toxic Work Culture and How to Deal With Them

Signs of toxic work culture: 1. Employees suffer from constant burnout 2. You have to micromanage your teams 3. There’s a high employee turnover. Read more…

As an engineering leader, you don’t want the best talent in your company to leave you. Several studies show that toxic work culture is one of the major reasons behind people quitting companies. But what is a toxic work culture? What are the tell-tale signs that your company has a toxic work culture? How can you deal with a toxic work environment? Keep reading to find out. 

What is a toxic work culture? What are the tell-tale signs of toxic work culture?

A toxic work culture is where the policies and practices of management and employees create conflicts between the team members and hamper productivity. In other words, a workplace culture that provides a poor environment for people to ideate, create, grow, and thrive is a toxic work culture. Here are 5 signs that your company has a toxic work culture:

  1. Employees suffer from constant burnout

    Ask yourself these three questions.

    Are your employees often frustrated and non-productive in your company’s work environment? 

    Do they look demotivated most of the time?

    Do they wait for the clock to strike pack-o-clock without worrying about completing their tasks?

    These are signs of major burnout. And one of the biggest reasons for burnout is toxic work culture.  This leads to lower employee productivity and impacts the company’s overall performance. So, keep a close eye on your team members and see if they’re showing any signs of burnout.

  2. You have to micromanage your team

    Here’s the thing: micromanaging will never help you in the long run. Teams flourish when you give them space to work on their ideas and turn them into reality. But if you micromanage your team, you don’t provide team members with a safe environment to experiment with their ideas. The frustration caused due to micromanaging can lead to employees quitting your company.

    Related post:     Eight Tips To Manage Remote Developers

  3. There’s a high employee turnover

    A consistently high employee turnover is yet another sign of toxic work culture in employees leaving your company. A normal turnover is understandable, people do change jobs for better growth and opportunities.

    But, if your employees are repeatedly stating the work culture to be the reason for quitting, it is high time to ponder on the question that follows: what’s wrong with the work culture of your company?

    Related post:     DevOps Engineer Turnover: How to Prevent It?

  4. Employees are too concerned about the hierarchy

    When employees feel they don’t have a say in the team, they start feeling left out. This leads to a hunger for power. And, in a toxic environment, this power comes through job titles. Sure, it’s natural for employees to want to rise through the ranks organically. But in a toxic work culture, employees will constantly want to upgrade their position by hook or by crook to achieve a sense of pseudo power that comes with the title.

  5. No one is able to talk about toxicity openly

    Something just doesn’t feel right about the company culture. Yet, no one addresses the elephant in the room. Sounds familiar?

    Your employees are reluctant to talk about the culture because they don’t feel safe in the workplace. They may even feel they won’t be heard if they raise their voices against the toxic work environment, or worst, invite severe repercussions. 

How can you deal with a toxic work environment?

You cannot have like-minded people around you all the time. No matter how hard you try, there will be people in your team who won’t get your way of working. So, how do you ensure that you meet the expectations of your employees and maintain a healthy work environment? Here are some tips:

  1. Create a constructive criticism feedback environment

    Appreciate in public and criticize in private. And even when done in private, ensure that the criticism is constructive, encouraging the employee to do better. Your employees look up to you for feedback on their work and to improve their overall performance. And so, constructive criticism wherever relevant, can go long way and help you retain your best talent.

    Also, read 11 Ways to Motivate Remote Software Developers in 2023

  2. Don’t micromanage and avoid productivity paranoia

    Physical absence does not equal unproductivity. If you’re unable to see your team physically, it doesn’t mean that they are wasting their time doing nothing. Don’t fall prey to productivity paranoia. Have faith in your team and enable them to work independently. As discussed above, avoid micromanaging at all costs. Instead, set some clear parameters to analyze productivity. Employees like it when they have a sense of ownership of their work and know that their managers or leaders are not micromanaging every step.

  3.  Identify weak links and set norms

    Is there a weak link in the team that hampers collaboration in your team? Do some members need constant behavioral supervision? Establish a definite code of conduct and ensure that these members diligently follow it.  As a leader, it’s your responsibility to communicate the company norms clearly. Ensure that every team member knows what is expected from them. Remember, building a healthy work environment is a collective effort that begins with you. 

In summary

Being an engineering leader, you have to ensure that your team is working in a culture that promotes their growth and well-being. Ensure a work environment where your employees can share their concerns easily without the fear of being judged. Give proper credit to your employees for their work and achievements. You’ll see that even the slightest appreciation can go a long way.

Are you an engineering leader looking to hire a software development team for your company? Try Turing teams. With Turing teams, you can hire a team of pre-vetted software developers who have been vigorously vetted by Turing’s AI. To know more, head to Turing Teams’ page.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By ● Nov 23, 2022
Remote work to combat inflation and low productivity
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

Remote Work to Combat Inflation and Low Productivity

Research states that employees are likely to accept lower wages if given the option to work remotely. But how can this help control the inflation rate?

While many employers want employees back in the office, research shows that remote work is helping combat two major challenges: low productivity and an increasing inflation rate. A survey by the National Bureau of Economic Research has revealed that remote work is lowering wage-growth pressures, which in turn is reducing the inflation rate. 

If you are an organization wondering if you should embrace remote work, this blog post can help you reach a decision. Keep reading to know how and why remote can benefit you. 

How can remote work help in tackling inflation?

Remote work can help combat inflation by reducing wage-growth pressures. In simple terms, employees are ready to accept a lower wage if given the option to work remotely. In another survey by the Society of Human Resources, the respondents stated that they’d need at least a 20 percent increase in their salary if the employers wanted them back to the office. 

Another survey with over 3,000 respondents from big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon stated that employees are ready to choose to work from home over a $30,000 salary raise! 

Thus, remote work helps lower the cost of labor, which, in turn, helps reduce the inflation rate. 

How is remote work helping employers and employees?

Did you know? On average, an in-office employee will cost an employer around $18,000 per year. This figure includes costs related to real estate, repairs and maintenance, insurance, office supplies, cleaning services, furniture and fixtures, and more! 

As most of these costs are not associated with a virtual office, employers can reap great monetary benefits if they switch to remote.

Similarly, studies show that employees can save up to $12,000 in expenses, such as travel costs, office attires, meals, etc., by adopting remote work.

Why are employers reluctant to offer full-time remote work to employees?

Many employers believe that a physical office leads to better organizational performance. What’s more, they also think that calling employees to the office will build a stronger work culture and promote better networking across people. However, there is no research-based data that supports these beliefs. 

In contrast, several reports state that remote workers are equally, or in some cases, more productive than their in-office counterparts. Studies have also shown that remote workers are happier than non-remote workers. 

So, why should your company go remote?

Well, for starters:

  • Remote work can help eliminate most expenses associated with a physical office! 
  • Most employees are usually willing to accept lower wages if given the option to work remotely. Similarly, they are likely to choose remote work over salary hikes. 
  • The tech talent shortage is not an issue for such remote companies. Why? Well, remote companies have the option to hire from a global talent pool without having to worry about geographical boundaries.
  • Last but not least, remote workers are happier and more productive. As a result, remote companies can maintain good retention rates.

To conclude, remote work is here to stay!

As more and more organizations gear up to adapt to remote work, it is time you made the switch, too! Remote work has several benefits for employees and employers—tackling the inflation rate is just one of them! Big tech companies across the world are already adopting remote work. What are you waiting for?

If you’re an organization looking to hire remote software developers and engineers, we have great news for you.

With Turing, you hire the top 1 percent of global tech talent from a pool of 2.5 million prevetted developers and engineers. Head to Turing’s Hire Developers page to know more. 

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By ● Oct 19, 2022
DevOps engineers turnover prevention
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Leadership and Management ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

DevOps Engineer Turnover: How to Prevent It?

How to prevent DevOps engineering team turnover 1. Avoid context switching 2. Allow flexibility 3. Ensure that product and engineering teams work in tandem

Turnover in software engineering is common. Software developers will shift to another job that offers better income, better work-life balance, or better growth opportunities. According to a survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2021, the average software engineer turnover is a staggering 57.3 percent! 

DevOps is responsible for cross-team collaborations within the organization. A turnover in the DevOps team can affect the whole organization. So, how can you prevent DevOps turnover? Let’s take a look at how you can prevent turnover in your DevOps teams to ensure a smooth process and collaboration among teams. 

Avoid context switching. Ensure steady ownership.

DevOps engineers, just like every software engineer, like to have a sense of ownership over what they are creating. If you keep on switching the context of the project, engineers may face burnout, leading to their exit from the company. 

The major reasons behind context switching can be:

  • Poor planning and communication: If you haven’t planned an outline of your project, you are more likely to switch context while the process is ongoing. This can make engineers frustrated and also delay the overall project. Always ensure that you plan a proper layout before getting into the project itself.

    “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln.

    Ensure you have a structured approach as well while planning a project. Proper planning and communication can go a long way and benefit your project’s success.

  • Emergencies such as necessary bug fixes or incident response: Such cases can lead to context switching, especially when the developers are not properly working on maintaining the applications due to being stuck with many applications to oversee. 

The best way to reduce or eliminate context switching is to give full authority to the developers. The DevOps developers should have full ownership of the processes, such as scaffolding, Docker containerization, Terraform configurations, monitoring, alerts, and on-call assistance for the application. 

DevOps software development cycles can be challenging and exhausting. Thus, you need to eliminate context switching so that the developers do not suffer burnout.

Ensure your engineering and product teams work in tandem.

Let’s start with an example. Let’s say that the product team takes weeks to design a layout for an application without consulting the engineering team. When the payout is presented to the engineering team, multiple feedback points from the engineering team’s perspective render the layout useless. The whole effort of the product team goes in vain. 

Want to prevent this from happening? Avoid separating the product and the engineering team. Both teams should proactively collaborate, especially in the application design phase. The product team can analyze the market trends and design the product accordingly, while the engineering team can work on ways to incorporate those designs using the technology. This practice can help create a balance between the teams, enabling DevOps engineers to have control over the whole process.                                                                                                               

Related Post: You Must Know These 6 DevOps Best Practices in 2022

Every DevOps team needs flexibility.

Flexibility to try and implement new things in a project can enhance the developer’s understanding of ownership. If a developer is expected to work on the same thing for a long time, they will likely get bored with the task. Thus, allowing a flexible approach toward the process can increase the developer’s satisfaction, thus increasing the output. 

A flexible work culture that nurtures creativity can also help attract the best tech talent. And especially in this era of tech talent shortage, you don’t want to miss a chance to attract the best! Another example of adopting flexibility is allowing work from home or remote work. After all, research states that remote workers are happier and less likely to leave your company. 

Can DevOps turnover be really prevented?

Yes, it can! Developers change their jobs due to non-satisfaction or no growth opportunities in their current role. Also, with the number of DevOps job openings in 2022 around the globe, developers have more options allowing them to choose jobs that offer work-life balance, better salary, and growth opportunities. If you can create a work environment where the developers feel heard and have a sense of ownership, they are more likely to stay with your organization.

Do you want to hire pre-vetted DevOps teams that can take up the crucial role of collaborating with different teams and ensuring the success of your project? Try Turing Teams. Turing helps companies quickly build quality software development teams dedicated to working on their complex projects, products, and solution needs.

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By ● Oct 14, 2022
6 Best DevOps Practices to Know
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Leadership and Management ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

You Must Know These 6 DevOps Best Practices in 2024

DevOps best practices in 2024: 1. Agile Project Management 2. Best security practices 3. Right tools to build the software 4. (CI/CD) 5. Observability 5. Feature flags and canary releases

What do you mean by DevOps? What are some of the DevOps best practices? What are the five levels of DevOps practices?

Read more to find answers to these questions.

DevOps is a set of practices, tools, and philosophies that automates and integrates the processes between the development and operations teams to help organizations deliver value to the customers. 

The DevOps approach provides an efficient, effective, and reliable software deployment process. Implementing the DevOps best practices helps a business accelerate and automate the SDLC.  These practices also help development teams to create seamless processes that boost their productivity.

DevOps practices are widely used across various industries like retail, healthcare, finance, education, and technology. Here are a few more DevOps benefits: 

  • Delivering high-quality and reliable software efficiently.
  • Better collaboration among the development, operations, and quality assessment teams.
  • Better prioritization and management of work by teams.

