Look after your IT staff – or someone else will

A recent report by Deloitte identified a need for specialist human resources (HR) policies to create better career paths for IT professionals. But according to Stewart Taylor, director of IT consultancy McGregor-Boyall, what often goes unnoticed in that debate is that HR struggles as much as IT to get a seat at the table.

One of the reasons, says Taylor, is that most senior management teams are often focused on sales and appeasing shareholders and do not have enough exposure to IT and HR.

The lack of strategic value apportioned to IT and HR can be seen by the infrequency with which appointments pages in the national press include senior roles in HR or technology. Taylor also thinks that HR and IT do not communicate as well as they should.

Poor interaction between the two departments is often illustrated by the difficulty in filling senior roles due to poor training and succession planning and the consequent need to fill “dead man’s shoes”. This chimes with issues uncovered by Computing’s Tomorrow’s IT Leaders campaign.

Businesses need more openness and better hiring policies. Employees need clarity on what career progression opportunities are available and what skills 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 looking, the majority are “passive jobseekers”, who will often consider available opportunities.

Busy IT leaders need to react to these 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 and met. But many are still stuck in the recessionary mindset and focused on keeping the lights on.

With staff poaching rife, the word of warning for CIOs is: if you don’t look after your people, someone else soon will.

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