How Industrials Can Compete for Tech Talent

The competition for developers between industrial companies and tech brands has long favored tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. However, the tech worker is vital to the industrial sector as brands take on digital transformation to keep up with market demands.

Join experts in Strategy and Business Development at InVision to learn what’s driving this talent gap, and how industrial brands can begin correcting for it today.

You will learn:

• What’s driving the competition for tech talent: pre-pandemic and present day
• Strategic opportunities for industrial brands to take advantage of
• Actionable steps to build a more developer-friendly culture to attract the right talent

Transcript

Amy Jesernig (00:07):

Welcome to the IVC Podcast, where we help brands navigate audience engagement in times of change. Today's topic is the search for tech talent in the industrial sector. The competition for developers between industrials and tech companies has long favored brands like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. However, the tech worker is vital to the industrial sector as brands take on digital transformation to keep up with what the market demands. Today, we'll talk about how this talent gap came to be and why right now industrial brands have a unique opportunity to make up the difference. My name is Amy Jesernig. I am the director of business development at InVision Communications, and I'm responsible for introducing new clients to InVision. And I also lead the industrial practice here. It's a group of individuals from every department who are experts in working with industrial brands. We spend time discussing topics like these and helping our clients navigate business challenges like we have to discuss today. So I'll introduce to you Phil Stanley, my colleague.

Phil Stanley (01:16):

Thank you, Amy. I'm very happy to be sitting here with you today talking about the competition for tech talent. As Amy said, I am a senior strategist here at InVision. I work with our clients, whether it's an event, a communications plan, social media engagement. I help them to make sure that their event or communication goals and objectives align with the corporate vision, their goals, and their business objectives.

Amy Jesernig (01:50):

Phil, I know you've been doing a lot of research in this area, so let's dive right in. The industrial sector has faced some challenges in attracting tech talent over the past 10 years. And we know that even pre pandemic, non-tech brands had tech jobs that were going unfulfilled. Tell me what's behind this.

Phil Stanley (02:11):

Yeah, that's correct, Amy. There was and still is a worldwide shortage of tech talent. But even putting that aside for the moment, industrials have historically struggled to foster the right culture in order for their tech workers to really thrive and be successful.

Amy Jesernig (02:35):

Wow. And on top of that, when I think of the next generation of workers, I'm assuming a tech brand is probably pretty high on their list of prospective employers. Not only do they know about them, they're using their products every day, but these tech brands also are notorious for having great offices and cool perks.

Phil Stanley (02:58):

Yeah, that's exactly right. And there are specific reasons we can point to for that cultural disconnect. I think the survey from PwC talked about 90% of C-suite executives believe their companies pay attention to their employee needs with regards to technology. But in that same study, we found that just 53% of those employees agreed with their leadership. That really serves as a massive disconnect. And we've always said that your employees are your best advocates for your brand. So it would really benefit those executives to close that gap, to make sure that their employees really believe that their needs are being met.

Amy Jesernig (03:53):

Wow. Let me restate those numbers. 90% of executives think they're giving employees the tools that they a need to do their job, but only 53% of employees agree. Okay. So this is making me think about the conversations we're having with our clients around what's being called the great resignation. I know, Phil, your team specifically, you're looking beyond just how this impacts a brand's ability to service their customers. You're actually looking at the employee mindset. Why is this resignation happening and what can we do about it? So talk to me about what this means to industrial brands who have been around for a long time and are already challenged to attract developers.

Phil Stanley (04:41):

It really provides them with a really strong opportunity to attract that talent. Now, of course, the industrials are like every other company where they're in a fight to retain their own employees, but the great resignation has made the labor market very fluid. The talent force is looking for life balance. They're looking for job satisfaction, but more importantly, they're looking for a good cultural fit. Employees want to know that they matter to their employers. And some studies suggest that employers are much more focused on attracting talent as opposed to retaining talent. We saw an IndustryWeek article that talked about you can attract talent with money, but to retain them, you really do need a culture.

Amy Jesernig (05:46):

Wow. And that's interesting because we know industrials historically have been able to retain an employee. You think about earlier generations who have been at these companies for 30, almost 40 years sometimes before they retire.

Phil Stanley (06:05):

Yes. That really does speak to the changing workforce in general and tech talent specifically. Millennials and Generation Z are forcing employers to focus upon building a community, right? They want to know that the company they're working for has an impact in the greater world. And they're also looking for flexibility. Tech workers are seizing this moment to develop soft skills that makes them more marketable. They're looking for those transferable skills around communication, adaptability, and also problem solving.

Amy Jesernig (06:49):

That makes sense. I mean, in the context of tech talent, these Silicon Valley brands often have a built in advantage. These companies could not have been created without the tech worker. I mean, many founders of these organizations were developers themselves. And so not only has that put pressure on other industries, as we've seen, to become more digitally focused, they've also probably created a culture that's welcoming to this group. So when I think about digital transformation in industrials, that's been around for a long time. We can all point to good things that have come from it, whether it be digital twin or a smart home thermostat, things we're using today. I'm wondering, what have you found? What challenges come with digital transformation in industrials?

