Look after your IT staff - or someone else will

A recent report by Deloitte talked about the need for specialist human resource (HR) staff and policies to create better career paths for IT professionals.

The subject came up again over lunch with an IT recruitment expert. According to McGregor-Boyall director Stewart Taylor, one of the things that often goes unnoticed in that debate is that HR struggles to get a seat on the table as much as the IT department.

“Often, HR and IT don’t get enough credit about what they do and face very similar challenges in gaining credibility from the chief executive,” said Taylor.

“One of the reasons for that is the majority of senior management teams don’t have enough exposure to these departments – they are often focused on sales, sometimes research and development when it is critical to their business, and are generally more worried about appeasing shareholders and about what analysts have to say,” he said.

Taylor added that an indication that those two functions are not seen as “strategically valuable” is the fact that appointments pages in the national press rarely include senior roles in HR or technology.

Apart from the common struggle for recognition from top management, Taylor also thinks that HR and IT do not communicate as well as they should.

“Relationships can be a lot better and companies can improve their chances of attracting and retaining the best IT staff – it is all down to good communications and trust,” he said.

Other issues mentioned by Taylor stemming from poor interaction between the two departments include the difficulty in filling senior roles due to poor training and succession planning – a theme that has been often discussed in Computing’s latest campaign, Tomorrow’s IT Leaders – and the consequent need to fill “dead man’s shoes”.

“Employees often get discouraged when they realise they can’t move anywhere unless there is an indication their boss is being considered for another job,” said Taylor.

Businesses need more openness and better hiring policies, said Taylor. This would include better inductions so employees are clear about what are the career progression opportunities available and what areas they will need to develop to move up the ladder.

From talking to recruiters, there seems to be a general consensus that IT professionals are among the most active job movers in industry – even if they are not actively looking, the vast majority are “passive jobseekers”, who will often consider opportunities available and have cards up their sleeve.

That said, busy IT leaders need to react to these new dynamics and spend more time with their people – increasingly, managers are engaging with HR and learning departments to ensure the best people are retained and that their development needs are well understood, but many are still stuck in the recessionary mindset and just keeping the lights on.

The word of warning for such managers is: if you don’t look after your people, someone else soon will.

By Angelica Mari