March 26, 2001, 4:28 PM — If you're going to style your business for the Internet, you're going to need IT talent. And right now, demand outstrips the supply of good technologists by far, making it tougher than ever to retain staff.
That means information technology managers must focus on cultivating top performers and motivating them into staying onboard rather than chasing after bigger paychecks elsewhere. While there are numerous tactics that companies can deploy to keep their best and brightest - from extending inflated counteroffers to chaining them to their workstations - the most effective strategy is keeping employees from wanting to jump ship in the first place.
By all accounts, compensation remains the key to opening the door to a job candidate's commitment. IT professionals know what they're worth and aren't afraid to demand competitive pay.
But keeping the people you recruit from going back out that door involves much more than cold, hard cash. At the companies that qualify as Computerworld's Best Places to Work in IT, consensus-building management styles, commitment to professional training and flexible working arrangements help keep IT staff content and turnover low.
Squeaky Wheels Get the Grease
Bill Meadors wants to learn Spanish. In the next few weeks, Meadors, lead systems analyst at TECO Energy Inc., a public gas and electricity utility in Tampa, Fla., will start a beginning Spanish course at a local community college.
Currently, Meadors doesn't need to speak Spanish at TECO. But he says he's looking ahead to possibly working with TECO's Guatemalan subsidiary, or moving into a business development role that would involve working with Hispanic commercial accounts.
"We don't have to have just technology training," says Meadors. "As long as the company can see the benefit for the business, it's OK. Who's to say two to three years from now I won't be in IT, but in some other part of the business?"
Joseph Wiley, TECO Energy's CIO, says offering training that takes into account the company's needs inside IT - and the employee's long-term plans outside IT - involves risk: The trained employees may update their resumes and bolt.
But Wiley says he believes these types of expanded training opportunities create more motivated employees. He says it helps build company loyalty, even if the employee moves to another department later in his career.
"If someone comes to work in an IT function, then decides they want to be in marketing or in the power plant, there is a semiannual process review and those goals get factored into their work objective," explains Wiley. "We try to focus on work and personal objectives."
Meadors, a 17-year TECO veteran, says that allowing workers to pursue a combination of training courses makes a compelling case for staying put.
Like many career-minded IT professionals, Meadors says he wants to strengthen "hard" technology skills, like programming techniques. He says he also wants to develop soft skills, like management techniques or knowledge of business functions.
"It's more than money that makes a place a good place to work," Meadors says. "(TECO) wants someone with broader business experience, not just someone who can write good Cobol or C++ code. A lot of projects require good code writing, but they also require good cost justification, a well-written proposal and some understanding of the business process."
In the past year, and on the company's dime, Meadors finished a course in the Internet programming language HTML. He also takes yoga classes during his lunch hour to reduce stress, he says. In September, he plans to take a programming course on sales and automation prior to starting a project along those lines for TECO.
Consensus Building
Angie Brown, a systems engineer for the past two years at home improvement retailer The Home Depot Inc. in Atlanta, says that in addition to training, assignment choice plays a key role in her job satisfaction. Brown says managers "influence but do not control people" and seek input from employees while developing IT projects.
"We have a lot of bright people, and if they can be engaged in our issues and challenges, we can come up with better solutions," says Ron Griffin, CIO at The Home Depot. "We try to involve our (employees) in all aspects of the biz, and not just treat them as technonerds."
Griffin says that by involving the members of his staff in the decision process, they get more involved in finding the best solution. The growing retail chain, which has more than 950 stores, boasts a dramatically low 3.5% turnover rate. Griffin says that's due to the $9,000 spent annually on training per employee, and on the consensus-building style that he cultivates from the top down in IT.
