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A couple of new surveys out this week more-or-less substantiate what many CIOs and their staff are feeling. IT departments are overworked at a time when there is little room for improvement in hiring budgets.
A report by IT hiring firm Robert Half Technology found that about 43% of chief information officers report their departments are either very understaffed or somewhat understaffed in relation to current workloads. Robert Half conducted a total of 1,400 interviews with CIOs or senior IT executives at companies with more than 100 employees for the survey.
On the flip side of that equation, a report by Foote Partners of Vero Beach, Fla., suggests the staffing picture for most IT shops isn’t about to get better any time soon. The research firm says IT unemployment has stabilized, but “there is slim to no chance for meaningful IT jobs recovery in 2010.”
Foote Partners said the length of the tail on this staffing cycle is likely to be much longer than in previous economic downturns. “We believe IT hiring overall will not pick up noticeably until late next year, and more likely 2011, despite the recent GDP upturn and recovering stock prices in our nation’s third straight year of economic instability,” it said in its IT Labor Predictions for 2010 report.
The firm said volatility will continue to punctuate staffing and pay levels throughout the coming year, with investments focused on specific IT skill specializations. Employers will struggle to recalibrate their IT workforces by trying to strike the right balance between costs, agility, and intense market pressures.
In the Robert Half survey, CIOs were specifically asked: “How would you describe the staffing levels of your IT department in relation to current workloads?” Ten percent of respondents reported they were very understaffed, 33% said they were somewhat understaffed, 53% were at the appropriate staff level, 3% were overstaffed, and 1% didn’t know or didn’t answer.
“Many companies have cut technology staff levels too deeply, making it challenging for IT departments to keep pace with demands,” Robert Half executive director Dave Willmer said in a statement. “Although businesses may be able to operate with stretched teams in the short term, being perpetually understaffed isn’t sustainable and can detract from the overall productivity and morale of the organization.”
To keep projects on track and prevent burnout, Willmer recommends IT managers bring in extra support, if only for a short duration. “Contract professionals can assist with workload spikes or major one-time projects, relieving the burden on existing staff and ensuring the timely completion of mission-critical initiatives,” said Willmer.
“Hiring on an interim basis is also a good way to evaluate someone for a full-time role.”
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