DevOps plays a major role in the success of the development of applications, hence it becomes imperative for developers to learn DevOps. By adopting DevOps practices and tools, teams can enhance their confidence in building applications.

Six DevOps best practices

  1. Embracing Agile Project Management

    Why do top MNCs like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook update or release products in a few weeks while other companies take years to do the same?

    The reason is agile project management. Agile project management is an iterative approach that helps software teams to enhance their development speed, increase collaboration, and to respond well to current market trends.

    Agile is different from the traditional Waterfall method, where Waterfall method has long release cycles defined by sequential phases. The agile methodology uses Kanban and Scrum frameworks. According to a report, agile projects are nearly 1.5 times more successful than Waterfall projects.

    Related post:     Agile Software Development Lifecycle Phases Explained

    Few ways to implement Agile project management 
    • Outline the vision and scope of your project. This process should include your target customers, product details and benefits, the end goal of the project, and how you want to achieve it.
    • Create a workflow that helps your team to develop an application. Divide the workflow into four stages: to do, in progress, under review, and complete. 
    • Have daily stand-ups with teams to discuss the progress of the work and any difficulties in executing the work.   
    • Break down large tasks into smaller tasks for your teams to work more efficiently and achieve your goals faster. To do the same, use tools like stories, epics, and initiatives.

  2. Implement security practices into the app

    DevOps best practices

    DevOps best practices: DevSecOps

    Security of data should be the top priority while developing an application. As per a survey, 44 percent of organizations have experienced data breaches in their life span.

    Before the advent of DevOps, security was only implemented in the final stages of application development. However, in a collaborative DevOps environment, organizations realized the need for integrating security with DevOps from day one of application development.

    DevSecOps was created to combat security vulnerabilities.

    Few ways to implement the DevSecOps 
    • Share feedback related to security issues.   
    • Automate your security processes to minimize human errors, downtime, and vulnerabilities.     
    • Scan for any vulnerabilities across the development, integration, and production environments.       
    • Train your in-house DevOps team on implementing security practices.

  3. By using the right tools to build the software

    Organizations must implement the right set of DevOps tools in each stage of the DevOps lifecycle to quickly build high-quality software. A DevOps lifecycle includes planning, building, continuous integration, deployment,  monitoring,  operating, and continuous feedback.

    The DevOps toolchain enables the development and operation teams to collaborate effectively throughout the application lifecycle. You can choose to customize the toolchain as per your team’s requirements.

    Related post: The Nine Steps of Software Product Development Life Cycle

    Few examples of toolchains     
    • Jira Software can help your teams segregate the work into smaller, more manageable tasks for faster deployment. By leveraging Slack, your teams can improve cross-functional collaboration, enhance productivity, streamline release cycles and solve incidents faster.   
    • Tools like Puppet and Chef for your operations team and Kubernetes and Docker for the developers’ team can help you set up individual development environments. You can check out this post to learn more about the importance of Kubernetes for DevOps.       
    • Tools like Jenkins, Bitbucket, and more can automate your code right from testing to production stages.         
    • You can use Bitbucket and AWS CodePipeline to provide a single dashboard integrated with your code repository and deployment tools. These tools give complete visibility of all the changes, pull requests, and deployment warnings.       
    • Tools like GetFeedback, Slack, or Pendo can help integrate your chat tool with the survey platforms to collect and review feedback. You can also integrate your chat tool with Facebook and Twitter to collect real-time feedback.

  4. By implementing Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

    DevOps best practices

    DevOps best practices: CI/CD

    With Continuous Integration or CI, developers integrate new codes into a shared repository several times. Whereas, Continuous Delivery or CD automates the software delivery process. CD is responsible for checking the code and ensuring the delivery of the integrated code into the production stage without any bugs or delays.

    Setting up a CI/CD pipeline enables a  business to quickly deliver the end product to customers. CI/CD tools offer certain benefits, such as helping in achieving faster feedback to check the impact and quality of the code, providing transparency to developers to analyze the problems, and helping in the early detection of bugs through automated testing. Commit, build, test, and production deployment are the four stages of CI/CD implementation.

    Some of the tools for CI/CD implementation are as follows:
    • Jenkins offers features and interfaces that help to automate the entire software lifecycle.   
    • Docker creates servers and deploys the artifacts into the registry for testing. Check out this post to understand how you can use Docker to test and deploy web applications.     
    • Jenkins or Cruise Control to self-host your CI/CD application.

  5. By establishing observability

    Handling the complexities of cloud and microservice architecture is difficult. Therefore, implementing observability as DevOps best practice will help your DevOps teams to better understand the complex system of the cloud and microservices architecture.

    Some ways to implement observability are as follows: 
    • Choose a cost-effective observability platform that addresses your environment’s future needs.   
    • The platform you choose must be able to analyze data across multiple dimensions and provide actionable insights. The platform must enable you to develop custom metric aggregations to research and resolve performance issues faster.   
    • Your observability platform must be able to capture data from all the systems and components and store them in a centralized resource.   
    • Kubernetes observability, Splunk, Dynatrace, Honeycomb, and New Relic are some of the best observability platforms.

  6. By managing code releases and deployments with feature flags and canary releases

    Deployment is the process of executing the code in its final destination. The final destination can be a server, a customer, or any other platform where the code has to run. The release is a process where the end users get access to the code and features. Feature flags and canary releases are some of the DevOps best practices that help successfully deploy and release codes.

Implementing feature flags and canary releases

Implementing feature flags in codes will help developers test the feature updates before the launch and fix the issues before the release. Feature flags improve the reliability and performance of the code and provide necessary controls to update applications without disruptions to dev teams. 

With feature flags, deploy the same code versions in different environments. You can implement feature flags as conditional statements within the source code. You can also set up your own conditional statements and control files to track feature flags.

Canary release is a DevOps practice that tests the impact of a new feature release without affecting your entire user base. You can release the feature to a limited number of users to check the changes made to the codes or features.

If you feel there are issues with the new feature, you can turn it off without affecting the user experience. Canary deployments can be done with the help of load balancers, AWS, Kubernetes, and more. To implement Canary deployment, you need to create two clones of the production environment and divide your user base accordingly in each of the load balancers.

Conclusion

DevOps is a continuously evolving process. DevOps is key in driving significant IT transformations that directly boost business goals and objectives.

By implementing the DevOps best practices mentioned in this post, the dev and ops team can collaborate better to accelerate the development process and improve the performance and reliability of the software.

Do you want to hire cost-effective DevOps engineers quickly without compromising on quality? Try Turing. At Turing, you can hire experienced, pre-vetted remote DevOps engineers. Also, you can now build a team of the best remote DevOps engineers in just a few days.

FAQs

  1. What are some of the best DevOps practices?
    Top 6 DevOps best practices to improve the application performance:
    1. Embrace Agile Project Management
    2. Implement security practices into the app
    3. Use the right tools to build the software
    4. Implement Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)
    5. Establish observability
    6. Implement feature flags and canary releases
  1. What is the next big thing in DevOps?
    DevOps is an important software development methodology. DevOps is continuously evolving to meet the changing needs of organizations. So, businesses need to watch out for the emerging trends in DevOps.

    Here are some of the latest DevOps trends:
    • Serverless Computer
    • Microservices Architecture
    • Low code/Noc code applications and platforms
    • DevSecOps
    • Kubernetes and GitOps
    • AI and ML

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By ● Aug 23, 2022
Virtual Team Building Games
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

10 Amazing Virtual Team Building Games for Remote and Hybrid Teams

Virtual Team Building Games: 1. Kahoot team trivia 2. Virtual escape room 3. Virtual scavenger hunt 4. Pancakes vs. Waffles 5. Two truths and one lie 6. Virtual Bingo

What is the #1 virtual team building activity you use? How can I have fun with my team remotely? How do you have a fun virtual team meeting? What are some virtual team building activities?

Looking for answers to these questions? Keep reading. 

Although remote and hybrid work models are effective, they have their own challenges. Keeping your employees motivated and nurturing a healthy team bond are some of them.  

Thankfully, a range of hybrid and remote team games can help overcome these challenges. These games can be used to liven up meetings and increase employee engagement.

10 virtual team building games for remote or hybrid teams

  1. Kahoot team trivia

    You can create a unique team trivia experience with Kahoot. Long-lasting challenges, team-building activities, and leaderboard expansion are possible with Kahoot. 

    You can keep employees interested over extended periods by giving them long-term missions. Additionally, the Kahoot bot motivates coworkers to collaborate with simple encouragement messages. 

    Kahoot is simple to integrate into any virtual team meeting, thanks to many available plug-ins.

  2. Virtual escape room

    Popular among remote workers, the virtual escape room is a great virtual team building game. The pinnacle of virtual team building is when employers encourage workers to cooperate and work together to succeed. 

    Your team will work together on Zoom while playing virtual escape room. A game guide will stream live from the escape room. While gaming, players will have to keep track of clues and items they find along the way using their inventory section. Players can also explore 360° images of the room using their interactive online dashboard.

  3. Virtual scavenger hunt

    A scavenger hunt is a  quick-paced, highly participative virtual team building activity. Scavenger hunts are also quite easy to organize. First, choose a theme, such as music, space, or the 1980s. If you want to increase interaction, you can also pick themes like Halloween or Christmas. 

    Once all of your employees have joined the event, start firing off your list of objects and hints. Participants must pose for the camera or send a photo of an item from the list they find around their home to receive points. 

    Once every hint has been used, the facilitators tally the points or conduct a poll to announce the winners.

  4. Pancakes vs. Waffles

    A simple, entertaining game called Pancakes vs. Waffles will make even the most serious senior executives giggle. In this game, players have to think creatively while competing against one another. 

    In Pancakes vs. Waffles: a discussion topic is initially announced by the moderator. As the game’s name implies, an obvious place to start is the pancakes vs waffles debate. Later, there must be a change in one of the items. 

    The facilitator encourages team members to take turns to present well-reasoned arguments for the silliest issues, producing humorous results.

    After the first round, the winners will suggest a new topic. For instance, if the advocates of pancakes won, they could start a discussion on love vs Netflix, coffee vs music, or dating vs fishing.

    Related post: 4 Qualities of High Performing Teams You Must Know!

  5. Two truths and one lie

    Two truths and one lie is an infamous game among school and college students. However, you can also use it as a virtual team building game. 

    This game can enable workers to discover the wackiest and most unusual things about one another or perhaps find that they have something in common that they would not have discovered otherwise. The guidelines state that each employee must tell two truths and one lie.

    For example, 1. I have two dogs and one crocodile. 2. I grew up on a farm. 3. When I was a college student, I hacked into my principal’s computer. 

    Participants are tasked with determining which of the two statements are true and which is untrue. This game is one of the simplest solutions for virtual team building because all you need is good internet connectivity.

  6. Virtual Bingo

    Virtual Bingo can be enjoyed by people of all ages, from Gen-Zs to Baby Boomers, making it an excellent virtual team building game. 

    You can choose a theme or create a unique, inside joke-filled bingo game for your business. Use a virtual bingo platform online or create one yourself using a bingo template builder. 

    Visit myfreebingocards.com or bingomaker.com to access pre-built game templates and cards.  

  7. Virtual Pictionary

    Drawing is a fantastic icebreaker that can highlight the creativity of your workers and their sense of humor. 

    Plan a virtual introduction session and play drawing games on a website like Drawsize or Scribbl. Another simple way to create your own drawing game is to nominate a facilitator and ask staff members questions for which they must draw the solutions. 

    For example, your staff would have to depict themselves as mythological creatures with unique powers to respond to the question – If you were a mythical creature, what would your powers be?

  8. Virtual Charades

    Charades have been a favorite pastime for ages for a reason: it allows players to venture outside of their normal selves while enjoying friendly rivalry. 

    Virtual Charades can help your employees build stronger ties while allowing them to see a completely new aspect of one another in the remote setup. 

    A remote team can use Zoom’s spotlight feature to enjoy this game. Divide people into teams, choose a topic or phrase from a charades concept generator and have them act it out. Allow each team one or two minutes to make their predictions. 

    Related post: 7 Ways Managers Can Boost Remote Workers’ Productivity

  9. Time Traveler

    This online team building game is a great option for exercising the imagination. 

    In this game, each team member describes a time period, historical era, or social movement they would most like to visit if time travel were possible by video chat. Anything is acceptable, from the Renaissance to the Stone Age, from pirates to Shakespearean actors. 

