This article first appeared in the Jan 07 edition of Computerscope magainze
A new report has stated that technology companies globally are struggling to find and manage talent in human resources. Problems around development and retention of talent have also been highlighted.
The report, entitled “Technology Executive Connections – Successful Strategies for Talent Management” was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and found that even with major talent pools, such as India, China and Eastern Europe, problems remain.
“Workforce investments represent a singular untapped opportunity for ICT sector companies to drive financial performance. Technology executives must upgrade human capital management in their companies and create innovative programmes in order to attract and retain the best people. In Ireland it is critical to our ambitious as a knowledge economy to increase our focus on such programmes and the Government recognises that it also has a role to play in fostering initiatives which encourage the development of qualified resources,” said Mark Carter, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Ireland.
While problems in Ireland with falling application levels for IT university courses have been well documented, the report indicates that sheer quantity cannot resolve the issues. “It’s too simple to say that the competition for talent is intensifying. It’s not purely a numbers game today, but rather a contest for quality,” commented Carter.
Despite technology organisations looking to offshore markets for talent, may have found that these sources can prove problematic. The report says that both European and Asian HR directors are expecting talent shortages in the near future. The findings have severe implications for growth in emerging markets in particular, as 41% of all technology companies said that they experienced difficulty in finding technical talent in emerging markets, with 48% reporting difficulty keeping this talent.
Talent retention has emerged as a major issue in the report, from both a career development and remuneration aspect. The relative shortage of people coupled with demand, has meant that people are readily finding opportunities elsewhere if they are unhappy with their current position. The knock on rise in salaries has only added to the situation. The report says that this has led to both China and India beginning to loose their status as low cost countries.
Ireland too is experiencing a similar situation as a pool of Eastern European talent has become available through the recent EU accessions. “While Ireland opened up the borders to nationals of EU accession countries two years ago, employers in certain sectors believe that there is still an insufficient pool of talent to meet their needs.
