By Jo Best, 19 July 2005 17:00
NEWS Morale is plummeting among IT professionals who feel undervalued and unappreciated at work, according to a new survey - and techies are pointing the finger at offshore outsourcing and cost-cutting.
According to research from SWNA on behalf of e-learning firm SkillSoft, over half of all IT professionals don't feel valued at work and 70 per cent don't feel their job reflects their true potential.
The research also found that staff churn is higher among IT professionals than their colleagues, with 24 per cent having changed their jobs in the last six months, compared to an average of 11 per cent for non-IT workers.
Yet IT professionals are still more likely to get promotions than their non-tech colleagues, with 23 per cent of IT staff moving up the corporate ladder in the last six months compared with just 11 per cent of non-IT staff.
A number of IT professionals contacted by silicon.com backed up the findings of the research, citing a range of reasons for their dissatisfaction, from poor salaries to the threat of offshore outsourcing.
One veteran technical specialist, now working for a large finance firm, said he had never seen morale among IT professionals sink so low.
"After 24 years in IT, I have seen many changes, both positive and negative, but never as poor as it is today. I think that this is atypical in the job market in general but with IT rarely ever being a revenue generator, it has borne the rigors of cost cutting to the extreme.
"Today's policy on profits for shareholders and fat cats, via saving money, has impacted the home market and helped build the overseas outsourcing market at the UK's expense. This sword of Damocles hangs over our heads every day which slowly erodes loyalty to an employer."
A website developer for a services firm said pay, bad management and a lack of communication are key sources of discontent in the IT department.
"When you have broken your back for a company [and] your payrise is not commensurate with what you have put in, that is the main measure on your worth," he said.
A systems analyst for a large consultancy said all too often attempts to keep techies happy are merely lip service. "There can often be a lot of talk about keeping the troops happy at MD level and so on, including 'people initiatives', but these often fall short," he said.
One head of IT described himself as feeling valued at work as businesses realise how critical IT is but admitted that respect for techies varies with job function. "In many ways IT support is only visible when things go wrong - [support staff] are undervalued if the people are doing a good job," he said.
A recent study from analyst house Forrester also revealed support staff are perceived as the poor cousins of the tech world, with non-tech staff reporting that the more often they use the helpdesk, the more dissatisfied they feel.
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1. Marny Pigott
I wonder that anyone disputes this. It is galling that anyone who is not, and does not want to be, a techie should say that 'there are now choices' or make some other dismissive comment implying that it is all OK really. Some people might have had payrises since last year and perhaps a couple of firms have realised that outsourcing will not resolve all (or even many) of their problems and certainly not without creating even juicier ones. However, even if true, this does not change the fact that sharp-end technical jobs are leeching away. Yes, I know heavy industry almost disappeared and maybe it was 'a good thing' in the long term but it was still no less a bitch for anyone who wanted or enjoyed that work at the time. I like programming, I don't like paper shuffling and I strongly dislike ****ing around with PMW, MSP or any other members of that clone! So bite me! While I may accept in principle that these grand changes happen over time I don't want my nose rubbed in it by people who are not personally affected and I most certainly don't need patronising statements about the wonderful menu of opportunity now placed before me by the imminent loss of my occupation.