    Endless discussions can carry on, depending on the subject and conversation. Visit the fun empire for game topics and point count.

  10. Multiplayer board games 

    Whatever your opinion of video games, there is no denying that multiplayer gaming fosters camaraderie and strong relationships. Players develop creative and strategic thinking while involved in the game, which are equally valuable traits for the workplace. 

    Catan and Dominion are two well-known multiplayer video games, along with digitalized board games like Monopoly and Scrabble that you can play online using plugins. You can also purchase gaming packages from websites like Jackbox Games and Tabletopia.

In case you are facing challenges hiring and managing remote employees, try Turing.com. Turing lets companies find, and hire development teams for all their software needs

Bottom line

Virtual team-building activities can range from quick in-office activities to complex full-day gaming marathons. But, whichever activity you choose, team building will take time. So, don’t rush yourself and your employees.

In case you are facing challenges managing remote employees, try Turing.com. Turing lets companies find, hire and manage remote engineering teams. Companies can select the best suitable candidates from a pool of 3 million developers at Turing. 

FAQs

  1. What makes an activity great for hybrid teams? 
    Any activity that enables team members to have a good time and feel more productive and motivated is great for hybrid teams.

  2. What are the benefits of planning a hybrid team-building activity? 
    Better communication, productivity, employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction are all advantages of organizing a hybrid team-building exercise. 

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By ● Aug 5, 2022
7 Common Remote Work Challenges and Ways to Overcome Them
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

7 Remote Working Challenges and Ways to Overcome Them

Here are some practical solutions for remote work challenges: Challenge 1: Lack of consistency. Solution: Prioritize team engagement. Challenge 2: Forced to give constant reminders. Solution: Manage time and deliverables effectively.

What are the biggest challenges of working remotely? What is the hardest part about working from home? How do you overcome challenges working remotely? How can you improve remote workers’ productivity? 

Looking for answers to these questions? Keep reading. 

Remote work saw a 91 percent increase in popularity over the last decade. However, despite its popularity, ​​several remote working challenges remain unaddressed. 

A recent United Nations International Labor Organization survey found that while employees are more productive when they work outside of conventional offices, they’re also more vulnerable to working longer hours with a more intense work pace, work-home interference, and greater stress.

So, here are the seven most common challenges of working from home and the best ways to overcome them. 

Seven biggest challenges of working from home and ways to overcome them

  1. Challenge: Lack of focus and consistency

    Staying focused is one of the most prevalent challenges of working from home. While most remote workers prefer to work from home to escape workplace annoyances, household chores and other distractions may not let them work efficiently.

    Solution: Prioritize team engagement

    1. First and foremost, ensure that your workforce is aligned with your company’s objective. Reassessing the goal of organizational operations can help remote workers connect with the company’s broad aims, and allow them to feel more content in their role. 
    2. Incorporating daily or weekly yoga sessions can help reduce stress and boost concentration. Also, some studies show that meditation and yoga help improve engagement. 
    3. People who exercise on workdays are 27 percent happier and more productive than their peers. Conducting general bodyweight exercises in virtual meetings can help remote workers stay active. So, try practicing some backbends and stretches with your team in the next meeting!

      Related post: Three Best Practices for Managing a Remote Engineering Team

  2. Challenge: Forced to give constant reminders

    Constant reminders from managers about results can be irritating. This is one of the reasons why remote work is so popular. Remote workers have the freedom to plan their work schedules and decide when to work on tasks. 

    Solution: Manage time and deliverables effectively

    If you are worried about your employees being inefficient, several management tools can help address this problem. Asana or Trello’s user-friendly graphical interface makes use of cards to shift tasks from one stage of a project’s development to the next, making project deadlines easy to meet. 

  3. Challenge: Lack of proper feedback

    When you cannot see your team in person, improving team spirit becomes one of the most challenging tasks of working remotely. One way to increase team morale and keep remote workers emotionally and mentally engaged in the company’s goals is to provide regular feedback. However, a study suggests that 44 percent of employers don’t provide proper feedback, and more than 30 percent of employers provide irregular feedback.

    Solution: Plan your feedback calls and emails ahead

    Contrary to popular belief, feedback doesn’t have to be bad. However, your criticism as an employer must be constructive. 

    So, if you want to create a collaborative and coherent workflow, incorporate comments into your remote staff’s work. Monthly emails about individual team members’ performance reviews are also important. Arranging casual monthly one-on-ones to check how they are doing can be a great way to boost employee engagement. 

  4. Challenge: Social isolation

    Research shows that most remote employees feel lonely when the right engagement initiatives are not run by the company. However, keeping employees entertained, occupied, and connected can be tough.

    Solution: Find out-of-the-box ways to boost remote workers’ morale

    Show your remote workers that you value a good work-life balance, and that your company isn’t all work and no leisure. You can do this digitally through various social activities.

    Many activities that would normally take place in person can also occur online. Virtual lunch breaks and multiplayer online games can be good ways to gel with the team members and cheer them up. 

    Celebrating team members’ birthdays and anniversaries can also help in maintaining team engagement. In addition, you can send gift cards, greeting cards, flowers, and chocolates to their homes to mark these special days memorable.

    Related post: Three Things Every Engineering Manager Must Focus On

  5. Challenge: Temptations and procrastination

    It’s difficult to work efficiently when you have a million social media scrolls at your fingertips. While 70 percent of people believe that using a smartphone at work for personal purposes is unacceptable, more than half of them admit to doing so regardless. 

    Solution: Introduce proven productivity strategies

    This doesn’t mean that you should forbid your staff from using smartphones and set up surveillance to ensure that they strictly follow the regulations. Instead, teach your team how to stay on track with the right strategies and tools. 

    The Pomodoro timer, for example, is a time management technique that has grown in popularity over time. It encourages people to work with the time they have—rather than against it. This timer entails working in 25-minute sprints with five-minute rest periods in between and a longer pause after four sprints.

  6. Challenge: Unsafe internet connection and unsecured data

    When remote employees are bored at home, they seek alternate workstations in local cafes, parks, and libraries, among other places. Because of these new workspaces, your remote workers are more likely to connect to an unsafe network.

    Solution: Use cloud storage and anti-virus software

    There are a couple of procedures your team can deploy to reduce such security risks:
    1. Install antivirus software on all company devices.
    2. Use only a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to establish connections.
    3. Install device trackers and strong firewalls.
    4. Use cloud storage for keeping sensitive company information.

      In most cases, malware will not be able to infect your computer or data if you use antivirus software.

      Similarly, VPNs can mask your location, change your IP address, and encrypt your data. They are similar to a firewall that safeguards your computer’s data. In addition, device trackers can locate and disable the use of devices in case of emergencies.

  7. Challenge: Lack of proper work-life balance

    Closing the workday in a remote setting isn’t the same as moving away from your desk and leaving the office. It’s tough to set solid boundaries when the workday begins and finishes if there’s no physical indication of either. 

    Being an overachiever may appear appealing at first glance, but working too much is never healthy. Burnout can cause a physical and emotional feeling of tiredness. Remember, trying to push through this situation would only hurt your team’s performance.

    Solution: Set priorities beforehand

    Setting priority tasks for the day can help remote workers avoid too much work. Discuss your high-priority tasks in daily syncs. Establishing output timelines clearly can help your remote team easily plan their work and breaks. 

    Related post: Three Communication Mistakes Hybrid Teams Must Avoid

Bottom line

Despite the difficulties mentioned above, remote work can be rewarding once you tackle the challenges mentioned above. If you stick it out, remote work can give you and your team freedom, autonomy, the opportunity to work in your ideal setting, and more time for a life outside work. 

If you are building or managing a remote team, visit Turing.com. ​​With Turing, you can hire the top 1 percent of 3 million+ software developers and get a Silicon Valley-caliber workforce with a 100 percent risk-free two-week trial. All engineers and developers are pre-vetted across seniority levels for more than 100 skills, including React, Node, Swift, Vue, Angular, Python, Ruby, R, and many more.

FAQs

  1. What are the biggest challenges of working remotely? 
    Here are the seven biggest challenges of working from home:
    1. Lack of focus and consistency 
    2. Getting repetitive reminders
    3. Lack of proper feedback
    4. Social isolation
    5. Temptations and procrastination
    6. Unsafe internet connection and unsecured data
    7. Lack of proper work-life balance

  2. How do you overcome challenges working remotely?
    Here are seven ways to overcome remote work challenges:
    1. Prioritize team engagement
    2. Manage time and deliverables effectively
    3. Plan your feedback calls and emails ahead
    4. Find out-of-the-box ways to boost remote workers’ morale
    5. Introduce proven productivity strategies
    6. Use cloud storage and anti-virus software
    7. Set priorities beforehand

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By ● Jul 19, 2022
Recruitment ROI and how to calculate it
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Leadership and Management ● Tips, Tools, and Trends ● Vetted Talent ● Vetting and Hiring

What is Recruitment ROI and How to Calculate It?

KPIs to measure recruitment ROI: First-year attrition, Offer acceptance rate, Application completion rate, Quality of Hire, Time to Hire, Cost per Hire, Candidate experience 

What is ROI in recruitment? How is ROI calculated in recruiting? How is the recruitment success rate calculated? How do you measure your recruitment performance? Which are the KPIs to measure recruitment ROI? 

Looking for answers to these questions? Dive in. 

What is ROI in recruitment?

In recruitment, Return On Investment (ROI) is a performance indicator that assesses an employee’s efficiency and profitability. Recruitment ROI measures the value of an employee to the company against the money spent by the employer for hiring and retaining that employee. 

How do you calculate ROI for recruitment? 

The employee lifetime value is divided by the cost of hiring and retaining that employee to determine recruitment ROI. A percentage or a ratio is used to express the result. 

Which metrics should you consider to measure recruitment ROI?

  1. Calculate the first-year attrition rate 

    All new hires need some time to settle in and deliver their best work. However, they come under first-year attrition if they leave within a year. 

    You will never be able to recoup your investment in your applicants if they leave before completing a year with you. The costs of acquiring new employees will pile up and impact your company’s bottom line.

    When candidates are met with unrealistic expectations that don’t necessarily align with the job requirements, they’ll likely quit the position within a year. Also, when you hire an unsuitable candidate for the job, performance will suffer, and you may have to let the employee go. 

    So, communicate what is expected of the candidate for the position and ensure they have enough resources to maximize their performance.

  2. Assess the offer acceptance rate

    The percentage of candidates who accept the job offer from your organization is the Offer Acceptance Rate (OAR). 

    On the contrary, after going through all interview rounds, tests, and interactions, if the candidate doesn’t join the organization, the hiring resources go to waste. The OAR decreases, and the company’s operational costs increase. 

    Low OAR is a bad sign for any company and is directly linked to recruiters’ competency. OAR reflects the recruiter’s ability to ascertain the candidate’s goals, needs, and significant concerns before making an offer. 

  3. Analyze the Application Completion Rate (ACR)

    According to a recent survey, about 60 percent of people abandon their applications in the middle because they are too long, tedious, or confusing. 

    Therefore, the number of people who complete your job application form is another important key performance indicator to keep track of. This KPI calculates how many candidates start an application for an open role at a company, fill it and submit it for consideration.

    Tracking ACR helps the hiring managers optimize their recruitment processes, used in conjunction with career page and job board analytics.

    Related post: 8 Ways Hiring Managers Can Include Automation in Their Hiring Process

  4. Determine the quality of hire

    This KPI is critical for determining whether a newly hired applicant is a good or bad fit for the company. 

    Determine how much value the new person brings to the organization and what impact they have on the company’s long-term goals. As performance and culture fit cannot be reduced to scores or statistics, this metric is subjective and differs for companies and employees. 

    Quality of Hire (in percentage) = (Indicator in percentage + Indicator in percentage) / Number of Indicators

  5. Calculate the Time To Hire (TTH)

    The time between when a candidate first enters the pipeline and when they accept a job offer is referred to as the time to hire. This is an important KPI because hiring processes require significant time and money. 

    Assume the day you opened a specific role is day one when calculating the time to hire. After that, deduct the number of days it takes a candidate to enter the pipeline from the number of days it takes them to accept an offer.

    For example, an applicant applied for an available position five days after it was advertised. Then, 20 days after the job was advertised, they accepted an offer. Your time to hire is 20-5=15 days.

    Time to hire = The day candidate accepted the offer – The day candidate entered the pipeline.

