Don't force your best technical workers to choose between quitting and entering the ranks of management. Here are a few tips on how to create positions that IT experts want to fill.
Keep Your Valuable IT Staff Happy
At most companies, the increasing use of the Internet, e-commerce and other high-tech products has made skilled technical workers a valuable commodity.
Yet many companies have compensation and advancement policies that either force these workers to take positions they don't want or compel them to leave the company for a higher salary and better chance for advancement.
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The Battle for Technical Talent To illustrate the critical shortage of tech workers, here are some findings from a survey of computer science and engineering graduates.
By 2015, there will be a 15 per cent drop in the number of experienced tech workers, between the ages 35 to 44, available to fill jobs.
--Source: McKinsey & Co.
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Here are three killer applications to keep your technology mavens happy and on the job:
Application 1. Look for places in your management structure where your technical experts start to get left behind in pay and prestige. This often occurs at an assistant vice president level, but may occur at the IT director level or below. Are your most highly-compensated positions only in management?
Application 2. Justify positions that are worth both the salary and status of executive jobs based on the value technical employees provide your company. Ask these questions, for example:
- Can they make better decisions about IT direction and strategy than management executives?
- Can they take on projects you now outsource, delay or drop because you lost technical staff?
Application 3. Develop titles, perks, and compensation for the positions you determine will suit technical experts. Arrive at compensation figures by:
- Finding out what you pay consultants or vendors for the same level of expertise.
- Looking at your current executive compensation packages.
- Assessing the value of skills. If three programmers on a project save a fortune, what value can you place on their skills?
Putting a value on technical expertise lets you create a meaningful career path for IT staff members who just aren't interested in management. Just don't cap their salaries or shape their advancement differently from other executives.
