Green light for ICT staff shortage?

By CIO New Zealand | Friday, February 19 2010

Loyal staff expect reparations for the ‘sweat debt’ they ran up in 2009.

This year will be a busy time for ICT recruitment, with on-hold projects getting the green light and headcount freezes for ICT departments being lifted, recruitment company Robert Walters reports.

“Employees who were loyal to their organisations during the recession are now beginning to voice their dissatisfaction, expecting reparations for the ‘sweat debt’ they ran up in the last year,” says Richard Manthel, managing director of Robert Walters NZ, in a press statement.

If these employees feel they are not being rewarded, they will not hesitate to look for work elsewhere in a more buoyant market.

This will impact ICT departments, as young professionals resume plans for their OEs that were put on hold in 2009. “This potential ‘mass exodus’ could have quite serious implications for the local employment market and we advise employers to address these potential candidate shortages now, rather than remain complacent,” Manthel says in regards to the release of the company’s latest Global Salary Survey.

The report points out the imperative for HR departments to shift attention to learning and development and retention strategies as the employment market tightens. These range from improving employer branding to make the company attractive to prospective staff, along with career progression and planning for incumbent staff.

Based on the activities in the first two months this year, we are predicting a very busy year in IT recruitment for both permanent and contract markets, says Annabelle Klap, who heads Robert Walters IT division in Auckland.

In the permanent market, she says the high demand roles would be mainly software development for both Microsoft and Java and business analysts. There is also a growing demand for people with specialist web skills as organisations ramp up their online offerings.

In regards to pay for top-level ICT posts, the survey showed that in Auckland the salary for CIOs, CTOs and software program managers is reported to be in the $150,000-plus salary bracket. Development managers earn $110,000 to $150,000. In Wellington, CIOs and CTOs are in the $150,000 to $300,000 bracket. This is followed by software program managers at $130,000 to $180,000.