IT Staff Wonders How Much It's Valued

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While many IT staffers may feel they play the most integral role in an organization, they're not sure their colleagues see that same value, new research reveals.

In a survey conducted by TEKsystems, 80 percent of IT professionals said their role is critical to their firms’ strategy, but only 55 percent believe the organization thinks the same.

Overall, nearly 30 percent, the highest percentage of those surveyed, said their IT roles had the greatest value in the company, compared with those in the sales, marketing and other departments. In addition, more than 60 percent said their companies would experience a significant void if they left.

TEKsystems Director Rachel Russell said the more IT employees feel the organization is invested in them, the more invested they become in return.

"This is an unfortunate imbalance," Russell said. "When employees feel appreciated and listened to, productivity and creativity on the job rises to the benefit of the business."

The survey did reveal several ways for businesses and organizations to improve their IT staff's sense of value.

Communication between company leaders and IT membersneeds to be improved, with just 52 percent of those surveyed saying their organization's leaders do a very good job of keeping them informed.

In addition, the study shows a need for company executives to listen to and seek more feedback from members of the IT department. More than 85 percent of those surveyed said their leadership could benefit from having a better understanding of line-level IT employees, while 71 percent believe line-level employees, rather than company leaders, come up with ideas that are more likely to work.

Hiring the proper managers is also a critical step, according to the research.  Only 56 percent of those surveyed indicated their leader seeks out and listens to their ideas, and 55 percent believe their managers don't help them achieve their professional goals.

"When organizations understand the perspective of their line-level IT employees, they are able to understand their core problems better, develop more realistic change strategies and formulate superior approaches to IT initiative execution," Russell said. "They’re also able to improve attraction and retention of high-performance IT professionals who enjoy working for an organization that seeks their opinions."

The research was based on surveys of more than 2,300 IT professionals.