  6. Estimate the Cost Per Hire (CPH)

    The average money spent to fill a vacant position in a company is the cost per hire. 

    This metric helps track finances since it helps you plan your recruiting budget and allows you to compare spending over time. Your cost per hire also displays how much money you save by using recruitment software instead of search firms or external recruiters. 

    The American National Standards Institute and the Society of Human Resource Management developed a standard formula for estimating the cost per hire. The formula states – Add up the costs of both internal and external recruiting efforts and divide by the total number of hires.

    CPH = (Total internal + total external recruiting costs) / total number of hires in a specific time frame

An example to clarify how to calculate the recruitment ROI:

  • Assume that XYZ Company will hire 100 individuals over the next 12 months, with an average salary of $100,000. A total of $10 million in further compensation is offered. 
  • This would result in a total variable profit contribution of $24 million (100 individuals at $240,000 apiece). 
  • If the 100 individuals hired were 20 percent more productive, total profit would increase by $4.8 million annually. This increase would amount to around $20 million in additional variable profit over four years.
  • The cost of hiring 100 top-third employees is estimated to be around $3 million. This figure includes a four-year pay raise of $2 million, the expense of four additional recruiters in the first year, four additional LinkedIn Recruiter licenses for a year, and the cost of training recruiters and hiring managers to adopt performance-based hiring. 
  • The return on investment (ROI) for earning $20 million in profit over four years with a $3 million investment is over 600 percent, with a payback of three months. 

Related post: 6 Mistakes Hiring Managers Should Avoid Making

Bottom line

Math is fun, but it’s not for everyone. If you aren’t interested in maths and calculating recruitment ROI manually, you can use modern recruitment software, such as Arya by LeoForce, SelectHub, Workable, Trakstar Hire, Bamboo HR, iCIMS, JobVite, JobAdder, and BullHorn. 

If you wish to hire the world’s best developers remotely, try Turing.com. Turing makes remote recruiting simple and beneficial for businesses. Turing allows companies to employ pre-vetted, Silicon Valley-caliber remote software talent in 3-5 days across 100+ programming languages.

FAQs

  1. How is the recruitment success rate calculated?
    To calculate the success ratio, divide the number of hires who perform well by the total number of hired candidates. A high success ratio means that most of the hired candidates perform well. However, a low ratio means that recruiters must fine-tune their selection process.

  2. How do you measure your recruitment performance?
    Here are some of the most important KPIs to measure recruitment performance:
  • First-year attrition
  • Offer acceptance rate
  • Application completion rate
  • Quality of hire
  • Time to hire
  • Cost per hire
  • Candidate experience

Traditional recruiting wasn’t built for a software-first world

Click here to register today for Turing's product demo

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By ● Jul 15, 2022
7 reasons your software team should switch to remote work in 2022
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

7 Reasons Your Software Team Should Switch to Remote Work in 2024

Benefits of remote work in 2023 for your software team: 1. Attract talent from anywhere 2. Reduce talent cost 3. Boost productivity 4. Penetrate local markets

Today’s work environment is dynamic and fast-paced. Remote work software enables tech companies to build new tools more efficiently than ever. Software developers benefit from remote work, as it allows them to take advantage of less congested and inexpensive locations in contrast with big cities. Remote work also helps to reduce their commute time significantly. 

However, remote work is beneficial not only for software teams. Tech companies can also leverage remote work to increase operational efficiency and reduce employee costs by a considerable amount. 

Besides, you can’t help but hop on the trend. Many software companies have adapted to remote work since the pandemic. By 2025, 70 percent of the US workforce will work from home at least five days per month. 

Do you want to learn how to leverage remote work in 2023 to build a software team that pushes your business toward its goals? Read on to find out.

What are the benefits of remote work in 2023 for your software team?

  1. Attract top talent from anywhere

    Hiring a remote software team will give your company more flexibility. Today, tech companies are looking to hire the best developers in the world, not just the ones who happen to live in their city.

    With the global developer talent shortage, building a remote team of qualified candidates across the globe can benefit companies. The best thing about recruiting worldwide is that your company can tap into a talent pool outside your local area.

    By hiring remote engineers from various backgrounds, companies can improve the diversity in their workforce and build a more inclusive culture.

  2. Reduce talent cost

    Adopting remote work is cheaper than using in-house teams since you don’t have to spend on office space, utility bills, or computing equipment. Your main expenditure will probably be remote work software and a payroll system.

    Additionally, many developing countries have lower corporate tax rates than the U.S. federal rate of 21 percent. Therefore, working with a virtual team will help you cut down on payroll taxes.

    Another way a remote software development team can help you save money is by reducing the cost of transportation. You can cut down on commuter benefits by hiring a few people to work from home.

    Related post: 7 Reasons to Hire Software Developers from Mexico

  3. Boost productivity

    Remote work in 2022

    Remote work boosts productivity

    Some developers prefer working in a quiet, peaceful atmosphere, while others prefer a more active environment with lots of stimulation. When employees bask in their idealistic workspace, they can easily maintain focus and avoid distractions.

    Remote work allows software engineers to be more creative by removing the pressure of being in an office. This working model is time-saving and will enable employees to finish more work in less time.

    Another advantage of remote work is that it gives your software team the freedom to select the right working environment.

  4. Improve employee morale and retention

    A remote software development team will likely stick longer with your company than an onsite team. The main reason for this tendency is software developers are more comfortable with a work-life balance.

    When working remotely, a virtual team is more likely to value the autonomy of working from home. That way, the team members can work when it suits them best, making them more willing to stick around.

    Remote working also allows employees to explore professional development opportunities unavailable in an office setting. For instance, your software team members can take more courses and work on a schedule that won’t affect their commitment to your company.

  5. Pay only for hours worked

    A recent survey found that 61 percent of employees waste between 30 minutes to an hour at work daily. While this time may not seem like much, it can add up to about ten days a year – per employee.

    When you engage remote engineers, you pay them on a per-hour basis. And this payment model means you only pay employees for their actual work time rather than for their non-work activities. This way, you can gauge your team’s productivity and track effectiveness over time.

  6. Minimize the risk of outsourcing

    When you build a remote team, you’ll be able to retain control over the workflow and minimize potential outsourcing risks. But when you outsource, you often hire workers who are just looking for a job and not necessarily interested in the company.

    They may jump ship if another opportunity comes along that suits them better. However, that’s not the case with a remote software development team. Remote workers are often more loyal to your company since your company is their primary source of income.

  7. Penetrate local markets

    By hiring software developers from various locations around the world, you’re contributing positively to their local economy and building quality relationships that can help your company’s expansion in the future.

    Embracing remote work will also help to increase your company’s profile and brand awareness. Remember, relationships lead to revenue.

    Related post: Eight Best Countries for Outsourcing Software Development in 2023.

Final thoughts: Why should software teams switch to remote work in 2023?

Working remotely can bring significant benefits to your company, such as access to the best talents worldwide, increased productivity, reduced operating costs, improved employee morale, etc. These advantages can help your company accomplish its mission quickly.

Are you a U.S. company looking to build a remote software development team?  Turing can help you hire the pre-vetted, Silicon Valley-caliber developers at unmatched prices in just less than 3-5 days. Visit the Hire Developers page to know more!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you make a remote software team?

The first step in building a remote software team is finding a reliable developer job platform. Turing can help you hire remote developers with relevant skills and qualifications for your project at zero risk.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By ● Jul 13, 2022
Major benefits of customer feedback for software development
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Leadership and Management ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

5 Major Benefits of Customer Feedback for Software Development

5 benefits of customer feedback: 1. Helps identify customer preferences 2. Enhances team efficiency 3. Increases software quality 4. Lowers developmental costs.

What is customer feedback? Why is user feedback vital for software development? What is user feedback used for? 

Keep reading the post to know more!

What is feedback?

Feedback is information or criticism that helps in improving someone’s or something’s current and future actions. Similarly, customer feedback is the reaction given by consumers based on their interaction with the product or services of a company.

Though most applications go through a rigorous development cycle, their success heavily depends on customers’ satisfaction and feedback. Based on customer feedback, developers can optimize the user interface. Customer feedback adds great value while developing a mobile application, web application, or any other software.

A customer-centric approach by an organization is the best way to collect user feedback and integrate it into the development process. In a customer-centric approach, business focuses on providing a positive customer experience, improved customer loyalty, and increased business growth.

Involving users in the software development process helps developers analyze the issues better. Developers find it challenging to identify every minute problem faced by the users. Customer feedback can give developers a solid understanding of the problems and definite solutions.

Related post: The Nine Steps of Software Product Development Life Cycle

Here are the important data points that every customer feedback for software development should include:

  • Operating system
  • Specifications
  • Features
  • Loading time
  • User experience 
  • New ideas

5 reasons why customer feedback is important

Customer feedback helps in understanding how customers perceive your brand. Organizations can make better decisions and improve the user experience with the feedback given by customers, employees, suppliers, stakeholders, and vendors. Effective customer feedback is important to do the following:

  • Identify customers’ preferences

    While launching a new product or software, customer feedback is vital to understanding the pain points, requirements, and choices of the users. With the help of customer feedback tools, it’s easier to gather, segregate and evaluate the data. Some of the tools like Survey Monkey, Typeform, Survey Sparrow, User Report, and Customer Sure are available to gather online customers’ feedback.

    This process of identifying the customer requirements and providing solutions accordingly will make the customers feel valued and involved in the product-building process. 

  • Enhance the team efficiency

    Customer feedback is based on the users’ experience with the software. The user feedback provides valuable information that helps the team complete their task efficiently and deliver it on time.

  • Increase the software quality

    Several people test the application when the development team releases the beta version of the software. Users might face issues related to the features, loading time, operating system, etc., and provide comprehensive feedback based on the issues to the development team. Upon receiving the feedback, developers easily make the changes and improve the quality of the software.

    Related post: What is Software Quality Assurance, and Why Is It Important?

  • Lower the developmental costs

    Early customer feedback allows developers to avoid major app changes and flaws. This way they can save time and eventually developmental costs. This step helps in fixing the bugs before the release of the software. Hence customer feedback saves time and developmental costs for the company.

  • Augment the marketing strategy

    Customer feedback provides vital information about user requirements and expectations. This information helps the marketing team to frame a better launch and positioning strategy. 

How to ask for customer feedback?

Benefits of customer feedback

How to ask for customer feedback?

The best ways to develop user-friendly software and derive reliable customer feedback are as follows:

  • Using the uninstall feedback surveys

    These surveys come into action when users uninstall the application. This type of feedback survey includes open-ended and multiple-choice questions. This survey enables users to share their reasons for uninstallation.

  • Utilizing bug reports

    A bug report is a common way to gather users’ feedback. If the software corrupts unexpectedly, the users can send their log files to the support team. and the software development team can resolve the bugs.

  • Reviewing instant online feedback

    Adding dialogue boxes on the website help in getting instant customer feedback. They will allow the users to have a quick conversation on the issues.

  • Circulating responsive emails

    The users can send videos, images, and log files via emails that help the development team understand the problems better. 

  • Leveraging social media channels

    Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn are great ways to collect customer feedback. Many customers share their experiences and provide reviews through social media. Hence, you can leverage social media platforms for customer feedback by creating polls, votes, and surveys.

Continuous collaboration between the developers, users, and the business is crucial for a successful software development process. Getting real-time feedback from users positively impacts software development. According to Forbes, businesses focusing on improving customer experience will have an 80 percent increase in their revenue. And thus, maximizing customer feedback helps in positioning the customer expectations with the software feature in every stage of software development.

Experienced software developers can leverage customer feedback to build the best apps and websites. 

Do you want to hire pre-vetted, experienced software developers? Try Turing. Hire from the top 1% of 1.5 million+ developers at unbeatable prices in just 3-5 days.

FAQs

What is user feedback used for?

User feedback helps companies understand what users feel while using a new product or software. User feedback gives actionable insights to developers and enables them to 

  • Identify customer preferences
  • Enhance team efficiency 
  • Increase the software quality
  • Lower developmental costs
  • Augment the marketing strategy

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By ● Jul 5, 2022
11 Ways to Celebrate Pride at Your Workplace in 2023 (1)
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

11 Ways to Celebrate Pride at Your Workplace in 2024

Ways to celebrate Pride month at your workplace: 1. Support the LGBTQ+ community 2. Learn the history of Pride in your company 3. Attend a virtual Pride parade

Pride Day 2024: How can you celebrate Pride at your workplace? Whether your staff is onsite or working remotely, celebrating Pride can give them a sense of inclusivity and aid their self-expression.

