Is IT missing obvious solution to its crisis?

Last
week IT employers launched a charter to tackle the crisis of IT skills
throughout industry. Meanwhile PC manufacturer Compaq announced it was to cut
5,000 jobs worldwide leading to speculation that 3,000 jobs in Scotland could
be affected. It was the latest in a series of announcements of job losses or
profit warnings in the high-tech sector. If you take the two developments
together they appear to present a conundrum. Why lay off staff when you have
skills shortages?

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

An
attempt by employers to tackle the IT skills crisis is obviously welcome and is
not before time. And there is nothing wrong with the aims of the IT skills
charter.

However,
there is something missing. Oddly, nowhere does it say that the IT industry
will invest in more training. Surely it is cheaper to train existing staff in
IT skills than to recruit new people, especially in companies which are making
mass lay-offs? Any explanations would be welcome.