“IT is a fickle industry where companies want the best staff but aren’t prepared to pay for them,” Searle says. “And IT staff, who realise that they won’t get what they’re worth, have to slave their guts out for minimal pay and work in poor conditions, where it is a constant fight to get resources or capital to purchase equipment to stop things breaking.”
“The IT department and systems are the lifeblood of any company these days, and are one of the hardest working departments, with long hours, weekend work etc. Yet we seem to be given the ‘short end of the stick’ when it comes to pay reviews or money from the budget.
“I would bet that 95 per cent of IT managers wouldn’t be able to do a tenth of the jobs performed by their staff, let alone understand what most of us talk about. And the general feeling from people I have spoken to is that CIOs are either promoted accountants or so far out of touch with technology that they wouldn’t have a clue.”
Another barometer comes from the recruiters. Peter Acheson, COO of Peoplebank, says that as a leader of Australia’s largest ICT skills provider his phones start ringing with employees looking for a new job in direct proportion to levels of discontent. Acheson knows that when he gets multiple calls (in one recent case, 40-50 calls in a single week) that the levels are rising fast. And in subsequent interviews, Peter is able to get a clear fix on both the severity and causes of smouldering discontent among workers.
Acheson says while he doesn’t believe such anger is endemic it certainly exists, most usually in organisations where management hasn’t got the brief about IT as a key business enabler.
“Five or 10 years ago, when CIO stood for ‘Career Is Over’, IT was largely treated as a necessary but expensive evil,” Acheson says. “As a direct consequence, IT managers and their teams weren’t afforded much respect, and levels of frustration were high.”
Now that most organisations see IT as an enabler, like sales or marketing, and a potential source of competitive advantage, Acheson sees that most have employed skilled CIOs and IT managers who have implemented up-to-date workplace practices that protect the broader business.
“So in short, endemic dissatisfaction is largely confined to the ‘odd angry workplace’ that’s characterised by poor management and/or a lack of respect for IT,” he says.
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