Study: Creativity helps keep good IT alive

27.10.2005
Companies that want to retain their IT employees will need to keep them happy by offering fringe benefits such as flexible work schedules and professional development opportunities, according to a new study by Foote Partners LLC.

"The key to retention, beyond just a short focus like giving them additional paid time off or a bump in salary, is you have to put professions programs, or elements of these professions programs, into your company," said David Foote, president of the New Canaan, Conn.-based firm. Foote Partners conducted interviews with top executives and managers at 164 companies between January and September of this year.

"If you don't want to pay a lot for it, the cheap way to do it is to create opportunities to allow people on or off company time to network with people doing the jobs [they would like to learn]," Foote said.

Worker retention is being driven by a heightened demand for IT employees with more specialized skills that not only focus on technology, but also on their industries and customers, according to the study. In addition, in most cases, employers are going after a smaller pool of candidates for the jobs they have available, Foote said.

The most desirable perks for IT workers this year are additional time off; work-from-home and flexible-scheduling policies; comp time; technical, business and professional training; and interesting tasks at work, according to the study.

"It is clear that the costs of losing your best people have increased dramatically and that this presents a level of risk that many organizations are simply not prepared to take right now," Foote said in a statement.