This is our fourth bi-monthly newsletter.

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By Steve Rodgers

The number of companies trying to recruit experienced IT staff is at an all-time high, there are reports that three quarter of a million unfilled IT job vacancies will exist by the end of the year 2000.

A further, perhaps more important issue, is that IT people can be and are selective about the type of work they do. The best people can easily find more interesting work.

Companies face a double edged sword - to recruit candidates to work legacy projects is extremely difficult and to put valued staff on this non stimulating work will cause more staff erosion.

The current skills crisis has caused a rush in the employment market with skilled people being poached or choosing to change jobs.

The resignation rate of IT staff has reached an all time high. This trend is set to accelerate as more companies suffer erosion while business demands continue to escalate.

The real issue of retention can only be achieved by forward planning, making sure staff recognize they are valued and that their individual development needs are addressed.

In this buoyant job market skilled staff need to be retained and there are several ways of ensuring this. Salary, bonuses and perks although significant are not the overriding factors that keep employees from scouring the job ads. It is much better to create an environment in which people are happy to stay.

To achieve this, understanding what motivates staff is the key. This can be accomplished in both a formal (regular appraisals) and informal way. Balances should be reached between the goals of the individual and the needs of the business. For example staff should be given a mix of interesting work alongside the dull.

Training and reskilling inspire loyalty, but for many companies this is a huge bone of contention. Training is seen as expensive and a way of making their employees attractive to others. The risks involved, when weighed against the benefits, often mean that retraining is overlooked in favor of recruiting externally. However, the recruitment costs of staff time before and after the hire and direct expenses, compare favorably against staff development costs.

A mixed approach of valuing staff by developing skills, providing interesting/motivating work while recognizing their individual contribution, along side benefits and perks, will mean that employees don’t want to leave the employer.

Increasing numbers of organizations are considering retention bonuses to head off potential resignations or to encourage people to delay their decision to leave.

Bonus retention schemes are normally based on an increasing percentage of the basic salary and have followed the pattern below (for Y2K work):

• 1st year 10% of salary
• 2nd year 30% of salary
• 3rd year 60% of salary

However, if these bonuses do defer resignation, predatory employers can still buy staff and resentment is caused among those ineligible who assume that they are not as important.

Organizations are beginning to realize that tailored measures not dominated by loyalty bonuses, is key to having a sustained impact on staff erosion. To retain IT staff a package that satisfies financial, intellectual and the career aspirations of individuals is required.

