Business leaders focus on cost containment with IT staff
1 min read
CIOs need to avoid staff cuts, without first considering their effects on the organisation's ability to attract and retain talent in these challenging times.
So says analyst Gartner, whose latest survey of US-based companies reveals that nearly 66% do not have formal IT workforce planning processes capable of helping them turn the current downturn into opportunities.
"Considering that workforce-related spending is the largest part of the IT budget, one of the primary challenges for CIOs and HR leaders for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010 will be finding ways to control labour costs while engaging and retaining the workforce," comments Lily Mok, research vice president at Gartner.
"Since it will still take time for the economy to establish a new normal, the impact of this recession will continue to be felt on an organisation's bottom line, as well as on the overall job market. This could cause companies to consider making further cuts in workforce-related spending."
Gartner's survey finds 64.1% of respondents saying they will put hiring on hold for the next 12 months, although 35.9% project an increase in IT head count.
Most respondents continue to indicate difficulty in finding skilled enterprise architects, database administrators, ERP programmers/analysts, project managers, Internet/web architects and web application programmers.
"The issue isn't about the number of candidates available for hire, but rather their quality and skill profiles. IT professionals with skills such as Oracle, SAP, Java EE, Microsoft.NET, SOA, Java and PeopleSoft are still in high demand," explains Mok.
As for pay, she makes the point that, in a financial crisis, companies can't reward everyone in the same way as in good times – so one of the first items to be cut is the annual salary increase budget.
Results from this year's survey suggest that there will be an across-the-board reduction in IT professional salary increase for 2009/10. Gartner finds median IT salary increase budgeted at 3%, a half point drop from the 2008's figure and remaining at 3% for 2010.
Meanwhile, the median 2009 salary increase budget for all other departments outside IT, Gartner finds has dropped to 2.8%, moving up to 3% for next year.
