By Andy McCue, 25 October 2005 14:25
NEWS
Escalating IT "talent wars" are forcing employers to offer perks such as additional holidays and professional training to stop their best techies being poached by other companies, according to a new report.
The study of 164 employers by research company Foote Partners warns that employers will have to become creative with their staff retention strategies in order to keep critical IT talent on board.
Demand is particularly high for IT workers with special skills that include technology, industry and customer knowledge.
David Foote, president and chief research officer at Foote Partners, said the skills shortage means employers are chasing a smaller pool of candidates - and not just for the highest paid IT jobs.
He said in the report: "I'm not referring to just the ones at or near the top but to those farther down the chain of command making $60,000 to $80,000 annual salaries. Keeping them happily employed and moving forward in their careers is paramount."
The study says the most desirable perks IT workers want are additional time off, working from home and flexible working hours, professional business and technical training and, last but not least, interesting work.
Foote warned that the battle for the best IT staff is only likely to increase and said firms need to reconsider their retention strategies to stop their techies being poached.
He said: "It is clear that the costs of losing your best people have increased dramatically, and that this presents a level of risk that many organisations are simply not prepared to take right now."
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
Training is not a perk it is a requirement
2. anonymous
When you put this article together with the two yesterday about ageism in IT, I think it just shows how stupid some companies are being.
There are plenty of older (over 40) adequately skilled IT professionals.
Or, as another commentator said, maybe it is just the children that work at recruitment consultants that are starving companies by filtering out CVs for older, more experienced staff.
3. john smith
People that work in IT are strange and have to be treated different. This is what this article implies.
Also I thought companies were trying to devalue IT people.If you dont work in IT now dont bother you will spend all your time dealing with CMMI web forms and checking second rate code from outsource companies and your powerless to improve things. Just watch the code slowly rot. One broken window after and another
4. Alastair
The collective jaws of IT people over fifty must have dropped on seeing this headline. I (aged 58) was recently compelled to accept a "voluntary" redundancy arrangement. Of the four redundancies caused by my department's "reorganisation", three were over 50. My speciality is security - one for which there is good demand.
If employers have a problem, they should look to the pool of underused people from 50-65. Many of us have actually managed to keep up with the changes in technology and methods since 1970 and still enjoy the challenge of doing so!
5. anonymous
Don't worry. The coming economical crisis will get things in order in no time.