Senior churn amongst IT professionals will stabilise as the current economic situation depresses, according to new research from professional recruitment consultancy, Harvey Nash.
The annual survey of over 360 UK CIOs and senior technology professionals revealed nearly three quarters (72%) of IT leaders are actively looking for a new job or would entertain a call from a head hunter and nearly two thirds (63%) are expecting to move on from their current job within two years.
Despite this, Harvey Nash predicts that true extent of turnover rate in senior IT leadership over the next year will be less than expected.
Conducted in partnership with PA Consulting, the survey revealed that whilst over a third (35%) of respondents expect to be in a new job within the next 12 months and only very few (7%) would not currently consider taking up a job elsewhere, the actual number who will change roles is likely to be a lot lower.
Compared to the equivalent survey in 2007, which exposed a similar number of respondents (34%) expecting to change jobs within 12 months, this year’s survey showed that less than half of those (15%) are actually in new positions.
This is down from the 23% of senior IT leaders who had changed jobs last year.
“Our analysis over the last few years has shown a significant amount of job browsing by senior IT professionals, but decreasing levels of actual movement. As the economic climate continues to worsen, we expect nervousness among CIOs and IT leaders will result in fewer seeking new positions and a subsequent reduction in the number of empty roles”, said Matt Smith, Director of UK regions at Harvey Nash.
“Less movement in the market means more stability for employers and fewer disruptions from the churn of senior leadership.”
Although churn may stabilise in coming months, there are signs that businesses will still need to ensure IT talent is kept motivated.
The figures show the number of IT leaders stating they would actively seek a new role correlates to falling job fulfilment and satisfaction.
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Across all respondents, those that find their role either fulfilling or very fulfilling has declined steadily from 84% in 2006 to just 74% this year.
Likewise, those that find their role unfulfilling increased from a relatively low 17% in 2006 to one quarter of all respondents (25%) this year.