• Ensure managers have the skills and tools to manage effectively
• Focus training & development to individual and company needs
• Don't inflate staff expectations
• Survey and interview people who leave to identify trends
• Consider staff resignation potential and consequences
• Value each individuals worth
• Participate in internships and co-op programs that develop secondary and post-secondary students by providing needed hands-on experience, as well as increasing their awareness of IT career possibilities.
• Provide non-technical training to technical managers in how to more effectively manage and develop their people.
• Actively educate customers on the relationship between experience and the ability to perform on the job in order to reduce the need to recruit against unrealistic experience requirements.
• Actively recruit those groups (e.g., disabled, at-risk youth, and minorities) that represent untapped resources for IT companies. These groups -- along with former military personnel and other adults seeking career changes‹need to be identified, trained, and better utilized by the IT community.
• Recognize and capitalize on the strong desire of individual IT workers to feel that their employer cares about their career development. Consciously structure jobs to allow for learning and growth as well as productivity.
• Offer fellowships, internships, or other education opportunities, for K-12 guidance counselors and teachers to help them have current information on the IT workplace. Take every opportunity to educate school principals, parents' organizations, and students on trends and opportunities in the IT industry in your area.
• Make better use of databases containing information on the applicant pool and develop closer links with training service providers (proprietary and non-proprietary) in your area.
• Make better use of newer selection/testing technology to assess applicants' aptitude and abilities to perform in IT environment.
• Provide better guidance on workforce education and training needs through broadly based consortia of industry representatives working collectively with secondary and post-secondary educational institutions in curricula development. Working with the workforce preparation providers, use and improve upon the model classification of IT jobs to focus your efforts.
• Improve coordination among the number of IT course offerings and programs. Collectively work with industry groups to improve upon and use the model classification of IT jobs the Commission developed as a basis for a more coordinated approach to education and training.
• Recognize the high value of experiential learning in educating the modern knowledge worker and aggressively pursue internship opportunities at all educational levels.
• For IT-related degree programs at all levels, recognize the need to include four major components: general education; general business knowledge; technical content; and, workplace experience.
• Consider establishing a minimum "technology quotient" requirement for all graduates.
• Aggressively improve the ability of every classroom instructor to use IT equipment and applications to enhance lesson preparation and instructional delivery.
• Seek opportunities to work with the IT industry to provide improved information and training to teachers and guidance counselors on nature of IT jobs and the career paths to these jobs.
• Do not let distinctions between credit and non-credit courses limit the ability to bring the latest in industry certifications and other high-quality technical content into degree programs.
• Work with Regional Technology Councils to identify which job vacancy classifications are most critical to companies in each region in order to prioritize program and course upgrades.
• Develop fellowship programs and working sabbaticals that bring educators into the IT business world so that they gain greater exposure to the industry and its requirements.
• Partner with proprietary on-line education/training providers to leverage the power of the Internet in providing custom course materials.
• Actively work to reduce the "digital divide" by providing grants and incentive programs that will bring greater IT literacy to all segments of our society and eventually bring more qualified workers into the pipeline.
• Fund for non-credit community college training programs that prepare workers for the Information Economy, especially retraining/skills upgrade programs for individuals and industry-specific training for smaller companies.
• Consolidate and focus the myriad of government-funded training programs for older workers, disabled workers, dislocated workers, and other underutilized potential pools of talent on developing job skills appropriate for the Information Economy.
• Work closely with the technology business community to encourage additional training and hiring of disabled workers.
• Develop programs to ensure that more disabled workers are provided workplace skills appropriate to the Information Economy.
• Establish a best practices web page to highlight and share successful approaches to various aspects of the IT workforce development issue.
• Develop, a multimedia presentation that school districts, technology councils and others can use to inform K-12 students about IT career opportunities.
• Ensure that the IT contracting provisions and requirements the organization take full advantage of the best practices and opportunities of the marketplace.
• Offer career employees opportunities to retrain into IT specialties.
• Hire an IT Recruiter
• Active job monster board or web site for job posting, information about the state and collecting on-line resumes
• Plan of action and report on uncovering IT positions
• Completed IT Job Fair
• Shorter recruiting cycle time for filling IT positions
• Create a broader pool of more qualified candidates
• Greater flexibility in hiring employees

Retaining, Retraining, and Recruiting Information Technology Staff

Technical organizations depend on effective use of information technology for day to day operations and administration. With high demand for technology professionals, it is critical that we continue to recruit, retain, and retrain competent staff to support IT on campus. Recruiting challenges include reduced numbers of graduates in computer-related fields, lack of competitive salaries, and increasing market demand for information technology skills.

The continuing explosion of technological change also forces existing staff to continually upgrade their technical skills. As the demand for information technology professionals continues to exceed the supply, the organization will face even greater retention staffing challenges. And as we continue to restructure our IT organizations to meet increasing and changing support demands, we will need to work with Human Resources departments to redefine jobs and salary ranges.

The Web links listed below represent a set of resources you may find helpful as you address IT staffing.

Web Sites with IT Staffing Resources

Articles and Reports on General IT Staffing Issues

Job Classifications and Descriptions

Salary Surveys

Human Resources Practices

Human Resources Professional Organizations

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This site is interesting to those in the beginning stages of developing an architecture. The site it's self has a lot of Architecture content, but not assembled in a traditional way. They have a secured knowledge library where documents in development are stored as well as what appears to be most in-progress budget work.

One item I find interesting is their ties to commercial sites as information sources such as that within their Data Administration section at http://www.cio.state.ut.us/399/daindex.htm. I was unable to get these links to work, and that may be dependent on some local process. Beware of following these links as they have a irritating set of popup web pages, but the concept is a good idea.

The Utah Architecture is based on MetaGroup's EAS process and follows their traditional methodology. This seems to be pretty much a standard at the state level.

Specific information that may be of interest is the:

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There were no sites suggested this time. Any sites out there that should be checked out, let me know.

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Going from not busy enough to too busy. The new job has taken up most of my free time and as you can see from the newsletter and the additions to the site, little has occurred in the EWITA area.

I received a very positive feedback from the DCI presentation in New Orleans and was very gratified that my presentation met with such enthusiasm. I really appreciate the feed back! Perhaps if the job allows, I will present again!

 New Assistant Newsletter Editor and Web person

Steve Rodgers (see his resume in the resume area of the site) has agreed to step up and help me with the EWITA. I appreciate his offer and accept it as my time to spend on the site is getting scarce. The article in this issue is from Steve.

Do you have pointers, articles of interest to the EA community, would you like to write an article? If so, please contact me, so we can, together, further the EA Community

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