IT staffing: How to keep your top performers happy
- Details
- Written by John Pickett
The good news: According to Robert Half Technology’s most recent quarterly survey, Canadian CIOs plan an increase in IT staffing activity in the fourth quarter of 2012. It’s a sign of growing corporate confidence in the economy and in information technology as a means to take advantage of it.
The bad news: There’s already a shortfall in the skills most in demand. The Outlook for Human Resources in the ICT Labour Market, 2011-2016, a report produced by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) working with the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), predicted that between 2011 and 2016, Canadian employers will need to hire some 106,000 ICT workers—more than 17,000 per year.
The competition for talent is heating up, particularly for experienced professionals, and since there’s a finite pool of skills that everyone is fighting over you can bet they’ll be coming after your employees. So retention is at least as important as hiring and while you’re looking out at the market for talent, you need to also be looking in at your current staff and figuring out how to keep them.
At one of our CIO roundtables on Winning Tactics for Hard Times, we asked what investments attendees were most anxious to defend. For the majority, what they would fight hardest for wasn’t technology, it was their best talent. As one said, “I have a list of 30 people who I’m supporting and fighting for and mentoring and going the extra mile for. Things are more aggressive than they used to be. I used to actively mentor 4, 5, 6 people. Now it’s 30.”
I’ve spent my share of years as an employer, many of them managing IT professionals. I’ve been an observer and conducted numerous surveys of the Canadian IT job market. And I’ve been particularly interested in the factors that contribute to job satisfaction and those that may lead employees to look for a change. Here are some of the things I’ve learned that may help you to hang on to your key players.
Compensation:
Pay is obviously a major component of job satisfaction as well as a means to lure away otherwise loyal employees. Now I’ve always considered my compensation to be a matter strictly between me and my employer. Maybe that’s an old-fashioned view because I’m constantly surprised by other people’s willingness to exchange details of their pay and benefits. So it’s dangerous to use over-the-top financial incentives to acquire talent, even if your budget and HR policies allow it. If your present staff discover that there’s a significant disparity in compensation for new people, they are sure to be unhappy…and more likely to look at opportunities elsewhere.
Bonuses tied to some aspect of performance are often used to incentivize employees. In fact, for the majority of CIOs a significant portion of compensation is typically in the form of bonuses, so you know what it’s all about. Bonuses that can be clearly influenced by one's own efforts provide the greatest incentive. Bonus schemes that depend on factors that are outside an employee's direct control, such as company performance or team performance, are somewhat less effective as incentives but may well have the desired effect of boosting income and overall satisfaction with compensation.
Employees earning performance bonuses typically have significantly higher overall job satisfaction, but there's a caveat. For employees who are on a bonus scheme but for whatever reason fail to meet its criteria, job satisfaction is much lower than for employees who were never on a bonus scheme in the first place. That’s the nature of bonuses; sometimes they won't be earned. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be used, it simply means that they need to be carefully considered and they need to be based on realistic and meaningful criteria, otherwise they can have the exact opposite of the desired effect.
There are, of course, other factors that contribute to job satisfaction. In fact, when compensation reaches a certain level -- which generally means competitive with the market -- then the other factors take on greater importance.
Work environment:
Your top performers, the people you most want to keep, are happiest when they're challenged by interesting work. It's not always possible to have the most challenging projects underway; sometimes there's a preponderance of important though mundane tasks. One way to keep key managers and professionals challenged is to create skunk works in which they can innovate, over and above their basic responsibilities, with the potential to create value through new or improved tools and technologies for the department and the company.
Smart people enjoy the company of smart people. Weed out the poor performers in your team. Give them the opportunity and the means to improve if you feel that improvement to an acceptable level is possible. A small team of well-paid, highly competent and motivated individuals is likely to be both more productive and cheaper than a somewhat larger team that includes poor performers who tend to demotivate and impede the efforts of their colleagues.
We all like to know that our efforts are valued. Feeling appreciated and recognized as a valuable contributor may have the greatest influence on job satisfaction. Employees are happiest when they understand exactly how their performance is viewed and how the work they do fits into the scheme of things. Provide positive reinforcement and support through regular feedback on performance, and from time to time review how the department and individual goals tie into corporate objectives.
Look to the future:
Finally, make sure that people have a clear understanding of their opportunities for career growth and what they need to do in order to take advantage of them. Provide the training and guidance that will allow them to grow and deliver their best performance. Identify the individuals with the potential for leadership, and nurture and support their development. It’s not just their future you’ll be protecting but also your own. Look after your key employees and they’ll reward you with their best work and, as far as it goes these days, with their loyalty.
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ADP - VP Architecture & Infrastructure
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Agrium - Global Mgr., IT Security
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Aimia - SVP & Global CIO
Ainsworth Engineered - Director IT
Air Canada Vacations - Director IT
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BuildDirect - VP IT
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Burnco - CIO
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Canada Goose - CTO
Canada Live - VP of Technology
Canada Mortgage and Housing - VP, Information & Technology
Canada Protection Plan - Head of IT
Canadian Depository for Securities - CIO
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Canadian Payments Association - VP & CIO
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Capgemini - Service Delivery Director
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CI Global Asset Management - VP of Enterprise Infrastructure $amp; Operations
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Colliers - Head of Technology & Data
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Dairy Farmers of Ontario - Head of IT and Administration
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DealerTrack Canada - Director, Technology
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eHealth - EVP, Technology
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ENMAX - VP, IT & PMO
Equitable Bank - CIO
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Expedia Cruise Ship Centers - VP IS
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Fix Auto Canada - COO & SVP
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Freedom Mobile - Head, Customer Applications, Experience, & Strategy
FT Services - CIO
FundServ - CIO
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Genworth Financial Inc. - VP IT
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Grant Thornton LLP - CIO
Grand River Hospital - Director, Data Governance & Analytics
Greenwin Inc - VP, Information Technology
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GTAA - Acting CIO
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Hewitt Equipment Ltd. - VP & CIO
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Home Trust Company - CIO
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Home Trust Company - VP & CISO
Horizon North Logistics - CIO
HSB Canada - VP IT
IBM Canada - Associate Partner, Payments Industry
Indigo Books and Music - CIO
Interac Corp - Director, Platform Engineering
ivari - SVP & CIO
JP Morgan Chase Canada - Executive Director, Information Risk Management
Keyera Energy - Director, Information Technology
KFC Canada - CTO
KnowledgeOne - CIO
LaFarge Canada - Director, IT
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LAWPRO - CIO
LCBO - Director, Applications Systems
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Leisureworld Senior Care Corp - VP IS
Lifeguard Digital Health - Chief Security & Informatics Officer
Loblaw Companies Ltd - Senior Director, Customer Engagement Technology
London Drugs - GM IT
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March Networks - VP Professional Services & CIO
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MMM Group - CIO
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ODAIA - CEO
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Revera Inc. - CIO
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Rheem Manufacturing - CISO & Enterprise Architect
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Roche - Head of IT Americas – Operations
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Trillium Health Partners - IT Director, Applications & Clinical Informatics
UFA Cooperative - VP & CIO
University of Calgary - Executive Director, Development Services
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Valencia Risk - Managing Director
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