Finding, hiring and retaining top technology talent is cited among management’s biggest concerns for the New Year, according to a new survey conducted by New York executive search firm Harris Allied, with compensation for this talent another top concern.
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Get Your Report Now!Results show 39 percent of managers say that high tech talent acquisition is their greatest concern, while 23.6 percent cite retention. Also in line with data collected by last year’s Harris Allied survey, 19.5 percent (versus 18.2 percent in 2012) say that remaining competitive on salary and bonuses concerns them most.
“Management is still preoccupied by their company’s ability to attract top technology talent. They realize this star talent has a meaningful impact on their business’s ability to compete and grow. Despite the general consensus that the job market remains sluggish in many sectors, it’s a different story in the technology space,” says Kathy Harris, managing director at Harris Allied. “As a result, we are seeing a lot of velocity in this area right now; many positions need to be filled, leaving job seekers in a good position to seek out the best opportunities."
The survey also shows that offering competitive compensation is a key strategy for companies looking to attract and retain the best talent, with 36.6 percent saying it is their most important strategy to retain key technology employees and 42.3 percent citing it as the most important strategy to attract this kind of talent. In addition, 44.7 percent of executives surveyed say that when a candidate rejects their job offer, it’s usually because they were offered better compensation elsewhere.
“The compensation package must be competitive,” says Harris. “HR departments have access to many industry metrics to help them evaluate whether they are being competitive in this regard or not. It’s always the first and most obvious place to look when evaluating a firm’s recruiting and retention efforts.”
Harris Allied conducted the survey in November 2013 among 123 executives ranging from C-level to middle-management executives at financial services, professional services, consumer goods, digital media and technology companies located in the New York metro area.