Over 70% of IT professionals will consider leaving their jobs if they don’t receive pay increases in the next six months, according to a survey of employees recently conducted by recruitment consultancy Robert Walters.
The survey also found that 36% of respondents believed that increasing salaries was the best way for employers to retain top talent, followed by offering flexible working arrangements (17%), launching more exciting projects (15%) and providing more opportunities for training (12%).
In contrast, a survey of companies found that no employers believed that increasing salaries was the best way to retain key employees. Instead, employers indicated that they intended to provide more training and development opportunities (43%) and launch more exciting projects (24%) to prevent top talent leaving.
According to Robert Walters’ Associate Director of IT Recruitment, Peter Bateson, these findings confirm predictions that employers will be forced to offer higher salaries to avoid losing top talent in 2011.
“As demand for quality IT professionals increases throughout 2011, we will see more candidates testing their value on the market. Employers will therefore have to be alert to market rates and be prepared to offer competitive salaries to retain their key employees.”
An analysis by sector found that IT professionals in the banking and financial services industry were most likely to leave if they don’t receive pay increases (74%) followed by the professional services industry (71%) and telecommunications (69%). In comparison, only 57% of professionals in the government sector said they would leave if they don’t receive pay increases.
Over 66% of IT professionals surveyed felt they would have to leave their current employer to gain a promotion. Of these, 25% were project managers/business analysts, 19% were development specialists and 13% were infrastructure specialists.
Other key findings of the survey include:
- 64% of IT professionals believe the banking and financial services industry is most lucrative
- 69% of IT professionals working in telecommunications believe they are not being fairly remunerated
- 82% of business intelligence specialists believe they are not being fairly remunerated
- 26% of IT professionals who are expecting pay increases believe their salaries will rise by 15% or more