Phil Stanley (07:50):

Sure. Digital transformation is forcing industrials to confront their technological competencies. They really have to begin to adapt to the trial and learn aspect of software development. They need to look at their tech workers as direct contributors. That's a real departure from where they've been in the past. They also need to understand that they have to invest in world class tools and processes. All of this really begins to add up to being a technology focused business. All companies are now in the software development business. And that's what's really different from, say, 20 years ago where you hired developers to build software. Now, successful companies are driving their top line business by really becoming a software development company.

Amy Jesernig (09:01):

Got it. Okay. So with that in mind, are there specific things that industrial brands can do to build a more developer friendly tech worker focused culture?

Phil Stanley (09:16):

Yeah. There are a half dozen things that they should focus on as they move forward with this digital transformation. First, they need to communicate differentiated value to the tech worker talent force. Industrials must communicate that they're different now. They must talk about their vision in a digitally transformed world. They have to talk about that they have technology and cultural structures in place to develop software that's going to power their business moving forward. That's the first thing. Second is they need to foster a stronger tech worker community. And that can entail better talent management, providing the right tools, a deeper understanding of product development, and creating psychologically safe environments for developers to not have to have the fear of failure. And that's a real critical part of why the tech companies are successful, because they provide that psychologically safe environment.

Phil Stanley (10:32):

Third, they need to personalize the developers work experience. Developers, tech talent, they're looking to be more well-rounded employees. Far too often, tech workers are viewed as wanting to simply write code or not seek the roles that rely upon more interpersonal skills. The last thing they need to do is they need to provide developers with a role in employee engagement. One of the things that developers talk about is they want to feel as though they are part of the larger community inside of these organizations. They want to play a role in helping their colleagues to also succeed. They're getting involved in developing games for human resources needs, whether it's training, education retention, but they're looking to be a much more integrated part of the larger community.

Amy Jesernig (11:42):

That's great. I love these recommendations because it's going beyond kind of the surface area that we often can think of when it comes to attracting workers. We're not saying have cooler offices or amenities. We're actually getting to the heart and soul of what it is that these prospective workers, but also existing employees, what their true needs are. And as you said, that's changed a lot in the pandemic with every industry, especially this developer talent within industrials. And it feels like we're at this point where maybe the playing field is leveling between tech and industrials. Industrials seem to have an opportunity to capitalize on this moment, if they can involve their business to meet the needs, as you just explained. That's, of course, easier said than done. And that's the big challenge here. This isn't just one program implemented over a couple months. We're looking at all of the departments working together to collectively shift the company culture.

Phil Stanley (12:58):

Yeah. I think the good news here is that there are lots of non-tech companies that are already making the structural and cultural changes that are necessary. And they're beginning to communicate those changes. For example, the Goldman Sachs Group says that 25% of their talent force are developers. I don't think that any of us when they hear Goldman Sachs, that they would expect that 25% of their workforce are developers. Another example of this is in the retail sector. They've wholeheartedly made that change from the brick and mortar to online or e-commerce. So within that sector, software development is the fastest growing job category. But the key to all of this is to communicate these things internally and externally in terms of what's taking place inside of these organizations. I think another thing that these industrials can do is to re-examine elements of their recruitment foundation, right? To bring prescriptive recommendations to the organization on how certain connected experiences need to evolve based on tech worker preferences, right? And so likewise, a similar engagement strategy must also occur for employees as well.

Amy Jesernig (14:38):

Right. Now it feels, more than ever, we have to strengthen our relationship with those employees that are already within our organization. And it feels like we can't do that unless we know them as individuals and understand what their unique needs are. And I know we found with some of the work we're doing with our clients, employees are going to be more loyal and engaged when the person that they work for directly addresses their biggest pain points. And a lot of times we find that simply addressing it goes a long way. Your team understands a change doesn't happen overnight, but if you're authentic in how you are speaking to them and have a very clear solution and vision moving forward, I think we're finding that they give you a little bit more leniency to try some new things, maybe make a mistake. But on top of that, they're also eager to be part of the solution and help the organization make a change that will ultimately move the company forward.

Phil Stanley (15:48):

Yes, that's right. We'd like to say that this change is not for the faint of heart. My biggest advice for brands looking to do this entails... We aren't speaking to just one element of the business. To achieve this transformation and for it to make sense, it has to be communicated to every role from the top, salesperson to the office coordinator. It can be tough for a brand to evaluate and identify the deficiencies on their own. One of the things that we do as strategists here at InVision is we host regular strategy sessions for our brands all the time. And that's a great place to start because it's a modest investment that can really map the foundation of this mindset shift, so they are approaching it with a consistent message for years to come.

Amy Jesernig (17:01):

That feels like a great point to end on. Thank you so much, Phil, for sharing your knowledge about the challenge industrials are up against when it comes to attracting that very important tech worker talent and for sharing solutions on how brands can capitalize on this moment and close that labor gap. If you're an industrials brand or even out there dealing with the great resignation, we'd love to hear from you. Does this resonate? How are you attracting developer talent to keep your brand competitive? Email us at podcast@iv.com. Thank you for joining us and be sure to tune into the next IVC Podcast episode coming soon.