Besides, this celebration sends a message to the general public that your company upholds the values of diversity and inclusion. It also shows you are an advocate of equality and stand against discrimination. 

How do you promote Pride at your workplace?

Pride is all about nurturing inclusion, diversity, and equality. Here are a few ideas to help you make the best of it:

  1. Support the LGBTQ+ community 

    One of the most actionable and meaningful contributions a company can make to celebrate Pride is to donate to an LGBTQ+ charity. You can offer to match employee contributions or donate a large sum to any NGO or non-profit of your choice.

    You can support organizations such as Mermaid, helping transgender families and children. Similarly, Stonewall advocates full equality for the members of the LGBTQ+ community. The Albert Kennedy Trust provides shelter and support for young and homeless members of the LGBTQ+ community.

    Contributing to such organizations will help your company fulfill its inclusion and diversity objectives and implement corporate values.

    However, donations are not the only way to mark Pride at work. You can also encourage your staff members to volunteer or raise awareness for the various causes they support.

    Related post:     6 Tips to Create an LGBTQ+ Community Friendly Hiring Process

  2. Virtual Pride Month Ideas: Attend a virtual Pride parade

    Your hybrid and remote teams may not be able to join the Pride parade in person. However, you can provide an avenue for them to watch the Pride parade from home. 

    Many LGBTQ+ organizations will broadcast Pride parades online this year. You can check your local Pride organizations and arrange a live-stream event for your team.

    If you cannot get your team to watch the Pride parade physically, it would make sense to encourage clusters of LGBTQ+ members to watch such parades together, virtually. To show your support for the community, ask non-LGBTQ+ members to participate in the parades.

  3. Be mindful of employees who don’t want the spotlight

    Pride month is all about coming out to celebrate your sexuality. However, many members of the LGBTQ+ community don’t feel safe or comfortable sharing their sexuality with others. Some might still be unsure of their sexuality, which is okay.

    That said, avoid putting the spotlight on specific employees. Instead, you can call for volunteers to share their experiences.

    Also, reward employees participating in Pride activities for their time and energy.

  4. Virtual Pride Month Ideas: Use a fun Pride Zoom background.

    6 Tips To Create An LGBTQ+ inclusive hiring strategy

    Use a fun Pride Zoom background

    You need to rope in your design team for this one. Create Pride-themed backgrounds for your team calls throughout June and encourage your employees to use these backgrounds during meetings.

    It makes more sense to create colorful Pride video call backgrounds with your company’s logo and brand elements. This is a simple yet effective way of acknowledging and celebrating pride at your workplace.

  5. Learn about Pride’s history with your team

    Beyond the fun and charity, learning about Pride history and the mental health aftermaths of LGBTQ+ discrimination is essential to celebrating Pride month. Learning about Pride history will educate your team members and help in avoiding workplace discrimination of any sort. 

    You can hold webinars and invite a virtual guest speaker (preferably someone in the LGBTQ+ community) to educate your team on these topics.

  6. Start an online book club.

    Organizing a book club focusing on books written by LGBTQ+ authors is another way to learn about the rights and experiences of members of the LGBTQ+ community. The book clubs can also help educate the employees on the dangers of LGBTQ+ stigma and discrimination. 

  7. Incentivize Pride celebrations

    Celebrate Pride at Your Workplace

    Celebrate Pride at Your Workplace: Incentivize Pride celebrations

    Studies show that employees’ engagement rate increases with a reward. That said, you can give a fun Pride color gift to volunteers.

    You can encourage your team to participate in Pride month by offering R&R platform points to employees that:
    1. Attend a company-sponsored Pride month event
    2. Add their ally message or pronouns to the email
    3. Post a Pride swag selfie
    4. Volunteer to participate in Pride parades
    5. Share Pride-related company blogs and social media posts

  8. Evaluate your diversity and discrimination policies

    This Pride Month, develop a workplace culture that values employees with a suitable inclusion and diversity strategy. Your team members deserve to work in a supportive, inclusive, and safe environment and have their voices heard regardless of their sexual orientation.

    A well-crafted company policy will help outline the company’s values and show the employees that your organization takes issues like discrimination policies seriously. Besides, a sound diversity policy will help eliminate implicit bias in your hiring process and improve your diversity initiatives when necessary.

    Related post: Diversity Hiring: 4 Do’s and Don’ts You Must Know.

  9. Decorate the office with fun Pride colors

    What’s a Pride month without great swag and colors? So, splurge a little on rainbow banners, flags, and pins. With that, you’ll not just be celebrating Pride month but also increasing your employees’ morale. 

    Sure, decorating the office will help your team members recognize the company’s support for the LGBTQ+ community. But most importantly, with this step, you’ll also demonstrate that the office is safe for employees to disclose their sexual orientation without risking discrimination.

  10. Social media recognition

    Most companies have a social media account, making it easy for them to support a cause or make their voice heard. With that in mind, you can update your social media accounts to honor Pride month.

    Sharing posts with information on Pride events on the company’s social media accounts will help demonstrate the company’s support for the LGBTQ+ community. Moreover, this step will also help boost the confidence of LGBTQ+ employees to do the same.

  11. Create a Pride playlist with your team

    Another great way to celebrate Pride month is to encourage your employees to contribute to a Pride playlist. Each individual can share their favorite song by an LGBTQ+ artist. You can also pick a theme that symbolizes the idea of Pride to you.

    Halsey, Frank Ocean, Jason Mraz, Brandi Carlile, and the Indigo Girls are a few LGBTQ+ artists to consider.

Why is it important to celebrate Pride Month at work? What are the advantages of celebrating Pride Month?

How to celebrate pride month at work

Why celebrate Pride Month at work?

Celebrating Pride Month at work is important for two main reasons. First of all, it fosters workplace inclusiveness and diversity. Recognizing and supporting the LGBTQ+ community fosters an environment where people of all sexual orientations and gender identities feel accepted and cherished. This fosters a sense of belonging and has increased employee morale, productivity, and overall well-being. It also communicates to current and prospective employees that your organization is committed to cultivating a welcoming and inclusive workplace culture.

Second, observing Pride Month at work aids in attracting and retaining top talent. Many candidates prioritize diversity and inclusion when choosing an employer in today’s competitive employment market. You exhibit your organization’s dedication to the LGBTQ+ community by actively engaging in Pride Month activities. This can help you attract a diverse pool of talent and increase your desirability to prospective employees. Furthermore, when employees believe that their workplace promotes diversity and inclusion, they are more likely to stay with the organization over time, resulting in increased employee retention.

The above steps can help you celebrate Pride at your workplace.

There are several ways to celebrate Pride Month and promote work equity, inclusion, and diversity in the organization. Use this month to educate, learn and celebrate your diverse teams. These initiatives with help promote a healthy and welcoming workspace all year round.

Are you a U.S. company looking to hire brilliant software developers? You have come to the right place.

At Turing, we provide U.S. companies with prevetted software developers skilled in the most in-demand programming languages at unbeatable rates. These developers can help you handle your company processes efficiently and help you scale your business. Head over to the Hire Developers page for more information!

FAQs

  1. How do you introduce employees to Pride Month?

    Introducing employees to Pride Month can be done through various means. You can start by sending out a company-wide email or announcement highlighting the significance of Pride Month and explaining the organization’s commitment to inclusivity. Consider organizing educational workshops or guest speaker sessions to raise awareness about LGBTQ+ history, challenges, and accomplishments. Decorate common areas with Pride flags or symbols to visually show support. Additionally, encourage employees to participate in Pride-related events, such as parades or volunteering opportunities, and provide resources or suggestions for personal learning and allyship.

  2. How do you celebrate Pride Month in the workplace?

    To celebrate Pride Month in the workplace, there are several effective strategies you can implement. Some ideas include: supporting LGBTQ+ charities through donations or volunteering, attending virtual Pride parades together as a team, respecting employees who may not want to share their sexuality while still encouraging volunteer participation, using Pride-themed Zoom backgrounds, organizing educational activities like webinars or book clubs to learn about LGBTQ+ history and experiences, incentivizing participation with rewards, evaluating diversity and discrimination policies, decorating the office with Pride colors, recognizing Pride on social media, and creating a Pride playlist collaboratively with team members. These initiatives foster inclusivity, educate, and demonstrate support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By ● Jun 27, 2022
motivate remote software developers
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

11 Ways to Motivate Remote Software Developers in 2024

Motivate remote software developers: 1. Appreciation mails, bonuses, and gifts. 2. Team-building exercises. 3. Surprise off-days. 4. Shout-outs on social media

How do you motivate remote software developers? How do you encourage team members in software development? How do you empower remote employees?

Keep reading to find out!

Introduction

Motivated and engaged employees perform better, stay in their job roles longer, and are less vulnerable to burnout.

According to a recent survey, more than 94 percent of HR professionals believe that motivating staff helps boost a company’s sales. Also, higher levels of employee engagement significantly improve a firm’s profitability. 

So, how do managers and leaders, who may be exhausted themselves, motivate remote software developers? Here’s how.

11 ways to motivate remote software developers in 2024

  1. Appreciation notes and emails to remote software developers

    A reward system is one of the most cost-effective ways to inspire your remote software developers. Managers can send gratitude messages to remote staff using apps like iAppreciate, Workmates, or Slack bots like EngageWith.

    These apps provide public acknowledgment and motivate other team members to perform well. Such apps also help with peer-to-peer recognition, which is a good motivator.

    Related post: Turing Distinguished Leader Series: Building and Managing Remote Teams

  2. Bonuses and gift cards

    A monetary incentive is a sure-shot way to show remote employees that you value their efforts. The prospect of a reward, such as raises or bonuses, keeps developers engaged and helps them meet their objectives.

    Also, offering remote employees gift cards or other subscription services fosters healthy competition. Such gestures motivate them to do their best and boost productivity at work.

  3. Regular team-building exercises

    Employees can feel motivated through team-building games or exercises. These activities could be related to your job or purely recreational. There are a ton of virtual team-building activities you can use to keep your remote team connected. Digital card games, watercooler trivia, recipe swap, and Donut meetups are some of them. Motivating employees through team-building events is an effective way to boost their work ethic. These events can help rejuvenate staff, boost team bonding, and increase productivity.

  4. A suggestion box for remote employees

    A suggestion box can help motivate remote software developers by allowing them to express their issues about the workplace discreetly. This solution can make employees realize that the company is receptive to their problems.

    Freesuggestionbox and Suggestionox are two popular websites for anonymous employee suggestions.

  5. Opportunities for development for remote employees

    According to a recent study, around 33 percent of workers say professional growth is essential in deciding whether to accept a job. And so, providing growth opportunities is one of the most effective methods to encourage employees and enhance productivity. You can significantly raise an employee’s morale and productivity by investing in their career or personal growth.

    Providing frequent opportunities for advancement through training and workshops will motivate employees to stay with your organization. 
    Related post: Facebook’s Industry Manager on How Engineering Managers Can Empower Their Teams

  6. Set internal targets

    To ensure optimum productivity in remote software developers, managers can set ambitious goals, i.e., targets slightly above the team’s capacity. But remember, targets far beyond your team’s capabilities can be intimidating.  On the other hand, if the goals seem challenging yet attainable, they inspire people to work more and produce more.

    So, to keep your team motivated, set balanced goals and split project goals between all team members.

  7. Vacation & surprise days-offs

    One of the most effective ways to motivate remote software developers is to offer extra vacation days and surprise days-offs post project completion. This practice can encourage them to meet goals on time and boost productivity.

  8. Special awards to remote software developers

    Compensation may bring happiness, but it does not satisfy employees’ deep yearning to feel valued for their work. Implementing an awards system that recognizes each remote employee’s accomplishments shows them that you’re paying attention and appreciating their efforts.

    Awards like ‘Employee of the Month or Year’ engage remote employees effectively. These activities motivate them to keep working harder. Here are a few award titles as examples: 
    1. The Eccentric Performer
    2. The Star Employee
    3. Achiever of the Month
    4. The High Flyer
    5. The Ace Employee
    6. The Mountain Mover
    7. The Growth Driver

  9. Frequent feedback

    Establishing a culture of sharing consistent feedback and constructive criticism can help remote employees perform their best. Managers must understand that regular feedback plays a significant role in motivating remote employees. Before sharing feedback, managers must first comprehend the remote employees’ needs, strengths, and shortcomings to help them perform better. 

