Employers Not Doing Enough to Keep IT Employees' Skills Current
NEW YORK, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Dice Inc, the leading provider of
specialized career sites and career fairs, today announced the results of
the second Dice Tech Appeal Index, a semi-annual study of professionals
from within and outside the technology industry that gauges the overall
interest in working in the IT field as compared to other industries.
The study found that technology professionals remain overwhelmingly
satisfied and strongly loyal to the technology field. Ninety-five percent
of respondents reported that they were somewhat or very satisfied in their
current job, and 93 percent said they intend to stay in the IT field for at
least the next six months. Technology professionals also continue to
recommend IT as a career over any other industry, with 83 percent likely to
recommend technology to others, as compared to just 63 percent for
healthcare and 47 percent for financial services. Comparatively, 62 percent
of non-tech adults would recommend a career in technology, 66 percent would
recommend healthcare, and 43 percent would recommend financial services.
The survey also found that the great majority of tech professionals
cite the ability to keep their skills up-to-date as a strong area of
concern (82 percent). Further, when asked to assess their employers'
encouragement and support of skills development, one-third of tech
professionals say it is "only fair" or "poor." Only 26 percent rated their
employers' performance in this area as "excellent," with 40 percent of
respondents rating it as "good."
When employers do support their tech employees' skills development,
they most often provide in-house training (37 percent), followed by tuition
reimbursement for college courses (32 percent) and reimbursement for
professional courses (28 percent). Only 26 percent of employers offer time
off to attend courses and just 18 percent offer monetary rewards or
promotions to employees that obtain new skills or update existing ones.
"Customers often ask us what they can do to foster loyalty and reduce
turnover among their technology teams," said Scot Melland, CEO and
president of Dice Inc. "Employer sponsored training and professional
development programs are excellent ways to build the overall technical
capability of an organization while addressing a key career issue among
tech professionals. If the team members are able to stay current and grow
within an organization, they have less reason to look elsewhere. You rarely
find such an ideal win- win situation."
Additionally, the study found shifts in the reasons for job
satisfaction among technology professionals. Tech pros citing
"opportunities for advancement" as a primary reason for satisfaction at
their current job dropped from 21 percent in February to just 12 percent in
October. Job satisfaction due to salary also slightly declined in this
edition, with 28 percent of respondents citing good pay as driver of
satisfaction, as compared to 34 percent in the previous wave of the study.
While a strong majority of tech professionals are concerned about
keeping their skills up-to-date, only 37 percent are worried about their
job being outsourced to a foreign country. Notably, non-tech professionals
are more likely to be concerned about the issue, with 43 percent reporting
that they were very or somewhat concerned about their job being outsourced.
The October 2006 Tech Appeal Index score for technology professionals
was 121, down from 124 in the previous study, while the score for non-tech
adults was 104, down from 105. The ratings indicate that the level of
interest in a technology career as compared to other industries remains
steady among both groups.
The Dice Tech Appeal Index serves as a measurement of a person's
inclination to recommend the IT field to others as opposed to another
industry. A value of 100 indicates that a person would recommend the IT
field and other fields equally, while a value above 100 indicates a
stronger likelihood to recommend technology as a career. Dice Inc.
conducted the survey among a nationally representative sample of more than
1,000 adults over age 18, including an oversample of 562 adults currently
employed in IT positions. The margin of error for the sample of non-tech
adults is +/-4.7 percent and the margin of error for the sample of tech
professionals is +/-4.1 percent. Interviews were conducted by telephone
between October 7 and 14, 2006.
For more information on Dice and its resources, please visit:
http://about.dice.com.
About Dice
Dice Holdings, Inc. is the leading provider of specialized career sites
and career fairs for high growth vertical sectors. With a 16-year track
record of meeting the ever-changing needs of companies and recruiters, our
specialty focus and exposure to highly skilled professional communities
enable employers to reach hard-to-find, experienced and qualified
technology and engineering, accounting and finance, capital markets, and
security-cleared candidates.
Dice Holdings, Inc. provides services to help recruiters, consultants
and businesses hire and train highly qualified professionals through its
six businesses: Dice, the leading online career site for technology and
engineering professionals (http://www.dice.com); ClearanceJobs.com, the
premier secure job board focused exclusively on candidates with active or
current U.S. Government security clearances (http://www.clearancejobs.com);
eFinancialCareers, the leading global career site network for jobs and
career management in investment banking, asset management and securities
(http://www.eFinancialCareers.com); jobsinthemoney.com, the leading
targeted career site for accounting, finance, retail banking and wealth
management professionals in the United States
(http://www.jobsinthemoney.com); Targeted Job Fairs, the leading producer
of career fairs and open houses for technology and engineering, and
security-cleared candidates nationwide (http://www.targetedjobfairs.com);
and MeasureUp, a leading destination for IT certification practice tests,
assessments and online courses (http://www.measureup.com).
SOURCE Dice Holdings, Inc.
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Related links:
http://about.dice.com
http://www.dice.com http://www.clearancejobs.com
http://www.eFinancialCareers.com
http://www.jobsinthemoney.com
http://www.targetedjobfairs.com http://www.measureup.com
CONTACT:
Jennifer McCullam, Financial Dynamics,
+1-212-850-5600, jennifer.mccullam@fd.com
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