#90: Jeremy Tooley on redefining tech-enabled work culture for recruiting and retaining developers

On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, the guest joining us is Jeremy Tooley, CEO of Xerris Inc. - a digital transformation solution provider. A startup born in the middle of a pandemic, Xerris is a remote-first company having 95% of its team consisting of software developers from across geographies.

We discuss with Jeremy:

• What culture looks like at Xerris
• Recruiting funnel: From juniors to senior-level developers
• Tech and tool stack at Xerris
• Correct ways to retain your developers in a competitive market
• Views on increasing demand and salaries of developers as a tech-driven company

How to retain developers?

The demand for developers has seen a peak in the current scenario. Hence, retaining them has become a difficult task for organizations. However, Jeremy feels that it is a matter of culture here. Some developers are only money-driven. Hence, it is not within the bandwidth of the company to stop them from leaving.

But they attempt to bring their employees to a level such that they make an imprint on them. The rates might not match, but Xerris offers plenty of perks that benefit the employees.

According to Jeremy, these little things help in retaining these developers. The rising rates in India and Europe have brought in a change for his company as well.

But there is a balance where the clients they are dealing with know what a developer should be worth, and the profit sets accordingly.

Jeremy feels that it is a complicated game they are in right now. However, he is hopeful that when people go back to offices post-pandemic, the remote-first companies will stay as an attractive option to most people.

Employee engagement in a remote scenario:

It is one of the challenges of remote work. Some people do not wish to go to the office. But they need a meeting space where people can work together at times. While some are willing to engage, others prefer to work in solitary. Hence, companies need to consider all their opinions.

Xerris follows a buddy system where every new joiner is associated with a colleague (buddy) who helps him understand the company. They have regular lunch events and tech Fridays. The company also conducts monthly get-togethers in Zoom or Slack.

Jeremy explains that making sure everyone is connected is a challenge.

The future of the ongoing salary hike:

There are very few companies that are giving the same salary to all developers across the world.

You know, we look at their increasing salaries down there. Jeremy talks about the benefits of remote working in terms of the payscale. He thinks that it is going to come down to quality. Ultimately, companies are always going to want the cheapest employee.

Lack of good developers in the market:

Jeremy feels that tech companies worldwide need to partner with universities, schools, and other tech companies. They should provide training courses or incubator labs to train developers. They are going through this massive tech explosion, but everyone is pulling from the same pool of resources.

Follow Jeremy on LinkedIn

Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Podcast host: Abhash Kumar

Get highlights of this episode from our blog.

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