The movement and mobility of IT professionals

The HR issues of the IT industry

To IT companies, especially the software companies, the lack of and/or the exit of talents have been a chronic illness for a long time.

Recently, the Shanghai Information Office has revealed a piece of industry news: currently, there are 41,000 IT employees in Shanghai and it is predicted that 60,000 more will be needed by 2005; however, only 5,000 could be provided by local educational institutions.  Obviously, there is a huge vacancy gap, about 15,000, each year.

As investigated, 14.5% of the IT professionals left their positions in 2003; the demand for IT workers in foreign companies is also slowing down or has even gone into a negative growth phase.

Because of its own features, the IT industry, especially the software companies, taking the cost structure into account, will throw away the expensive and hot talents as soon as the project is over. 

The reasons for instability in employment in the IT industry

Generally speaking, this is the consequence of the high growth of the information technology economy; it is also a social problem, relating to people’s perceptions of building a career in the IT field.

China’s IT industry is growing at the high speed of 30% each year.  It develops so fast that companies need to adjust their business models continuously.  As the result of a fierce competitive environment and lower profit margins, some employees’ salaries will decrease continuously.  The company’s own sense of insecurity has also affected the company HR structure and the movement of talents.  Although the SARS crisis has stopped the talents flow in a certain level, this trend has not yet been changed substantially.

Another important thing is that the management system has not been improved in a timely manner, or adapted to a culture of an unstable work force in the IT team.

Also, most of the IT workers are young professionals, who want to learn more skills and acquire more competitive experiences; therefore, it has become another reason for job movement.

And the imbalance of a regional economy has worsened the movement of talents.

In conclusion, the movement of IT talents is unavoidable.

What are the counter-measures?

Firstly, both the pros and cons require attention.

The traditional management style has become out-dated.  The managers of many state-owned companies are like the brokers, calling up the candidates with different specialties and starting the negotiation processes with their own parameters.  In the end, talents can be acquired in such un-orthodox manners. Talent movement in this way is actually not totally negative.

From another point of view, a proper talent movement is good for business generally. On one hand, it can bring to the new employer fresh ideas and ways of doing things; on the other hand, it can also enhance the company’s own competencies.   

Some companies believe that the recruitment firms can affect the flow of IT talents in a negative way.  In fact, the existence of these recruitment firms is a condition in the market itself.  Enterprises need to pay more attention to the underlying reasons for the talent movement and erosion, and must think of ways of how to make good use of the headhunters. 

Nowadays, the recruitment firms are more experienced than before.  They would pay more attention to the career development of candidates.  Therefore, the best way to keep good employees is to instill to these employees the company’s culture, enhance the coherence between the employee and his/her immediate supervisor, and set up an efficient motivational/reward system.