A good salary was the top reason why IT workers worldwide would change jobs in 2015 and 38 per cent of Australian technologists planned to leave their employer in the next year.
Fresh research compiled by recruiter, Harvey Nash has found that a salary increase was the top reason 77 per cent of workers would move jobs, up from 61 per cent last year and 47 per cent in 2013. A positive work/life balance was the most important reason workers would move jobs last year.
Almost two-thirds (28 per cent) of IT staff continue to actively apply for their next role with 53 per cent indicating they would take a call from a headhunter. Only 19 per cent said they would not consider any roles presented to them.
The recruiter spoke to 2959 IT professionals worldwide with 55 per cent of these people working in Australia.
Australia and Switzerland are the most heavily dependent on talent from overseas with 55 per cent and 64 per cent of technologists being shipped over from other countries. On average, almost three in ten workers (29 per cent) work outside the country they were born.
Meanwhile, the recruiter said despite turmoil in some regions of the global economy, the desire to hire permanent technology employees is growing. For the fourth year in a row, workers employed on a full time basis has risen this year to 17 per cent, a 13 per cent jump since 2012.
The skills shortage continues to bite with 53 per cent of hiring managers reporting they are having problems finding people with the right skills. The issue is less pressing across the Asia-Pacific region (37 per cent) than the US (51 per cent) and Europe (53 per cent).
Mobile payments and cloud computing were rated as the technologies most likely to have the greatest impact over the next five years. Three-quarters of technologists foresee that data analytics and cloud infrastructure will have a greater influence in their organisations.
Although 60 per cent of respondents expected technology to make our lives better over the next 20 years, some advancements are expected to pose a risk to humanity.
Twenty-six per cent of respondents believed that artificial intelligence will be a threat to mankind and 42 per cent are not convinced that our lives will be better through the advancement of technology.
Finally, Google remains the most influential brand among 52 per cent of respondents. Apple was number two (16 per cent), followed by Microsoft (12 per cent), Amazon (11 per cent), Samsung (4 per cent), IBM (3 per cent), and Facebook (2 per cent).
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