CIOs have asked and IT World Canada shall answer.
A survey of Canadian IT professionals is underway to provide
insights into skills, salaries, hiring, retention and other issues
facing the IT profession. Dubbed Salary Survey 06 for IT
Professionals, the project will probe the opinions of 3,000
respondents from various IT fields across the country.
The survey will dig deeper into the issue of the IT skills
shortage, which has been affecting the IT industry not only in
Canada but around the world, said Andrew White, president and group
publisher, IT World Canada, who is spearheading the salary
survey.
"CIOs want information to help them find and retain the right
kind of people," said White. The salary survey can also be a tool
for CIOs when developing business plans to "cost-justify" to their
executives the salary they should be paying for the skills that
they need, he added.
What sets this study apart from other salary surveys in the
market, said White, is its focus on the issues that confront the
people working in the IT industry. Canadian salary surveys either
come from recruitment firms or are focused on information provided
by human resources (HR) managers, he said. "None of those surveys
really address the issue of what people in IT jobs really
feel."
The survey is designed to provide IT professionals, CIOs and HR
managers first-hand information about the current trends in
salaries for various IT skills, what kind of organizations IT
workers are looking to work for, what keeps IT workers satisfied
and what pushes them away to look for other jobs, how companies can
attract and retain the skills they need, what type of skills are
getting the big bucks and more, according to Sue Schroeter, an
independent marketing and communications strategist commissioned
for the Salary Survey b 06 for IT Professionals.
Vital pieces of information that IT professionals can gain from
the survey include salary facts based on major demographic
indicators, such as size of company, geographic region, industry,
and whether other factors such as years of experience, age or
gender play a role in salary decisions, she said.
"IT professionals will be able to compare their salary to the
average salary of all respondents in specific job categories."
Survey results will also prove beneficial to HR managers by
providing information on what keeps their employees happy with the
company they work for, White said. "I hope there will be interest
from HR managers in terms of what they need to do to retain their
staff, and I don't think it's just money."
The survey will also be a useful tool for educational
institutions in their bid to actively encourage more enrolment in
IT, by providing information about the various types of positions
available in the industry and the kind of skills that companies
consider valuable, said White. "At the end of the day, our job as
an unbiased communications company is to keep the industry
thriving," he said.
White added the survey is merely "the tip of the iceberg" of
what is intended to be a bigger program to provide the IT community
with more tools and valuable information, the ultimate goal of
which is overcoming the problem of the IT skills shortage.
Computerworld Canada urges readers to provide feedback about the
issues covered by the survey. Comments and suggestions can be
e-mailed to Editor Greg Enright at genright@itworldcanada.com.
Highlights of the survey findings will be published in IT World
Canada's print publications (Computerworld Canada, Network World
Canada, CIO Canada, CIO Government Review) and online at www.itworldcanada.com and
www.intergovworld.com.
The results of the salary survey are expected to be available in
April, said Schroeter.B
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