  10. Team lunches

    Companies should set aside designated days for team lunches to help employees bond with their supervisors and coworkers. These meetings can be virtual on zoom calls or in-person in restaurants and cafes.

    Team lunches can help employees enhance their interpersonal skills, which, in turn, can help them work better together.

    In addition, delivering food or meal prep kits to remote workers is also a great way to engage with them personally. 

    Related post:     Three Communication Mistakes Hybrid Teams Must Avoid

  11. Shout-outs on social media

    When employee accomplishments go on a physical or virtual bulletin board in the office, their peers appreciate their hard work, inspiring the awardee to perform even better. Similarly, social media mentions or features in corporate newsletters can improve remote employees’ morale in a remote or hybrid setup.

    Such public acclaim gives remote employees a sense of accomplishment,  distinct from attaining a goal, and encourages them to keep working hard.

Which is the best way to motivate remote software developers?
Vote

So, how should you start motivating remote software developers? 

Open communication is the first step toward motivating your team. Knowing the team’s perspective allows you to analyze whether you satisfy team needs. You can also identify an opportunity for improvement. But sometimes, it’s hard to execute both with a considerable workforce.

 Are you looking to hire a team of excellent, pre-vetted, remote developers? Visit Turing.com. With Turing, you can hire the top 1 percent of 1.5 million+ software developers and engineers pre-vetted for Silicon Valley-caliber with a 100 percent risk-free two-week trial. 

FAQs

  1. How do you motivate team members in software development?
    Here are 11 ways to motivate remote software developers:
    1. Send appreciation notes and emails
    2. Offer bonuses and gift cards 
    3. Conduct regular team-building exercises
    4. Maintain a virtual suggestion box 
    5. Provide opportunities for development 
    6. Set internal targets
    7. Offer vacations and surprise days-offs
    8. Give frequent feedback 
    9. Arrange team lunches
    10. Give shout-outs on social media

  2. How do you motivate a developer? 
    If you want to motivate or inspire software developers, help them progress in their careers. You can assign them exciting projects and responsibilities, conduct periodic performance reviews, help them increase their network, and more.

  3. How do you manage and motivate a remote workforce? 
    You can encourage your remote staff by providing the tools they need to execute their jobs, cultivating a culture of trust, adopting a growth mentality, and maintaining open lines of communication. 

Tell us the skills you need and we'll find the best developer for you in days, not weeks.

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By ● Jun 2, 2022
High performing teams
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

4 Qualities of High Performing Teams You Must Know!

High-performing teams are autonomous teams that deliver measurable high-standards results relevant to the company’s key strategic initiatives in a timely & sustainable manner.

High-performing teams pursue excellence through shared goals, open communication, clear expectations, and a strong sense of accountability among their members.

However, building a high-performing team needs more than just putting together a group of talented people with the right skills—it requires careful development of some unique characteristics and behaviors.

What defines a high-performing team?

A high-performing team is an autonomous team that delivers measurable high-standards results relevant to the company’s key strategic initiatives in a timely and sustainable manner.

What are the four qualities of a high-performing team?

High performing teams characteristics

What are the four qualities of a high-performing team?

Specific exclusive attributes distinguish high-performing teams from the rest. Let’s look at some of the key characteristics of a high-performing team.

  • Optimum autonomy

    • Situational awareness. Members of high-performing teams have a strong situational awareness of their team, partner teams, and the company’s strategic focus. Each member of such a team may have well-defined roles, but they are mindful of the big picture.

      Most importantly, these members know how their work fits in the big picture. And thus, members of a high-performing team know the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of their jobs.

    • Proactiveness and cross-functionality. High-performing teams do not wait for orders from above when faced with a challenge. Instead, they proactively find out the relevant information or person to unblock them. Additionally, such teams relay necessary information to the impacted key stakeholders instead of waiting for others to “figure it out.”

      Moreover, high-performance teams work with cross-functional members as needed. Such teams can operate without having the leadership give orders on each step.

  • High-standards

    • Engineering excellence. High-performing teams do the right things and do them correctly. They put users first and prioritize end-to-end product quality. Such teams ensure that their efforts and investments are relevant to the company’s strategic directions.

      A sharp focus on engineering excellence is an important distinguishing trait of high-performing teams. Designs push to make the software easy to maintain and agile without over-engineering. On the other hand, engineers strive to make the codebase better than it previously was.

  • Timely

    • Delivering on commitments. Every company’s success depends on its team’s ability to deliver within the committed time frame. And thus, high-performing teams exercise judgment without overpromising on every high-priority objective to appear impactful. Instead of overpromising output and missing out, such teams pride themselves on achieving and exceeding commitments and expectations.

    • Such high-performance teams stand behind their commitments and continuously iterate their strategy to deliver the best possible outcomes.

  • Consistency and sustainability

    • Consistent results. High-performing teams can sustainably deliver great results without compromising their members’ physical and mental health. In addition, such teams can ensure consistent high output without compromising end-users or partners or losing their trust.

      In other words, such teams known for high performance can repeat what they have done well. Their results are not a one-off only or fluke; they are consistent.

Read also: How to Build a Software Development Team Structure

Looking to hire a development team remotely, but don’t know where to start? Try Turing Teams. Turing helps companies hire development teams dedicated to working on their complex projects, products, and solution needs.

To sum up

High-performing teams comprise groups of results-focused individuals with specialized expertise and skills who deliver consistently superior output. When you bring together and nurture the right mix of people, skillsets, and experience, the payoff will always be worth it.

But remember, building a high-performing team is like running a marathon, not a sprint. Think of it as a continuous, iterative process rather than a one-off task.

Are you an engineering leader looking to spin up a high-performing engineering team in the cloud? Try Turing. Turing’s Intelligent Talent Cloud can help you hire experienced, pre-vetted, Silicon Valley-caliber engineers at unbeatable prices in just 3-5 days!

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By ● May 31, 2022
Mental health in the workplace
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

5 Ideas for Promoting Mental Health in the Workplace

Tips for promoting mental health at the workplace 1. Vacation policy 2. Flexible working hours 3. Mental health breaks 4. Drawing boundaries 5. Counseling.

How do you manage mental health when working from home? How can companies prioritize promoting mental health awareness in the workplace? Keep reading to find out the answers!

May has been observed as Mental Health Awareness Month in the US since 1949. Mental health awareness is important to erase the stigma associated with mental illness. Most employees in the US battle mental illness, and this calls for immediate action by companies to promote mental health. A March 2022 poll conducted by the American Psychological Association suggests that Americans are in “survival mode” due to high-stress levels caused by inflation, the ongoing pandemic, and the crisis in Ukraine.

Nine out of ten employers surveyed by McKinsey reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the behavioral health of their workforce. Anxiety and depression are the main factors contributing to less productivity, costing the global economy $1 trillion each year. 

Despite these figures, many employees hesitate to discuss mental health at the workplace due to fear of being judged.

Mental health issues, if not treated, can negatively impact an individual’s growth, happiness, and safety. To eliminate this negative impact, companies must create proper awareness about mental health in the workplace. 

Companies must also understand the requirements of their employees and provide adequate support wherever possible. Most importantly, executive and managerial personnel must demonstrate empathy and show employees that it’s okay to ask for help.

Is working from home better for mental health? What have been the positives of working remotely?

Promoting mental health

Positives of working remotely

Seventy percent of surveyed employees indicated that working from home improved their mental health. More than half of workers say they’re more likely to choose an employer who enables remote work, and 74 percent say remote work makes them less likely to leave a company.

A few benefits of remote work are:

  • Remote work enhances diversity and equity by embracing people irrespective of their religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, or disability. What’s more, remote work helps people feel secure and comfortable at work. Eighty percent of remote workers say they would consider leaving their current job for one that prioritizes mental well-being. 
  • During the pandemic, many working mothers quit their jobs, unable to cope with the pressure of balancing work-home and inadequate childcare facilities. Remote work offered women more time to care for their families. As per research, 32 percent of women are less likely to quit jobs if given access to remote work.
  • With remote work, there is no hassle of commuting. This benefit ultimately boosts employees’ productivity and reduces their stress levels. Lower stress levels improve the health of individuals and increase productivity. Remote work lowers stress by 39 percent.
  • Remote work personalizes the work environment and frees the employees from distractions and interruptions. And thus, remote work creates a sustainable work routine.

How can you improve employee mental health in the workplace? 

Mental Health Foundation research states that workplaces with high levels of mental well-being are more productive. And so, companies should prioritize the mental well-being of employees by creating an inclusive and friendly work environment. 

Related article: Four Ways to Manage Workplace Stress and Anxiety

Here are five ideas for promoting mental well-being in the workplace.

Vacation policy

Generous vacation policies have contributed significantly to lower stress and burnout in the workplace. Companies offering vacation policies have seen improvement in: 

  • Personal relationships 
  • Job satisfaction
  • Energy levels
  • Overall creativity

Vacation allowances help 

  • Employees rejuvenate their energy levels 
  • Better handle mental health issues
  • Improve focus and concentration 

To encourage employees to create a healthy work-life environment, some of the top companies are offering Paid Time-Off (PTO) and vacation allowances. 

Goldman Sachs introduced a new vacation policy where employees will be required to take three weeks off each year, starting in 2023. “No Vacation Policy” by Netflix allows employees to decide when to work and when to take a break. Sony Electronics offers paid vacation and holidays for employees to recharge and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

According to Glassdoor, Evernote offers unlimited PTO.  A $1,000 vacation stipend is offered to employees to travel to a new place every year.

Flexible working hours

Promoting mental health

Flexible working hours

Flexible working hours play an important role in improving employees’ mental health. Some notable benefits of flexible work hours are:

  • Improved physical and mental health
  • Increased focus and concentration on work
  • Increased motivation and job satisfaction

Employees prioritize flexible working hours over career growth. Next to the Great Resignation, “Flexidus” is the new buzzword in the workplace that refers to women quitting jobs due to a lack of flexibility. According to a LinkedIn survey: Around 52 percent of women say a lack of flexibility at work has pushed them to leave or consider leaving a job. 

As per Bankrate’s February 2022 job seeker survey: 55 percent of workers say that the ability to work from home or have a more flexible schedule is more important to them now than it was before the pandemic, compared to 52 percent of respondents who cited higher pay as being of more importance.

Salesforce, the cloud computing company, gave employees flexibility in how, when, and where they work. With Flex schedule, a new working timetable introduced by Salesforce, employees can work 1-3 days a week from the office for team collaboration, customer meetings, and presentations.

Companies like Basecamp, Bolt, Buffer, and DNS Filter are some of them offering work flexibility with four-day workweeks and the flexibility to work remotely.

Mental health breaks

Companies creating a culture that allows employees to take breaks or some time away from work have a competitive advantage. When the brain gets adequate time off, decision-making, communication, and essential skills in the workplace improve. A few ideas that can help reboot the energy levels are

  • Simple breaks for yoga sessions, meditation, or even a day off from work.
  • Breaks for doing things you like, reading a book, drawing, painting, exercising, watching your favorite show, or cooking.

To support the mental well-being of employees, EY gave access to free mobile apps for building emotional resilience and improving sleep habits.

To supplement its free twelve-week course on mindfulness and daily scheduled practice sessions, EY began daily drop-in sessions combining short mindfulness exercises with practical tips for managing anxiety, social isolation, feeling overwhelmed, etc. The company also extended backup adult and childcare support and virtual yoga, workout classes, and volunteer opportunities to its employees.

Drawing boundaries 

Unplugging after work is a great way of promoting mental health. Mentally detaching from work for some time can improve work-life balance, induce better sleep, and reduce fatigue and stress. Simple steps to help disconnect from work are:

  • Not opening emails frequently 
  • Letting teammates, and clients know your non-availability
  • Prioritizing the scheduled and unscheduled work calls
  • Silencing work-related group messages. 

Certain companies have taken the step of not sending work-related emails after working hours. Volkswagen started this years ago. Between 6:15 pm and 7 am, the company’s internal servers won’t route emails to individual accounts, so employees do not work at night.

Many companies are making efforts for employees to unplug by implementing different strategies like turning off the communication and collaboration channels, etc after work hours.

