Employees in the information technology industry are extremely restless, as evidenced by Network IT Recruitment’s recent IT Skills survey which showed that 62% of respondents were considering leaving their current job, 50% stayed in jobs for two years or less and 53% were considering emigration.
Money was the prime motivator for the vast majority switching jobs, which was hardly surprising, given that salary increases in the industry had been static over the past few years and expectations for 2013 were low, says Niteske Marshall, MD of Network Recruitment. Younger respondents were expecting higher increases.
These trends are mirrored in the engineering and the financial sectors where Network Recruitment conducted similar surveys towards the end of 2011, with employees in both sectors also remaining ‘salary-centric’ despite static increases.
“But whilst money clearly talks, the IT survey did reveal some other interesting trends which could indicate that the employment landscape is changing,” she says. “It’s quite possible that people cite the ‘traditional’ reason for changing jobs i.e. a better salary when in reality, it’s more about improvements in the package as a whole.
“In fact, the survey showed that employees are actively looking for more innovative working arrangements and employers are coming to the party. Results showed that flexible working conditions are on the rise (offered by 65% of companies), with flexitime, accrued hours, technology-enabled solutions and teleworking from home rated by respondents as the most important and sought-after benefits.”
But what employers deliver and what employees want are still far from congruent. The survey showed that only 13% of companies offered accrued hours vs. 31% of employees wanting this option, only nine per cent offered technology-enabled solutions vs. 33% in favour and only nine per cent of companies provided employees with the option of teleworking from home, yet 32% wanted it.
As was the case in Network Recruitment’s other industry surveys, this report also highlighted the important role played by employment agencies. Nearly half the respondents in the financial sector got their current job via an agency, with 47% in the IT sector. One of the main reasons for these figures, Marshall said, was that a specialist professional recruitment agent was best placed to advise job-seekers on the realities of the job market.
“We’re also able to temper salary expectations based on empirical evidence such as our skills and salary surveys,” says Marshall. “Another important point is that we’re able to guide candidates to make the appropriate education choices which will help close the gap between industry needs and available skills. With the majority of respondents indicating that they intend updating their skills set within the next 12 months, the value of this advisory role becomes very apparent.”
