Aretha sang about it, Rodney bemoaned his lack of it, and now information technology workers are claiming they too aren’t getting any respect.
PwC Consulting’s fourth annual High Tech Workers Survey Report, entitled Attracting and Retaining IT Talent in a Changing Environment, recently asked Canadian information technology employees to rank what they felt were the most important factors in achieving job satisfaction. While in past surveys issues around effective managers usually came out on top, this year respect surged
ahead.
But the two issues of more effective managers and their treatment of employees are linked, according to the study’s author. “I think management is sometimes an issue (and) people don’t feel respected. They work hard and don’t feel they are treated the way they should be,” said Sharon Clark a principal consultant in human capital solutions for PwC Consulting in Ottawa.
Other pressing issues revealed in the survey include health benefits, employment security, salaries, formal training and opportunities for advancement. Given global economic challenges, the fact that individuals are putting more stock in job security was to be expected, said Clark. But in an industry known for rapid shifts in employment, it signifies the “move for the money” mentality is changing.
“It’s something people took for granted before. They knew they could get jobs anywhere. They didn’t care,” Clark said.
Part of the poor management issue can be linked to staff who are promoted into senior positions and who never receive the proper training to deal effectively with employees, she added. Still, the findings left at least one government IT employee a little puzzled.
“The fact that they tend to pay higher salaries in information technology than many others, (I) would have said the opposite. (Employers) either respect them or fear them,” said Richard Thompson, IT business partner for the City of Edmonton.
As for job security, several factors have elevated its importance in the minds of IT workers, Thompson said. First, as the baby boom generation continues to age, their thoughts are shifting to retirement and pension plans, so people in
the industry are seeking job security packages. Also, many are entering the profession as a second career, and consequently have chosen the profession because of the potential job security IT can offer.
Another area of the survey that he called misleading was salary expectations. While it ranked 15th in the study, “whenever you do a survey, salary usually sits at about number 11. But when you ask people why they change jobs, salary usually sits at number one,” Thompson said.
The full report can be downloaded from PwC’s Web site at www.pwcglobal.com.