Counseling

Workplace stress is the major cause that affects the performance of employees. Eighty-three percent of US workers suffer from work-related stress, with 25 percent saying their job is the number one stressor in their lives. Factors like long working hours, workload, job insecurity, low performance, and conflicts with colleagues impact the organization’s productivity. 

Professional workplace counseling can help in better decision-making and managing workplace anxiety and stress. Symetria Recovery has a dedicated psychologist for employees. Employees meet with the office psychologist every week for a mental health evaluation. Employees who don’t pass the evaluation are encouraged to take the day off to unwind. 

Final thoughts – How can you promote mental wellness in the workplace?

Mental Health Awareness should be an important strategy for every company to address the mental issues of employees.  Promoting mental well-being in the workplace may differ on the type and size of the organization. However, every company must implement adequate policies to support mental well-being irrespective of its size. 

Turing is a 100 percent remote company that makes remote development easy, compliant and secure. Do you want to build your remote engineering team in the cloud? Hire the top 1% of 1.5 million+ developers from 150+ countries with strong technical and communication skills at unbeatable prices, ready to work in your timezone with Turing.

FAQs

  • What is mental health awareness in the workplace?

    Mental health awareness focuses on building an inclusive workplace where employees can discuss their mental health issues without any hesitation. 

  • How can we improve mental health in the workplace?

    Here are a few ways to improve mental health in the workplace:
    • Providing vacation benefits
    • Flexible work hours
    • Healthy work-life habits
    • Drawing boundaries
    • Counseling

  • Why is Mental Health Awareness Month important?

    Mental Health Awareness Month is important for raising awareness about mental health issues and promoting measures to cope with these issues.

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By ● May 24, 2022
Remote work increases employee happiness
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

It’s Official! Remote Workers Are Happier!

It’s official! Remote workers are happier than in-office employees! And remote work does not hamper productivity! Here’s why companies are switching to remote!

How does remote work affect productivity? Is your company hesitant to offer remote work to employees because of the same question? Are you afraid that remote work will hamper the productivity of your employees? If yes, here’s some good news for you. A study by Texas A&M University School of Public Health has revealed that remote work has no negative impact on productivity. Furthermore, another study has shown that remote work enhances employee happiness.

Let’s look at the key highlights from the two studies.

  • As witnessed during Hurricane Harvey, a study by Texas A&M University revealed that remote work did not hamper employee productivity in any way. 
  • The study has also stated that taking regular breaks is essential for employees to avoid workplace burnout. Remote work has helped employees reduce burnout as it allows them to maintain a healthy work schedule.
  • A recent study by Tracking Happiness that surveyed 12,455 employees revealed that the ability to work remotely increases employee happiness by 20 percent. 
  • The study also showed that commute time adversely affects employee happiness. In other words, the higher the commute time, the lesser the employee happiness. 
  • Twenty-seven percent of the respondents said that their life happiness is affected by their happiness at the workplace. The respondents also mentioned that they feel productive and happy in their personal life if they are able to achieve a proper work-life balance at their workplace. 

Should companies adopt remote work and start offering remote jobs?

Definitely! Remote work helps employees achieve work-life balance, which further enhances their happiness. Several studies have shown that remote work enhances productivity, saves costs, and helps in employee retention in many cases. 

With remote work, companies don’t need to offer physical workspace to employees. And thus, remote companies can save the real estate costs that non-remote companies incur. 

What’s more, there are several environmental benefits of remote work! Companies hiring remotely can enjoy benefits like:

  • Reduced expenditure on office spaces
  • Increased productivity
  • The global pool of talent to choose from
  • Increased employee satisfaction

FAQs

  1. Does work from home decrease productivity? Does remote work affect performance? How does remote work affect productivity?

    No! Remote work does not decrease the productivity of employees. It enhances employee happiness by eliminating the need for the commute,  allowing employees to be close to their loved ones, and promoting a healthy work-life balance. These benefits help employees to be more productive.

  2. Is remote work cheaper for employers?

    Definitely! Remote work allows companies to save a lot by saving expenditures on physical office spaces, office supplies, and power bills. 

If you want to hire remote software developers, Turing can be your best bet. With Turing, you can choose from a talent pool of the top 1% of 1.5M+ pre-vetted software developers from around the globe at unbeatable prices. Check out Turing’s Hire Developers page to know more. 

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By ● May 23, 2022
6 Tips to Empower Moms in Tech
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

Moms in Tech: 6 Tips to Build a Better Workplace for Tech Moms on Mother’s Day 2022

Tips for empowering moms in tech on Mother’s Day 2022: 1. Acknowledge the motherhood vs. career issue 2. Offer good return to work policies 3. Offer remote work

Who are moms in tech? How can companies hire tech moms? How can companies support moms in tech? What do moms really want for Mother’s Day 2022?

Looking for answers to these questions? Keep reading! 

Introduction

The number of working mothers has increased over the years. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 71 percent of American moms had jobs in 2021, up from 47 percent in 1975. However, only 24 percent of women work in tech, and less than 17 percent are working mothers. 

Though small in numbers, moms in tech hold high-powered professions, develop businesses, and manage homes while having children and juggling chores. So, if companies support more women, especially moms, they can build a diverse workforce that leads the company to new heights.

Still, 68 percent of company leaders say their workforce lacks diversity. And thus, companies need dedicated initiatives to support women in tech.  

This Mother’s Day 2022, let’s give women what they deserve. Here are six steps hiring managers can take to empower women and moms in tech.

  1. Understand the motherhood vs. career challenge

    Becoming a mother marks a turning point in many women’s career. But unfortunately, data shows that motherhood can stifle a woman’s job advancement and earning potential. That’s why many millennials are delaying parenthood and focussing on their professions. 

    The wait is primarily due to financial considerations. However, many women also cite health concerns, and job aspirations, as reasons for the delay. 

    The average age at which women become mothers varies across countries. And this age is gradually rising globally. Maternal age has increased from 21 in 1972 to 26 in 2021 in the United States. 

    Hiring managers can support women in tech to pursue professions and motherhood simultaneously. Here are a few steps to do the same:  

    • Offer specialized health insurance
    • Extend support by organizing awareness programs
    • Arrange emergency medical support
    • Organize yoga and meditation sessions

  3. Implement better return to work policies 

    Moms in tech Mother's Day 2022

    Implement better return to work policies this Mother’s Day 2022 for all moms in tech


    Moms in tech may require mentors or guides when they return to work post parental leave. 

    After a 12 to 16 weeks gap, they may not be able to take up tasks with the same intensity as before, and that’s completely understandable. Hence, assigning a mentor or guide with whom they can talk will help release their stress and bring them up to speed. Having mentors to look up to will allow tech moms to make informed decisions and help them succeed at work. 

    In addition, the 12 to 16 weeks gap that incurs wage disparity impacts women in the long term. The non-paid parental leave combined with delayed salary hikes and promotions can severely affect women’s mental and financial well-being.

    Here are a few steps to support new moms:

    • Offer paid parental leaves
    • Consider their overall work output while offering promotions
    • If not salary hike, provide routine financial rewards 
    • Provide interest-free financial credit

  4. Offer flexible working hours and remote work

    According to recent research, four out of five parents with children under 18 feel worn out. However, moms cater for 70 percent of childcare during working hours. In addition, moms spend more time with their unwell children and take more leaves than fathers for the same. 

    Juggling work and home commitments are challenging for many moms in tech. However, flexible work policies allow them to provide better output.

    People, especially parents, are happier, healthier, and more productive when they control where and when they work. Although offices have their advantages, companies can adopt hybrid or fully remote work environments with flexible working hours to keep their employees happy, healthy, and productive. 

    Here are a few suggestions to include in the flexible-work policy for moms in tech:

    • For a completely remote work environment, set 50 percent standard office time and the rest 50 percent as flexible working hours.
    • For a hybrid work environment, use a 3-2-2 work model. In a 3-2-2 work model, employees work three days in the office, two days remotely, and have two days off.
    • Offer ‘half-day-Fridays’ to new parents.
    • Ask reporting managers to arrange daily team meetings at a fixed time.

  6. Remove bias from hiring

    While many companies have implemented policies like flexible work arrangements and combined family leaves to make life easier for working moms, many mothers are hesitant to use them for fear of being exposed as mothers.

    Data shows that job candidates who did not mention children were twice as likely to be called in for the interview. In addition, after having a child, more than 60 percent of working mothers face discrimination in the workplace. So, to make the workplace more inclusive and diverse, it is necessary to normalize motherhood.

    Here are a few ways to remove bias from hiring moms in tech:

    • Remove gender-related words from job descriptions and postings
    • Introduce blind skills challenges in the recruitment process
    • Form an interview panel with 50 percent males and the rest 50 percent female representatives
    • Consider rehiring women who left due to family circumstances

  7. Treat pressing issues on priority

    Moms in tech Mother's Day 2022

    Treat pressing issues on priority


    Many companies avoid discussing women’s mental well-being after a miscarriage, abortion, depression, post-traumatic stress, pay gap disparity, workplace discrimination, etc.

    Not just moms in tech, but everyone requires a helping hand when they are at their worst place. 
    You may not be the right person to discuss and find solutions to such dire issues; however, you can always empathize with your employees. In addition, you can ask team members to extend a helping hand to those struggling. 

    When working moms share their experiences in a community, they raise awareness and help other moms fight their battles. So, it’s essential to support such communities in internal company groups.

    Related post: 4 Ways to Create the Best Workplace Culture for Women in Tech

  8. Learn from others

    Dropbox offers 24 paid weeks of parental week for birth or adoption and a ‘Transition Week’ to help new parents return to work. Dropbox also provides up to $10,000 in adoption expenses for up to two finalized adoptions.

    Similar to Dropbox, many companies, such as Netflix and Google, provide customized benefits to support moms in tech. Use these examples as inspiration for writing your empowerment story for moms in tech. 

    Don’t look at American laws and companies alone. 

    For example, new parents in Sweden receive 16 months of extra paid leave until their child reaches the age of eight. Parents also get up to four months of paid leave to care for sick children under twelve. Similarly, Hungary offers an ‘infant care allowance’ to new parents. The allowance includes 70 percent of the average daily pay of the employee and healthcare services for the mother.

 

Which of these tips would improve the workplace experience for mothers?
Vote

 

So, how can you start empowering moms in tech this Mother’s Day?

The first step towards empowering moms in tech starts with changing the mindset. 

Many people still believe that high-level occupations demand a lot of time. And as mothers are committed to their children, husband, and home, they cannot put in the required hours at work. As a result, their careers take a hit. 

This flawed mindset ignores the real problem. 

The real problem is seeing all mothers from one perspective and placing them only in traditional roles. Now, women have progressed. 

Turing has similar thoughts. This Mother’s Day, Turing envisions building a better tech space with a focus on gender equality. Turing wants to level the playing field for men and women and help them make the most of their potential. If you are looking for a diverse and skilled workforce to strengthen your engineering team, visit Turing.com. Companies can choose from the top 1% of 1.5 million+ developers from 150+ countries who have applied to Turing. 

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By ● May 6, 2022
Best Ways to Create the Best Workplace Culture for Women in Tech
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Leadership and Management ● Tech ● Tips, Tools, and Trends ● Vetted Talent ● Vetting and Hiring

4 Ways to Create the Best Workplace Culture for Women in Tech

Women hold only 25% of IT jobs in the USA and less than 1/5th of C-suite executives. Here are the 4 ways to create the best workplace culture for women in tech.

What does it mean to be a woman in tech? What is the best part of being a woman in the tech industry? What is the ideal workplace culture for women in tech? And how do you create the best workplace culture for women in tech?

Looking for answers to these questions? Keep reading! This post highlights how you can build the best workplace culture for women in tech. The post also shares four ways companies can foster a culture of inclusion where women can thrive. Let’s dive in. 

Introduction

Despite the efforts to encourage women to pursue technology-related jobs, the figures remain alarming. While the total number of women in tech has climbed from 1.6 million to 3.7 million over the last three decades, the percentage of women in tech roles has decreased. Surprisingly, women made up a higher percentage of the IT workforce in 1984 (35 percent) than today (32 percent). 

In addition, women in tech hold only 25 percent of IT jobs in the United States, and they are 45 percent more likely to leave their jobs than men. Moreover, women make up less than one-fifth of CIOs and CTOs in the Fortune 1000.

