PROTECH Releases its 15th Annual South Florida Tech Leadership Survey and 13th Annual Tech Talent Workforce Survey Results which show compensation and lack of career path top reasons for changing employers and increased number of tech employees considering leaving the state.
March 14, 2017 – Fort Lauderdale, FL. Two surveys released by leading South Florida information technology (IT) search and staffing firm, PROTECH, reveal insight into the South Florida IT marketplace.
Economic and Hiring Outlook
Overall, the outlook on the economy is positive with 50% of IT Leadership perceiving the economy as getting stronger, and the balance viewing it “about the same” compared to last year. No respondents perceive the economy as getting weaker. Both IT product purchases and hiring remain resilient. 64% of Tech leaders plan to increase staff this year (down slightly from 68% last year) with the balance saying staff levels will remain the same.
Average budget increases were the highest ever reported at 15%, with 57% responding that they feel their current IT budget is adequate in relation to actual need.
IT Workforce
Turnover continues to be an issue with 54% of IT leaders concerned about losing talented IT staff members. Primary reasons cited by employers for losing staff are compensation (50%; down from 73%) followed by lack of career path (50%). 45% of companies state they plan to invest more into employee training and retention programs (up from 40% last year).
91% of Tech talent said they would leave their current employer for a better opportunity. After “compensation” (45%), and “lack of career path” (11%), “work-life balance” and “benefits” tied at 9% as the top reasons for parting ways. When asked about “key motivators” when considering a job offer, “salary,” “decision making involvement” and “work-life balance” came in as the top three.
This is the second year in a row “work-life balance” comes in as a top reason for leaving employers. Prior to that, the last time it appeared was in 2012 with only a 1% response. In a separate question regarding top perks, employees stated “Flextime/Telecommuting” (50%), “Additional vacation” (10%), and bonuses (10%) as favorite perks offered by employers followed by “100% health coverage.”
“Overall there is good alignment between employer and employee perspectives when it comes to reasons for separation. Both responded that compensation is the primary reason followed by lack of career path. But employers don’t cite work-life balance at all as a reason they believe they are losing staff while employees report this as one of the top three reasons. Improved work-life balance benefits such as vacation, flextime and telecommuting could have a real impact on attracting and retaining key staff,” said Deborah Vazquez, PROTECH CEO.
There was a significant jump in employees willing to consider a move out of FL (57% versus 43% last year). Among the reasons, “limited job market/lack of career advancement” was still the top reason with a 51% response, followed by 24% of respondents citing “cost of living too high” as a primary reason, this compares to 19% last year.
“Although salaries continue to increase, the rising costs of real estate directly influence the number of people considering an out-of-state move. Over the years, we’ve seen this number rise and fall in parallel with real estate market swings,” said Deborah Vazquez, PROTECH CEO.
Other Key Findings:
The average pay increase reported by employees for 2016 was 4% (same as in 2015).
Although on average salaries increased, the perception of the job market weakened among employees with 21% responding that they consider it “better” (down from 40% last year), 56% stated “about the same” and 23% perceive it as “weaker” compared to only 5% last year.
The Tech Leadership survey reported a continued shift from direct hire to contract employees with IT leaders reporting 28% of their workforce balance being contract employees (compared to 23% last year).
The top three technology-related priorities for IT leaders in 2017 are web site redesign (31%), new large applications development endeavor (24%) followed by ERP upgrade, infrastructure upgrade, and adding mobile functionality to applications tied at 15%.
PROTECH surveyed over 900 IT Director to CIO level executives for its 15th annual Tech Leadership Survey; and over 20000 IT professionals for its 13th annual Tech Talent survey. All participants are located in the South Florida tri-county area.
About PROTECH
PROTECH is a full-service firm specializing in IT consulting and careers, providing the right talent and solutions to top-tier companies through their IT Staffing, Technology Sales Recruitment, and Executive Search services. Their seasoned team of IT recruiters have worked in the IT industry with high-growth start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. PROTECH’s clients have unmatched access to an extensive network of professionals and resources in the IT industry. For more information about how PROTECH can help you hire or get hired, please visit http://protechitjobs.com.
Media Contact:
Elizabeth Becker
561-953-8800 ext 227
To download the PDF Results for the 2017 PROTECH Tech Talent Workforce Survey, click here.
To download the PDF Results for the 2017 PROTECH Tech Leadership Survey, click here.
