Under the pump IT workers want more money: Hudson

As the pressure to do more with less increases, Australian IT workers are taking on more responsibility in their jobs with almost half indicating they want a pay rise from their employer, according to Hudson’s ICT Salary Employment Insights 2013 survey.

The majority (75 per cent) of IT professionals are having to take on more responsibility but 56 per cent are not being paid extra for this, the survey found.

Hudson surveyed 823 employers and 1025 employees in ICT across Australia and New Zealand, and found about 44 per cent of workers wanted a pay rise from their employer, 56.7 per cent were looking for a new role and 63.9 per cent expected to move within the next six months.

The survey found that IT departments are constantly under the pump, with 79 per cent reporting tighter IT budgets and 62.5 per cent facing more stringent headcount approval processes. As a result, employees are taking on more work, with only one in five employees replacing workers who leave the organisation and a majority distributing the extra work among their teams.

Retaining high performers is a focus for employers this year, with 65 per cent intending to give their hard working staff a pay rise of 2 to 3 per cent, and 55.2 per cent intending to award bonuses. Also, more than 90 per cent of employers have increased employee wages in the last 12 months.

“For employers, getting remuneration right is of paramount importance. Employers who don’t meet market rates put their organisations at risk of losing both high performers and the best candidates,” Martin Retschko, national practice manager for Hudson ICT, said.

“During tough times like these, employers may be better served increasing base salaries, scaling back benefits that are not always highly valued and looking at lower-cost ways of boosting staff morale and engagement.”

The survey also found skills in cloud computing and big data are in high demand but are in short supply. Workers with skills in enterprise architecture, mobile application development, digital technologies, relationship and supplier management, and informatics are also in high demand.

About 32 per cent of employees said they deserve a pay rise due to their skills being highly sought in the market.

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