A diverse workforce better serves customers, creates a positive brand image, and provides unique insights, knowledge and experiences. Over the last two decades, several studies have shown a positive correlation between higher female representation in the workplace and various business performance indicators, including better financial performance, higher return in sales, better stock growth, and more.

As a result, several businesses are focusing on diversity and female inclusion strategies. However, the world needs a cultural shift to change the game for women in tech. 

Four ways companies can foster a culture of inclusion: 

  1. Recruit more women in tech

    Hire more women in tech

    Recruit More Women In Tech


    Ensure that your hiring process is not discriminatory toward women and that your job postings are gender-neutral.

    By conducting blind assessments, recruiters can eliminate unconscious bias and the belief that women in tech are incapable of performing a particular job. Companies can also run tests that don’t require the candidates to reveal their gender. This way, you can judge the applicants solely on their performance.

    Once recruiters finish the resume screening, decide on the interview panel members. Ensure the interview panel has diverse individuals. While inviting the candidate back for a second interview, make sure she has the opportunity to talk with a senior female manager.

    This step will show her that your company supports career advancement.  Most importantly, this initiative will give her insight into what it’s like to work for the organization as a woman. 

  2. Remove bias from decision-making

    Management should not determine whether or not employees are interested in certain positions. Please don’t assume that a particular employee is not available or interested in new challenges because they have to care for a family.

    Allow all employees to choose their battles. Offer them career opportunities if they have the necessary talent and mindset to grow. Don’t let your subconscious bias decide for your employees.

    Related post: The Key to This Twitter Manager’s Interviewing Approach? Clearly Defined Rubrics!

  3. Allow women to be their authentic selves

    Men drive several traditional leadership paradigms in the workplace. Expecting women to lead the same way as men can undermine and even diminish their contributions. So, it’s crucial to allow the women in tech to be their authentic selves.

    Ensure that your company encourages women to take the lead and be open to alternative ideas and techniques in the workplace.

  4. Focus on output, not attendance

    Concentrate on output, not attendance

    Focus on output, not attendance


    Building a successful career while raising a family is challenging, especially when most supervisors are more concerned with office hours than an employee’s output.

    We now live in a world where flexibility is essential.  We have the tools and technologies to perform various tasks from virtually anywhere.

    By establishing flexible work schedules that prioritize results over attendance, women in tech can participate equally and contribute at work and get the most out of their abilities. 

    Related post: Amazon’s Success Formula for Building an Invention Machine

How are big techs helping women in tech? 

In the twenty-first century, a gender-diverse workplace is necessary for a company’s growth. And thus, Airbus, Microsoft, and Accenture are attempting to understand cultural norms and create a favorable workplace for women. 

Here’s how:

  • Microsoft’s DigiGirlz program allows middle and high school girls to meet Microsoft professionals and gain insight into the field of technology. 
  • Under the ‘High-tech Women Rise’ program, Accenture aims to help women develop a long-term career in technology. The program offers many benefits, such as maternity leaves, period leaves, sabbatical leaves, etc., to help women return to work. 
  • Airbus launched the ‘Fly Again’ program to provide career opportunities for women who wished to return to work after taking a break. Candidates who participated in this program received free upskill training, coaching, and guidance to catch up with the industry.

So, how can your company hire more women in tech?

The advantages of having a diverse leadership team are huge. However, tech firms have yet to make the most of women’s potential. 

Everybody from top management to new joiners must pitch in to build great workplaces for women. Remember, commitment from all company members will help women in tech reach their full potential, resulting in a win-win situation for both organizations and employees.

If you wish to build great software with a diverse talent pool, visit Turing.com. The Palo Alto-based company helps businesses source, vet, match and manage the best software developers and engineers remotely. This process allows businesses to save valuable time and resources, and spin up their dream engineering team in just a few days. 

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By ● Apr 25, 2022
Work place stress and anxiety
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

Four Ways to Manage Workplace Stress and Anxiety

This post shares four simple tips to help leaders manage workplace stress and anxiety and promote better mental health within the organization.

It is crucial to be proactive regarding mental health issues in this fast-paced world. There is a call for companies to embrace vulnerability in their staff, listen actively, communicate openly, and lead with compassion. And businesses can help pave the way for mental health awareness and support when managing workplace stress and anxiety.

This post shares four simple tips to help leaders manage workplace stress and anxiety and promote better mental health within the organization.

Raise awareness about mental health  

Businesses can’t deliver mental health support if they don’t understand it. And so, leaders must have solid knowledge about workplace stress and anxiety to support their teams.

The following resources are a fantastic way to equip senior management with the knowledge they need to support others with their mental health struggles:

  • APT-USE provides a variety of accredited mental health training courses delivered by world-class mental health experts. 
  • Mental Health First Aid at Work is an excellent source of key information about mental health and workplace stress and provides effective workshops for organizations. 

Encourage communication from the top down.

Executives and managers must lead by example to encourage positive change within the workplace. It is up to company leaders to empower those with mental health difficulties. And thus, it is essential to start from the top down to equip senior management with good communication skills. If you practice what you preach and lead by example, you will experience more success in encouraging employees to communicate openly with one another. 

Many executives who struggle with mental health difficulties bring their struggles to the workplace and often spend their days feeling anxious, depressed, or isolated.  “As an executive, you’re already aware of the daily stresses of work,” says Olivia Marcellino, VP of Research at LuxuryRehabs.com. “Entire teams of people rely on you, there’s pressure to maintain a certain public image, and to keep performing at high levels. This leads to feeling overwhelmed and oftentimes, burnout.”

Therefore, good communication is essential for the success of your business and the wellness of your team. Leaders and managers should build a company culture that encourages open discussions about mental health concerns.

Provide wellness strategies and training

Workplace stress

Provide wellness strategies and training

To effectively support employees struggling with workplace stress and anxiety, management must have the right training to drive positive change. Training leaders and managers on wellness strategies, spotting mental health symptoms in others, and listening and providing support are great ways to kickstart mental health programs in organizations.

Such initiatives are great for promoting mental health conversations at work. Most importantly, they help management understand employees’ needs and concerns related to workplace stress.

Ask for feedback and make changes.

Measuring the results of your efforts is one of the best ways to show your employees you care about their mental health. Taking the time to collect employee feedback through in-person meetings and anonymous surveys is vital for tackling workplace stress and anxiety. 

Ask your team the following questions about the new changes in supporting staff with anxiety and workplace stress: 

  • How safe do they feel about sharing their mental health issues with management? 
  • Are there any changes to their workload or work environment that would help relieve feelings of workplace stress and anxiety in their day-to-day?
  • Is there anything else they would like support with?

You can also send out a similar survey for leaders to analyze how successful your training has been and whether leaders feel fully equipped in their role or not. By requesting feedback and implementing the changes based on the same, your organization will be taking proactive steps to drive positive change for your business and your employees’ health. 

Final words: It is important to address and tackle workplace stress and anxiety

Equipping your team members with mental health support doesn’t have to be a daunting task. There are several resources that can help you manage employee mental health in the organization. Remember, prioritizing well-being in the workplace will improve morale, decrease stress, reduce absenteeism, and boost the productivity of your business.

Are you an engineering leader looking to build your remote engineering team in the cloud? Try Turing. 

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By ● Apr 12, 2022
project management tool
Culture and Productivity ● For Employers ● Tech ● Tips, Tools, and Trends

The Six Best Project Management Tools for 2024

Project management is tricky without a good project management tool at your disposal. Here are six project management software to make your life simpler.

It’s challenging to run a business and stay organized simultaneously. You’re swamped with project deadlines, hiring requests, and a slew of other distractions. It’s easy for things (especially project management) to slip by the wayside amid the commotion. Let’s face it. Project management is challenging. And it’s especially tough to run a small firm without a efficient manager or a good project management tool at your disposal. 

There are so many things that may go wrong, and you may find yourself having to reschedule your deadlines due to a few minor errors. That is why it is critical to use the right project management software to manage your time and activities effectively.

Here are six project management tools that can save you from tedious work and make your life simpler in 2024:

Basecamp Project Management Tool 

basecamp project management tool

Basecamp project management software

Have you ever seen an online application that’s too difficult to use? If you have, you know how annoying that can get.
But Basecamp is different. Basecamp is a straightforward tool that makes project management less stressful. The tool improves collaboration, communication, and production.

File sharing, chat boards, timetables, notifications, to-do lists, and milestones are just a few of the features Basecamp offers for effective teamwork.

Features:

  • The user interface is intuitive and simple to use, even if you’re new to project management systems.
  • Ideal for small groups and businesses.

Drawbacks:

  • The UX (User Experience) might use some work. 

Related Post: Three Tips for Team Leaders to Support Their Teams in the Face of Technical Unknowns

Confluence Project Management Software

Project management is all about getting things done, no matter where, no matter how. Confluence assists teams in organizing their projects through the use of pages arranged into spaces. 

Confluence is ideal for any team or project since spaces can be created with a single click and are entirely customizable.

Features:

  • It’s ideal for organizing resources and ideas and keeping track of project progress. 
  • Maintain transparency and control by keeping your staff and supervisors informed.

Drawbacks:

  • This tool might not be the best option if you’re looking for a highly sophisticated project management tool with a complete feature set.
  • Confluence has a learning curve, so getting started can be difficult.

 

Microsoft Project Management Software

MS Teams project management tool

Microsoft project management tool

Microsoft Project is a project management application that has been around for a long time. It’s a trusted product because it comes from Microsoft and is quite popular among project managers.

Microsoft Project is primarily used in large and complex projects to ensure that task completion occurs on time. This project management application also assists you in assigning tasks to team members, tracking progress reports, and much more. It essentially enables you to handle all of your projects without difficulty.

Features:

  • MS Projects is a full-featured project management application designed for larger, more complex projects. 
  • Great for managing activities from beginning to end, allowing you to track progress and make necessary changes.

Drawbacks:

  • This app might not be the ideal choice for you if you’re searching for a simple project management tool. 
  • When it comes to utilizing Microsoft Project, there is a learning curve.

Slack Project Management Tool

Slack is a project management tool that revolutionized project management for distributed teams. It blends the real-time chat features of instant messengers with the project management features of applications such as Basecamp.

You can use Slack to build separate channels for different teams to connect. You can also set up keyword notifications to alert you whenever someone mentions a word or sentence of interest.

Features:

  • It combines messaging and project management tools, allowing you to connect with your team while managing tasks simultaneously. 
  • Slack is simple to use, making it an excellent choice for teams of all sizes, from tiny businesses to large organizations.

Drawbacks:

  • Some of its features may appear gimmicky and pointless. For some users, it is a distraction.

Related Post: Three Communication Mistakes Hybrid Teams Must Avoid

Trello Project Management Tool

Trello is a project management tool built with productivity in mind. The app relies on the Kanban method, which uses cards to represent different tasks to help you visualize your workflow.

Trello allows you to divide projects into individual tasks. It also allows you to assign cards to individual team members, which is a terrific method to delegate tasks.

Additionally, Trello excels when it comes to handling numerous tasks at once. It offers a ‘card’ structure that lets you track your workflow and progress on different activities. The tool also enables you to establish deadlines for various tasks.

Features:

  • Trello is an excellent choice for small and medium-sized teams who need to handle numerous projects simultaneously. It uses the Kanban approach to help you view your workflow and activities. 
  • It also has a user-friendly UI.

Drawbacks:

  • Trello isn’t the best choice for large, complex projects requiring extensive project management features. 
  • Scaling to large teams and more members could be challenging.  

Wrike Project Management Software

wrike project management tool

Wrike project management software

Wrike is the primary project management application used by companies such as Airbnb. It’s a web-based program with a highly straightforward user interface that helps you create and manage projects from anywhere in the world.

Wrike enables users to construct various task lists and handle projects efficiently. In addition, the app comes with another solid feature, visualization, which allows users to create custom dashboards and workflows. It is also incredibly helpful to generate job lists and streamline processes.

Features:

  • It enables you to construct various work lists and manage projects simply and intuitively. 
  • It’s ideal for project planning, especially when working with small groups.

Drawbacks:

  • To set up Wrike, you’ll need some technical skills. For non-technical folks, this could be an issue.

Conclusion

The success of your company depends heavily on project management. As a result, it is prudent to find the best project management software for your needs. 

You can make the most of your time and grow your business if you have the proper project management tools with you.

Each project management tool has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. And thus, you need to identify your needs and pick the one that works best for you.

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By ● Jan 20, 2022