An Actionable Framework for Understanding and Improving Talent Retention as a Competitive Advantage in IT Organizations
Luiz Alexandre Costa, Edson Dias, Danilo Monteiro Ribeiro, Awdren Fontão, Gustavo Pinto, Rodrigo Pereira dos Santos, Alexander Serebrenik
TL;DR
This paper presents the TR Framework, an actionable model for talent retention in IT organizations, grounded in 21 semi-structured interviews with IT managers conducted during the pandemic. It identifies five core components—factors, contextual characteristics, barriers, strategies, and coping mechanisms—and highlights that psychological safety, work-life balance, organizational culture, and professional growth complement competitive pay in retaining software engineers. The methodology combines empirical field study with inductive coding of qualitative data and suggests a PDCA-based roadmap for practical deployment. The framework offers a diagnostic and action-oriented toolkit for IT managers and HR to reduce turnover and preserve knowledge continuity in software teams.
Abstract
In the rapidly evolving global business landscape, the demand for software has intensified competition among organizations, leading to challenges in retaining highly qualified IT members in software organizations. One of the problems faced by IT organizations is the retention of these strategic professionals, also known as talent. This work presents an actionable framework for Talent Retention (TR) used in IT organizations. It is based on our findings from interviews performed with 21 IT managers. The TR Framework is our main research outcome. Our framework encompasses a set of factors, contextual characteristics, barriers, strategies, and coping mechanisms. Our findings indicated that software engineers can be differentiated from other professional groups, and beyond competitive salaries, other elements for retaining talent in IT organizations should be considered, such as psychological safety, work-life balance, a positive work environment, innovative and challenging projects, and flexible work. A better understanding of factors could guide IT managers in improving talent management processes by addressing Software Engineering challenges, identifying important elements, and exploring strategies at the individual, team, and organizational levels.