Executive Summary

• Marco Fiori, Managing Director of Bamboo PR, divulges the secrets to retaining people and the three things data centre leaders should do to keep their employees motivated.
• The first steps to addressing the industry’s retention issue are to accept that retention is uncontrollable, so it’s better to focus on what you can control: whether people are paid fairly, trusted, listened to, supported, challenged and given reasons to believe in the company.
• Prioritise your people and find joy in the squishy humans that still make up every company. Data centres are, and will always be, a people business.

It’s an unusual world out there. Market forces are both hot from the global AI buildout and ice-cold from layoffs and employee churn.

Take this 2025 report from Uptime Institute. Staff and skills shortages, an issue for more than a decade, are acute, with nearly two-thirds of operators reporting difficulty retaining staff, finding qualified candidates, or both. Things haven’t improved in the same 2026 survey.

In this September 2025 snapshot from DataX Connect, 40% of respondents said they planned to leave their jobs within the next 12 months.

Retention isn’t a metric; it’s a way of life

Clearly, there is a retention issue in our sector. The first step to improving this? Accept that retention is uncontrollable.

No matter how exceptional the workplace, employees do leave. That’s the unspoken agreement. People exchange their talents and time for money, opportunity, purpose and a working environment that makes that trade worthwhile.

It’s easy to get het up about this, but it’s better to focus on what you can control as a leader. That is whether people are paid fairly, trusted, listened to, supported, challenged and given reasons to believe in the company.

Ultimately, most just want:

• Enough money to pay their bills and support their loved ones
• Autonomy and trust
• Emotional safety to raise concerns or issues
• Empathy when times get tough, inside and outside of work
• Community, peers and friends
• Positivity, hope and camaraderie

Our industry is understandably obsessed with resilience, performance, growth and service availability. These are critical, but they should never be at the expense of people.

Remember that while data centres may be expected to operate 24 hours a day, the people running them can’t. We all need rest, food and sleep. The more these basics are ignored, the more likely that team morale will dip, harmony will crack, and churn will rise.

Calmness, transparency and curiosity

There are three things I keep coming back to when talking to other leaders about keeping people motivated.

Whether you’re dealing with equipment failure, construction delays or customer escalations, never underestimate the power of a cool head. The calmer and more self-aware you are, the more your team mirrors your energy.

Share what the business is doing. People hate being in the dark. We sometimes convince ourselves that things are ‘above a person’s pay grade’, or that people are better off not knowing. Reality check time: people are perceptive. They will just create their own versions of the narrative if you don’t share the reality. The more you bring people into the journey, the more likely they are to rally together in tough times.

Be curious. Check your assumptions. Ask the difficult questions. Listen to the answers. Act on feedback and explain why if you cannot. Give people the benefit of the doubt, particularly when something changes. Persistent poor performance or behaviour can drag down an otherwise brilliant team, and you certainly should act, as no one person is above the group, but dial up that empathy. You may need some care yourself one day.

Technology businesses may be selling technology, but people buy from people. 

Neglect your teams, and eventually your customers will feel it. Motivated people provide better service, build deeper knowledge and create stronger relationships. What’s worse, when an experienced person leaves a data centre business, years of technical, customer and site-specific knowledge walk out the door with them.

Prioritise your people and find joy in the squishy humans that still make up every company. Data centres are, and will always be, a people business. Remember that.