Tech talent has been in short supply for a long time, exacerbated by the ‘great resignation’ phenomenon, partially due to pandemic lockdowns when modernisation or digitising of business processes suddenly became a priority. Citi Group’s reported plans to hire 4000 tech staff demonstrates the disparity between tech talent supply and demand, despite recent layoffs at newer firms like Amount, Wealthsimple, Coinbase, and digital bank Nuri. The disparity means a firm's quality of service, or available expertise, will inevitably fluctuate as headcount rise and falls.

In this article, CJC shares an insight into the company's staff retention, diversity, what it means for clients, and how CJC is fostering new tech talent to help address the tech talent shortage.

Low Attrition: Consistent Quality of Service

Ensuring reliable expertise and consistent quality of service are readily available, CJC is proud to disclose an average employee retention rate of 5.4 years with 73.87% of the team serving more than 5 years and 21.62% serving more than 10 years by the end of 2022. This compares to Indeed’s estimated average employee retention of 4.1 years.

At the time of writing, annual staff turnover between 2020 and 2022 averaged 14.84%, in line with quoted “healthy” general figures of 15% and beating the benchmark for technology staff at 18.3%.

Compounding the longer-than-average employee retention with multi-award-winning expertise for multiple consecutive years and employee recognition, CJC's consistent track record of service quality is hard to dispute.

Driving Excellence Through Diversity

CJC is a staunch supporter of equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. The business operates a 24x7x365 follow-the-sun support model with strategically located offices around the world.

Beating Women in Tech’s 19% benchmark, 28% of CJC's team are women, as is 37.5% of the leadership team. 

Recognising the valuable contributions made by women, CJC not only celebrated International Women’s Day at our various offices this year but, also actively supported events highlighting the crucial roles held by women in the financial industry e.g., the London Women’s Group Luncheon by FISD and the “Women in Market Data Engineering” by Martina Satherlund, Programme Director – Global Head of Market Data at Fidelity. CJC’s Sara Baker was also recognised as “Consultant of The Year” at the 2022 Women in Technology Data Awards by Waters Technology.

Operating out of London, New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore, CJC is multiculturally and ethnically diverse by default. Derived from a combination of various cultures and geographies, 56% of our international team are ethnically white; 36% are Asian; 5% are Black and 4% identified as Hispanic. It means that not only can CJC clients be confident about the availability of reliable support, but also the flexibility to suit individual business needs.  

CJC is constantly striving to further enhance diversity and inclusion at all levels. Our global teams are committed to supporting equality regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or sexuality, and does not tolerate any forms of discrimination in any way.

Fostering and Nurturing Talent at CJC

As standard, all technical staff have achieved the ITIL 4 accreditation, funded by CJC. To further raise the bar, the leadership team have ringfenced resources for additional training across the business to assist with skillset development and career progression.

One of CJC’s dedicated resources, dubbed the CJC Academy, is a graduate-targeted initiative that facilitates entry into the FinTech industry. Several active members of the team were introduced to CJC through this scheme, and continues to be a catalyst for further career development:

• Peter Price, Global Head of Internal Services & Cloud Operations said, "I joined the company through CJC Academy, where I developed my skills and knowledge. In a few years, I progressed into a managerial position."
• Callum Sharp, Managed Services, EMEA said, “CJC is a great place to start your career in IT and the financial markets. The CJC academy will give you the tools you need to progress within an encouraging and supportive environment."
• Robert Huang, Managed Services, AMER said, "It was interesting to learn how the distribution of Market Data was done and how we are using modern technology to improve it. "

Are you interested in joining the CJC Academy? Contact CJC's recruitment team today at .

About Crown Jewels Consultants (CJC)

CJC is the multi-award-winning market data technology consultancy and leading service provider for global financial markets. CJC's award-winning teams provide consultancy, operations-as-a-service (OaaS), cloud solutions, and professional services for mission-critical market data systems. ISO 27001 certified, CJC enables clients the freedom to focus on their core business.