IT teams have a lot on their plate—from juggling daily operations to working on strategic initiatives. But what happens when workloads pile up or a key team member leaves unexpectedly?
Losing organizational knowledge and expertise overnight creates serious gaps, putting projects, security, and user support at risk.
The Growing Challenge of IT Staff Retention
Retaining IT staff is increasingly difficult as burnout rates rise and workloads continue to grow.
- 60% of IT professionals report experiencing burnout
- 78% say stressors at work prevent them from upskilling
- IT turnover rates are high—between 13-18% in the tech industry
These numbers reflect broader issues within IT teams. Understaffing and overwhelming workloads put pressure on remaining staff. This isn’t just hard on the individual. Not having enough staff on your IT team affects the whole organization.
Supporting your IT Team for Long-Term Success
For IT leaders, retaining staff is about more than just their salary. It’s about ensuring your team has the support and resources they need to succeed. A proactive approach can help reduce the risk of losing key employees while also making your team more resilient in the long run.
Here are a few ways to create a more sustainable IT environment:
Strengthen Knowledge Transfer & Documentation
As your organization changes, it’s important to ensure that knowledge doesn’t leave with a departing team member.
- Take time to assess where your team excels and identify processes or projects to document for future reference.
- Provide regular cross-training sessions to help ensure that multiple team members understand critical systems and reduce reliance on any one individual.
By investing in training and documentation now, you’re laying the foundation for smoother transitions and less disruption if someone leaves.
Prioritize Meaningful Work
Repetitive tasks can quickly drain your IT team’s energy and enthusiasm. Focus on building skills and tasks that bring your team energy and fulfillment.
- When your team is engaging in meaningful work—such as solving complex problems or working on forward-thinking projects—they’re more likely to stay motivated and perform at a higher level.
- Employees who feel their work has a meaningful impact are less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Look for opportunities to offload routine work or automate processes to give your team space for impactful work.
Assess Your IT Team’s Workload
It’s important to regularly assess your IT team’s workload to identify bottlenecks and areas of potential strain.
- Ask yourself: Are they overburdened by day-to-day tasks, or can they focus on long-term strategic goals?
- Evaluate how your team spends their time to better understand where they need support or additional resources. This could involve providing extra training, hiring for specific roles, or working with outside partners on specialized projects to ensure your team remains focused on high-priority business goals.
A New Approach to IT Support
We hope you never experience what it’s like to have IT staff unexpectedly resign, but it might happen. The good news is we can help organizations who find themselves in that very situation. If you don’t have enough staff for your IT team, or are looking for additional support with an upcoming project, a co-managed IT solution can help.
Co-managed IT helps organizations:
- Balance workloads by offloading routine tasks or overflow work
- Fill skill gaps without needing to hire for every specialized role
- Improve retention by ensuring teams are not overworked or spread too thin
- Maintain business continuity by ensuring critical IT functions are covered, even in times of transition
Ready to Learn More?
When it comes to IT, you need a solution that ensures your applications are reliable, usable and secure. With Co-Managed IT from WIN, our experienced IT team works to understand your workloads and the impact this has on your infrastructure.
Whether you need assistance with a particular project, implementation, or ongoing support, our team is ready to support your existing IT resources.
Let’s connect to discuss how we can support your team!