Fewer IT employees want to stay

Only 25% of IT employees show a strong inclination to stay with their current employers and the number continues to fall. In response, IT leaders must take another look at the how they attract and retain key employees and ensure that their approach is tailored to each country where IT operates.

Each quarter, CLC Human Resources surveys employees globally to assess two measures of engagement – discretionary effort and intent to stay. The latest results contain mixed news for IT leaders. In Q3 2011, 16.4% of IT employees reported high levels of discretionary effort, up almost 6% from Q3 last year. IT has long lagged behind other corporate functions on this measure, so it is heartening to see that in the latest report, IT outstripped Finance and is not far from the corporate average.

Getting Ready to Leave

But while more IT employees are going above and beyond, more are also getting ready to leave. Only 25.7% of IT employees show high levels of intent to stay. This is a 2.8% fall from Q2, and is the lowest among all the corporate functions included in the survey.

There are also stark differences globally. IT employees in Canada, Germany, and Scandinavia rank lowest for discretionary effort, while IT employees in the US, India, South Africa, and the UK are toward the top of the list. The difference is even wider when it comes to intent to stay. Only 11.6% of IT employees in India show high levels of intent to stay. In Canada, the US, Germany and Scandinavia, the number is between 30% and 40%.

Fine Tuning Your EVP

The key to improving discretionary effort and intent to stay is having the right employee value proposition (EVP). An EVP is the set of organizational attributes that have the greatest impact on attracting and retaining employees. Last year, we published research that showed how the attributes of an optimal EVP vary by country.

The most important attributes such as compensation, manager quality, collegial work environment, and good career opportunities are universal, they appeal strongly wherever in the world you go, and so should feature in any EVP. But beyond this, national differences begin to emerge. For example, the research found that the following attributes have disproportionate impact on IT employees in a specific country:

• Australia – the chance to work on advanced technology
• Germany – senior leadership reputation
• India – the chance to work on innovative projects
• South Africa – recognition and co-worker quality
• UK – employer location and co-worker quality
• US – employer location and health benefits

This suggests that in a global organization, CIOs should fine-tune the employment value proposition by country to ensure engagement. This doesn’t always mean having to vary organizational culture or the employment offer. In some cases, it may simply be a case of playing to your strengths. In other words, highlighting different aspects of an otherwise standard culture or offer.