PROTECH’s 8th Annual “South Florida Tech Leadership Survey” reveals:
30% of Tech Executives plan to increase IT staff in 2010 and the percentage of temporary employees jumps from 14% to 29%
BOCA RATON, Fla. –Boca Raton-based Information Technology (IT) search and staffing specialist, PROTECH, just released its 2010 Tech Leadership survey results. The survey targeted 681 South Florida technology executives in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
The results of the tech leadership survey showed that compared to last year, the number of temps employed more than doubled from 14% in 2009, to 29% in 2010.
“These results confirm a significant shift we began to see in 2009 that continues into 2010. What we are seeing is the majority of hiring requests are for temporary employees versus direct hires,” said PROTECH CEO, Deborah Vazquez. She continues to explain that, “in uncertain economic times, companies still have mission critical IT projects but less dollars to hire long-term employees; therefore they turn to the temporary employment market to address their needs until they have the funds to commit to the higher costs of hiring direct long-term employees.”
Other highlights of the survey included:
30% of Tech Executives plan to increase staff this year compared to 24% in 2009.
The average IT budget increased by 6% in 2010; versus 2% in 2009.
The primary reason employers sited for losing talented IT staff is “Work Environment” in 2010 versus “Compensation” in 2009.
Top technology related priorities for 2010 are “New applications development” (26%), followed by “IT Infrastructure Upgrades” (24%) and “Web Site Re-design” (18%).
Non- technology related priorities are “Business Process Improvements” (40%) followed by “Initiatives to Improve Employee Morale” (20%) and Sales Growth (20%).
Economic Outlook:
The number of Tech Executives who perceive the current health of the overall economy as “Getting Stronger” this year more than tripled to 21%, compared to 6% in 2009. 13% view the current economy as “Recessionary” compared to 44% in 2009.
“Employers are clearly more optimistic this year than last year. Since fourth quarter 2009, we have seen consistent improvement in hiring. But employee morale among IT professionals has greatly deteriorated during this economic downturn. This is due to cut backs in compensation and benefits, longer work hours and increasing stress levels in many work environments. As the market shifts from employer-driven to employee-driven, this morale issue will hurt many companies which may lose key specialized staff as hiring increases.” said Vazquez, whose company advises employers on hiring and retention in addition to the screening and placement of temp and direct hire staff.
About PROTECH
PROTECH provides Information Technology temporary staffing and direct hire search and placement services for South Florida employers with a guaranteed turn-around time of 48 hours for the most difficult to fill positions. For more information, visit www.protechfl.com or call (561) 953-8800.
