IT Leaders Not Planning for Future Staffing Needs
|
|
CREDIT: Dreamstime.com
|
When it comes to planning for future staffing needs, many IT leaders are being rather shortsighted, according to new research.
In the recently released TEKSytems IT Executive Outlook survey, fewer than 20 percent of IT managers said they plan for staffing needs beyond two years, and the majority – nearly 60 percent – reported planning for the next year only. A mere 6 percent said they have a five-year strategy in place.
The research also found that only 8 percent of IT leaders have a well-defined process for addressing future work force planning strategies, and just 9 percent report having processes in place to address even the current work force planning needs.
TEKsystems Director Rachel Russell said in order for IT departments to operate at their full potential, IT leaders must be proactive in work force planning.
“IT departments are constantly assembling teams to tackle emerging trends and stay ahead in a changing marketplace," Russell said in a prepared release. "Proactive workforce planning is an essential and competitive capability for high-performance IT organizations, as it ensures they have the skills required to meet project milestones and handle the ebbs and flows of workloads as projects evolve."
The study also revealed that organizations are poor at succession planning and offering sound retention strategies. Only 15 percent of IT leaders reported their companies are "very good" or "excellent" at succession planning, with 28 percent saying the same about retaining employees.
“People make IT happen, so losing talented professionals can stop project momentum in its tracks,” Russell said. “Companies that strategically manage succession planning keep top performers engaged and motivated. Further, employees are able to seamlessly take on roles as other team members move on to different projects or new roles.”
The quarterly TEKSytems IT Executive Outlook survey studies nearly 3,000 IT leaders from all industries, regions and company sizes.
