Survey Reveals Finding/Hiring Top Tech Talent the Leading Concern for Management

 According to the newly released Harris Allied 2014 Tech Hiring and Retention Survey, hiring top technology talent is the biggest concern for 42 percent of surveyed managers. In addition, retaining this talent was the second biggest worry among those surveyed.

In an effort to attract these top technology professionals, 36 percent of survey respondents said they offer excellent compensation and benefits packages as their most important recruiting tool. In addition, 14.5 percent of respondents also believe their company’s position within the industry and the ability for employees to work on unique projects is a key recruiting tool.

Compensation was ranked the most important retention tool in the 2014 survey, with 28 percent of respondents saying this was their most important strategy. Corporate culture and work/life balance for employees was ranked the second most important retention strategy (24.8 percent).

The 2014 Harris Allied survey confirmed that compensation is still the most critical factor in talent acquisition and retention in other ways. For example, 40.4 percent of those surveyed said that when a candidate rejects their job offer, it is most often because better compensation is offered elsewhere. And when asked what the most common reason was that employees leave their organization, 27.5 percent said it was because they were not paying their employees enough or offering competitive enough benefit packages.

Among the survey’s other key findings:

• Year-end bonuses for 2014 will be higher than 2013’s, with more than half (50.8 percent) saying that their bonuses will be 1 percent to 5 percent higher; 14 percent will offer bonuses that are 6 percent to 10 percent higher than 2013. Another 15.5 percent said that theirs will be 1 percent to 5 percent less than last year’s bonus amounts.
• The majority of participants (64.9 percent) said their corporate culture was exceptional because their environment was fun, inspiring, and creative; 51.2 percent said their employees have a chance to work on interesting projects; and 44.6 percent said that professional development opportunities made their corporate culture exceptional.
• The most sought-after technology professionals in 2015 are predicted to be software application developers/architects (37.3 percent) and Web/iOS developers (21.8 percent). Just 2.6 percent said DBAs.
• In 2015, more companies plan to increase their use of technology consultants, with 34.7 percent indicating this. Another 29.5 percent said they would keep their consulting headcount at 2014 levels, and 15.5 percent said they plan to decrease the use of consultants next year.