How to attract tech talent by fostering a culture of innovation

December 4, 2024

Last updated: January 22, 2025

5 Min read

James Berry

Founder of the MBA program - UCL School of Management

Share it!

The ongoing ‘battle for talent’ is an everyday reality for recruiters around the world – and all the fiercer in the technology sector. Organizations of all sizes compete to attract tech talent in order to help build more successful companies.

As such, any insight into what motivates these professionals is important, and findings fromInnovating the Culture of Tomorrow have proved duly illuminating.

The new research, commissioned by Amadeus and carried out by researchers at Opinium, deepens our understanding of what motivates top technology talent and here I would like to explore how a few of the key findings could be interpreted by the wider professional landscape.

Real-world impact

Top professionals are seeking an opportunity to work in new, exciting and influential projects, creating products that have real world consequences.

Organizations, such as Amadeus, line up against the likes of Google, Meta, Apple and others when it comes to the upper echelon of technology, so an emphasis on the tangible difference technology makes every day to millions of travelers around the world is a vital asset to the company.

Amadeus is building the structures through which our lives move. It is doing new things, applying new technologies and developing them. This really does have an impact on people – and connecting the work professionals do in their jobs to real-world outcomes can build a sense of purpose, making the company more attractive to mission orientated people.

Investment in training

The findings of the research reflect what we are seeing in other fields, particularly elsewhere in the technology space. As we know, technology professionals are moving the world faster and faster. Those who work at the heart of this industry, feel the pressure that there is always something new coming around the corner.

Investing in training is a great way to allay these concerns. This is a downpayment on career progression – even if today you are working on existing technology, it does not mean you are becoming obsolete.

Learning is really important for technology professionals, whether they are in social media, banking or travel. Being able to work on things which have a material impact is very important, but there is also a desire to simultaneously expand their own capabilities.

Career progression

Innovating the Culture of Tomorrow illustrated the flexibility of the technology profession, with top talent expecting to move roles frequently. Some 40% oftechnology professionals anticipate having topivottheir careersat least three timesto keep up with emerging technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), extended reality and cloud computing.Only 6% of respondents globally considered that they would not have toevolve theirrolesat all.

In order to make the grade and to foster loyalty, successful organizations must offer talented people insight into their potential career progression. Technology companies need to emphasize that if they want employees to stay with them, they must be clear about the opportunities.

This is particularly important for those recruiting and managing teams maintaining current technology systems, rather than developing flashy new tools. This is an operational challenge, requiring resources and investment – but can pose interesting problems from a talent point of view. It can be harder to keep the teams involved in maintaining existing systems engaged, especially compared to those developing cutting-edge solutions.

But these are vital systems, which must work for an organization to progress. So, it is important to involve talent, emphasize that this is vital work, an opportunity to learn, and that there is a pathway forward.

Innovation focus

Finally, innovation. As Ana Doval, who heads up the People and Culture team for Amadeus,explored in her piece looking at the findings, technology professionals chose ‘being innovative’ as the single most important factor when selecting a potential employer, ahead of salary.

Moving beyond aspiration, respondents at innovative companies were over five times more likely (43%) than those at non-innovative companies (8%) to say they were ‘very happy’ at work. Conversely, global tech workers at companies not perceived to be innovative were four times more likely to say they were thinking about leaving within the next year.

To emphasize the centrality of this theme, we also saw large numbers of older respondents saying they would be willing to take a pay cut in order to work in an innovative firm. We would expect, as people get toward the end of their career, other priorities would emerge. However, in the technology space, learning is so crucial to success, this remains a priority for much longer.

It is no surprise, then, to see innovation as a vital building block of success. Not only are you working for an organization, but also simultaneously building your own skill set, with a view to your own future success. The more you work on innovative technical solutions, the more you are enhancing your own capabilities, making yourself more attractive to future employers.

Innovation is the lifeblood of companies, particularly in a field seeing seismic changes like technology. Creativity thrives when people are open to a range of ideas, and diversity in the workforce can help stimulate this productively. It also thrives when people have critical skills and are open to continuous learning.

Building an environment for top tech talent to thrive

Insights on innovation, flexibility, and inclusivity in the tech industry.

Read the blog post

Discover the key findings from our latest research on global tech talent.

Read the press release

TO TOP