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 IT Workforce - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow Amidst rumors of techno-jocks being hired straight from high school and with the current high demand/low supply of IT workers, top CIOs are brainstorming ways to keep them, and keep them happy. By Minh Le (BIOGRAPHY) 10/15/98 
ut together a panel of 15 world-class CIOs and ask
them what they think about the technical worker shortage and what they should do about it. Limit the
meeting to two hours and be willing to testify that the results are meaningful and representative of
the group's thinking. Does the task seem daunting or perhaps lunatic?
There was a time when I would have called this "Mission Impossible," but I have "been there, done that, and survived." As you might guess, the task was 90 percent hard work, planning, and preparation. The other 10 percent, which helped reduce the time requirement while improving validity, was aided by a new technology, GroupSmart, that facilitates dynamic idea generation, consensus building, organization, and evaluation. In a meeting sponsored by Hitachi Data Systems, we asked a panel of top CIOs to brainstorm, "how to attract, develop, and retain mission critical IT skills." This is no small question at a time when U.S. Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley says that every CEO he visits lists this as "one of the two or three top issues they want to discuss." The Information Technology Association of America estimates that more than 340,000 high-tech positions in America remain unfilled. While the United States may be the premier employer of information workers, the market and the problem are global. For every worker attracted by U.S. salaries, there is one less skilled employee in countries that find it even harder to cope with exploding salary demands. In the U.S. a basic computer science degree can command an annual salary of about 40,000 USD the day after graduation. Masters degrees are, of course, worth more, and there are reports that a sheepskin from Stanford University in California can be parlayed into a whopping $85,000 starting salary. Silicon Valley and a number of other technology hotspots in the U.S. have sucked up all available technology graduates like an industrial-strength vacuum cleaner. The pipeline is empty and even if science-averse high school students provoked by seemingly unlimited inducements were to rush college admissions centers, it would still be four years before the first of this new supply were to emerge from academia. There are rumors of techno-jocks being hired straight from high school and some companies are trying to retread anyone willing to change jobs even with little or no prior computer experience. It was in this superheated market that I facilitated a meeting of CIOs looking for an answer. Here is what they said: Over the previous decade companies have systematically treated workers as objects, assets, and machines, but not as people. Now that supply is low and demand high, it is the "Revenge of the Nerds." People who have been treated as a commodity are now selecting from the highest bidders, and corporate loyalty is no longer part of the equation.Next page About Minh Le Minh Le is Founder and President of the Wilfred Jarvis Institute, Inc., an organization committed to achieve lasting effectiveness and results in leaders and their organizations. Mr. Le provides senior executive coaching, leadership development, group and team effectiveness, and facilitation of major organizational initiatives. The Wilfred Jarvis Institute, Inc. is the North American provider of Four Quadrant Leadership (4QL), a comprehensive leadership and organizational effectiveness system developed by Wilfred Jarvis, noted Australian author, professor, and psychologist. Minh has served the high-tech industry for over twenty years, most recently as Vice President of Leadership Programs and Organizational Effectiveness at Hitachi Data Systems. Prior to that he was a Vice President of Marketing Support at HDS. Before HDS, Minh served with IBM and StorageTek in sales, systems engineering, product marketing, market planning and business management roles. Minh has pioneered business use of computer-mediated meeting technology. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, with a Bachelor degree in Chemistry and Psychology. He is also an alumnus of the Advanced Management Program at the University of Hawaii, and the Viktor Frankl Institute. He lives in Cupertino, California, and serves on the boards of directors of several San Francisco Bay Area companies and non-profit foundations. |
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