How to Retain Top Talent When Competition is Fierce

Tips on how to keep employees rooted, loyal, excited and involved

In the high-tech world, it’s often hard to retain top talent. And that’s especially true when Google and Apple are your neighbors. Competition for talent is fierce in the heart of Silicon Valley, with its constant lure of stock options and sexy brand names. Holding on to the best and brightest is critical to success so, since founding Net Optics 17 years ago, I’ve taken an unconventional approach to keeping employees rooted, loyal, excited and involved. Here are some key insights I’ve gleaned over the years.

Net Optics was founded as a bootstrapped company in 1996 and continues to operate without venture capital funding. It’s a family affair and, from day one, I’ve been adamant that our “Customer First” philosophy extends also to our employees. We credit our employees with our success and we treat them accordingly. We’ve worked hard to create a unique sense of community and connectedness.

Channel and Share Your Passion
I’ve been a car aficionado ever since I watched my brother build a go-cart as a kid. I share my enthusiasm by using cars as employee perks and team-builders. My passion for automobiles led me to purchase a fleet of Mini-Coopers as company cars. Two employees each month are rewarded with use of the cars for the following month. Employees are also taken on race-related outings.

Provide the Tools Necessary for Success

Employees deserve the latest tools, skills and applications so they can deliver their best work and move ahead professionally. We pride ourselves on innovating solutions for real-time IT visibility, monitoring and control. And since we manufacture all our products in Santa Clara, we rely on local talent, particularly top-notch engineers. To keep them motivated and challenged, we make sure training is easily available and that their schedules allow for them to attain skills needed to grow in their fields and excel. 

Top employees are both talented and ambitious. They want to make a difference, and they want their contributions to be recognized. It’s important that they believe there’s room for their biggest dreams and goals right here within the company. It’s also critical to implement efficient processes that help them succeed. For our production team, we implemented a “Lean Kaizen” process improvement project that reduced cycle time by more than 50 percent while increasing capacity significantly.

Promote Openness

Rumors and whispers often spin out of control, so creating transparency and addressing whatever is on employees' minds is critical. Just as there is no such thing as a “routine” customer issue—there is no such thing as a routine employee issue. We maintain an open door policy and present a spin-free and honest assessment of our challenges with employees at monthly company meetings. Still, some employees shy from speaking their minds. So we created a “Rumor Jar,” where employees are invited to drop anonymous notes with rumors, questions and concerns and the CEO to addresses them head on during company meetings.  

Show Your Gratitude

Private companies sometimes penny pinch when it comes to celebrating success. Reward your employees regularly and generously. When Net Optics was still in its infancy, we sent our first employee on an all-expense-paid vacation to Hawaii after making his first major sale. Today, we consistently reward employees individually and as teams.

Celebrate milestones with ALL employees, not just the leadership team

We are fortunate to have had 60+ quarters of consecutive growth and to be recognized by the Inc. 500/5000 and as one of the fastest growing private companies in Silicon Valley.  We’re proud to be the leader in Total Application and Network Visibility solutions and we realize we made it this far because of the commitment of employees at all levels. So we celebrate holidays and major milestones with company-wide events, many of which are open to employee's families as well. For a recent anniversary, the company threw a gala, complete with circus entertainment, a motivational speaker, gourmet food, and gifts for the extended Net Optics family.

Be of Service

Employees are proud to be part of a company that’s a good neighbor and citizen of the community. We give back to our community through a wide range of activities including community wellness programs and sponsoring a 5K / 10K run. My wife, Charlotte, the company Treasurer, introduced the company to Sunday Friends, a charity that helps families move out of poverty. It’s been a great way for the company to participate in something as a group that gives back to our community.

Stay Healthy Together 

We let employees know that executive leadership cares about their health and fitness, and that we maintain a workplace that supports healthy habits and minimizes illness. We implemented a series of health and exercise programs where employees team up to get in shape together via a “Tap Into Me” Program. We also offer free fruits, vegetables and other healthy snacks—and we put people in touch with fitness resources in the community.  

Build a Culture of Engagement

Building a culture of engagement takes commitment from the top, and it works. Internal surveys indicate that 88% of Net Optics employees are satisfied with their jobs—compared to 44% of all employees in North America. Only 38% of employees in North America believe that they have growth & development opportunities, while 85% of Net Optics employees believe they do. Knitting a company together is an ongoing challenge: Employees have to feel that they are vital to their projects, their colleagues and to executive leadership.