3 Ways Scrum Attracts Top Performers

You want to attract and keep the best talent, but as the economy rebounds, that's becoming harder and harder. 

Your best candidates expect more than just salary and benefits. So how do you attract those top performers? One way is to offer an environment employees enjoy, and we're not talking all play and no work. It's an environment where employees feel empowered and have control over the work they perform, as well as one that promises them the chance to have more fun.

With Scrum, not only can you deliver that environment, but you don't have to be in software development to make it work. Scrum is being implemented in many industries, and in departments with no affiliation with IT. So no matter your business area, Scrum can be an important talent attraction – and retention – tool.


1.     Self-organizing is self-fulfillment

Frontline employees have the best visibility into what needs to be achieved, the best understanding of the challenges the project faces, and the biggest stake in its success. When you let employees own the development and implementation of the solution, some amazing things tend to happen:
  • Their project aligns better with the business needs.
  • They understand how they contribute to your organization's goals and objectives.
  • They are much more engaged with their work.
  • The approach is more efficient than when the solution is developed by a separate team.
With Scrum, your employees have more ownership in their work, and that drives absenteeism and turnover down and productivity up. Scrum is also inherently collaborative, so it lets your teams manage their own performance, make their own mistakes, and track their own results, all within a safe environment.


2.     Rewards are more meaningful – and more immediate

You've probably read countless articles about the importance of rewarding employees. With Scrum, several rewards are built in:
  • Employees celebrate their achievements every 2-3 weeks when a product deliverable is released.
  • Client feedback leads to satisfaction in the work done.
  • Team members enjoy themselves.
Rewarding in its own way is regular client feedback. Sure, you like to hear praise for work well done. But constructive feedback can be equally rewarding, especially because your Scrum team members have the knowledge and authority to make quick adjustments to the product. Also, employees who can quickly do what's necessary to deliver a great product that meets their clients' needs, without spending their sleeping hours working, tend to be pretty happy.

And don't discount the reward of having fun! Your Scrum team members work in an environment they control, with the freedom to work in the way they decide. It's a bit like running your own business, and that's tremendously powerful. Traditional frameworks don't typically align with having fun, yet employees who have fun deliver better results, stay with you longer, and refer their friends and colleagues when you have a position to fill.


3.     Sustainable benefits and a springboard for growth

Scrum also impacts more than the individuals on Scrum teams. It starts your entire organization on a journey of improvement:
  • Frontline employees understand customer needs better.
  • Future business managers get practical experience as time, task, and people managers.
  • Individuals and teams engage in deliverables more willingly, creatively, and with more ownership.
  • High-value employees look for internal, rather than external, advancement.
  • Your team members become recruiters for your company, proactively bringing talent in to you.
Scrum can help you attract and keep the best employees, even in a competitive market. It can also help you create an environment of meaningful, continuous improvement. And combined, the best talent delivering the best product through continuous improvement translates to happy employees and a happy bottom line.


How do you start?

Your journey can start right now. Since Scrum is iterative and incremental, you can start small! Find a low-risk project and use it to pilot Scrum. You may also want to read 4 things you need to know about Scrum. Interested in joining SCRUM ALLIANCE®? Check out our member benefits.