By Tom Silver
Since February, the number of professionals voluntarily leaving their jobs has outstripped the number of layoffs and discharges in each month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In spite of the fact that the U.S. unemployment rate is near 10 percent, retention is becoming an issue for companies, particularly in their technology departments.
The recession of the past two years might have produced a nation of security seekers, but the opposite appears true: We are becoming a nation of job hoppers.
Frustration runs especially high in technology departments, which are often the first place management teams turn to drive company productivity in a recession. The near constant strain to do more with less creates high turnover and low loyalty. For tech, this economic recovery will be a retentionless recovery.
According to the Dice Retention Survey, the majority of technology professionals (51 percent) said they intend to move to a new employer in 2010. The key influences on their decision to leave included the search for better career opportunities, increased competition and frustration with the lack of recognition for their accomplishments.
Current employers are still benefiting from the perception that it might be hard to find a new position, as only 27 percent of technology professionals believed it would be fairly or very easy to switch companies.
Still, employers shouldn't be fooled - that perception will change as opportunities pop open across the United States. On Dice, a career site for technology professionals, hiring managers and recruiters have posted 50 percent more jobs year-over-year for technology professionals.
Likewise, more than two-thirds of employed technology professionals (69 percent) have been approached at least once by headhunters since the beginning of the year. It's no surprise that increased salary is the incentive most frequently used by headhunters to spark the interest of technology professionals in considering a job switch. That carrot is followed by better career opportunities and work on new or emerging technologies. Right now, green technologies and mobile applications are the fields capturing the strongest emerging interest from tech talent.
While headhunters are circling, it appears employers may be in the dark. More than half (53 percent) of frustrated technology professionals said they are not vocalizing their career issues with their current boss.
In this new high-turnover, low-loyalty environment, leaders have to plan ahead and make pre-emptive strikes against the retentionless recovery.
Identifying critically important talent and understanding what incentives are important to those individuals is key.
While more money goes a long way, individual technology professionals may value flexible work hours, telecommuting, a new job title, or reimbursable education or training programs. The point is to take the time to ask and to customize retention programs.
In fact, just 15 percent of technology professionals report that their company has taken positive steps to deter them from moving to another firm. That statistic must change as the resurgence of full-time hiring only amplifies the challenge of retaining top technical talent.
[About the Author: Tom Silver is a senior vice president at Dice North America.]
Since February, the number of professionals voluntarily leaving their jobs has outstripped the number of layoffs and discharges in each month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In spite of the fact that the U.S. unemployment rate is near 10 percent, retention is becoming an issue for companies, particularly in their technology departments.
The recession of the past two years might have produced a nation of security seekers, but the opposite appears true: We are becoming a nation of job hoppers.
Frustration runs especially high in technology departments, which are often the first place management teams turn to drive company productivity in a recession. The near constant strain to do more with less creates high turnover and low loyalty. For tech, this economic recovery will be a retentionless recovery.
According to the Dice Retention Survey, the majority of technology professionals (51 percent) said they intend to move to a new employer in 2010. The key influences on their decision to leave included the search for better career opportunities, increased competition and frustration with the lack of recognition for their accomplishments.
Current employers are still benefiting from the perception that it might be hard to find a new position, as only 27 percent of technology professionals believed it would be fairly or very easy to switch companies.
Still, employers shouldn't be fooled - that perception will change as opportunities pop open across the United States. On Dice, a career site for technology professionals, hiring managers and recruiters have posted 50 percent more jobs year-over-year for technology professionals.
Likewise, more than two-thirds of employed technology professionals (69 percent) have been approached at least once by headhunters since the beginning of the year. It's no surprise that increased salary is the incentive most frequently used by headhunters to spark the interest of technology professionals in considering a job switch. That carrot is followed by better career opportunities and work on new or emerging technologies. Right now, green technologies and mobile applications are the fields capturing the strongest emerging interest from tech talent.
While headhunters are circling, it appears employers may be in the dark. More than half (53 percent) of frustrated technology professionals said they are not vocalizing their career issues with their current boss.
In this new high-turnover, low-loyalty environment, leaders have to plan ahead and make pre-emptive strikes against the retentionless recovery.
Identifying critically important talent and understanding what incentives are important to those individuals is key.
While more money goes a long way, individual technology professionals may value flexible work hours, telecommuting, a new job title, or reimbursable education or training programs. The point is to take the time to ask and to customize retention programs.
In fact, just 15 percent of technology professionals report that their company has taken positive steps to deter them from moving to another firm. That statistic must change as the resurgence of full-time hiring only amplifies the challenge of retaining top technical talent.
[About the Author: Tom Silver is a senior vice president at Dice North America.]
So which one's urs?
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