The Importance of IT Employment Relations

Rapidly evolving Information technology places unique demands on IT professionals that must be addressed.

Information technology systems are critical to business success and having IT professionals with the right mix of skills and experience is essential for supporting daily operations and strategic initiatives. IT employees have a wealth of firm-specific knowledge that cannot be easily captured and transferred to co-workers. So, when they leave the organization, they take it with them. Losing that knowledge may lead to project and budget over runs; system quality and security problems; and unhappy customers. Effective employee relations are essential to recruiting and retaining highly skilled IT employees.

IT Employee Relations

Employee relations encompass a variety of functions, all directed at effectively managing human resources in a way that supports both the organization's operations and employees' needs. It involves identifying, avoiding and resolving problems that arise in the workplace and may involve interpersonal relationships, employee recognition, training and development.

Employee Development Needs

IT professionals are unique compared with other employee groups. IT involves complex work that requires "high content knowledge" -- a command of the subject including intricate concepts, theories, models, processes and best practices. In addition, technology is constantly evolving requiring rapid development of products and skill sets which are expensive to develop and have short life spans. So, age and experience are less valuable and IT professionals are more likely to leave a company in order to develop new skill sets than other employee groups. Employee relations can offer IT employees skill development opportunities in addition to formal training, such as job rotations and teaching new skills to co-workers. These opportunities require minimal financial resources and recognize employees' value to the organization.

Warm Chair Attrition

Warm chair attrition is a problem in IT. Frequently, it occurs in tough economic times when employees cannot change jobs. They continue to collect a pay check but have mentally or emotionally left their jobs. They are not fully productive and their poor attitudes affect the morale of their co-workers. In IT, warm chair attrition leads to missed deadlines and declines in work quality and quantity, while interpersonal conflicts, attendance and other problems increase. Employee relations representatives and IT management can address warm chair attrition through one-to-one coaching and group meetings with management to air problems and help employees understand how their work affects the organization. Sending employees to other departments to "shadow" workers who use the IT systems they support gives them insight into the problems users face and may generate ideas to solve the problem, thus giving IT employees new opportunities.

Manager Support

According to HEC Montreal professors Guy Pare and Michel Tremblay, in their paper "The Impact of HR Practices on IT Personnel Commitment, Citizenship Behaviors and Turnover Intentions," the relationship between IT professionals and their managers is often the driving force for employee satisfaction, productivity and loyalty. Pare and Tremblay identified six "compelling" employee relations practices that IT managers may use with their employees. These include non-monetary recognition for accomplishments; opportunities for increased responsibility; fair and equal treatment; skills development; work-life balance options, such as flexible scheduling; and information sharing --employees need to understand the role of their work in the organizational context.

References

• McConnell HR Consulting; Retention Strategies for IT Professionals; 2006
• SITE: Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) SIG, 2010
• Univ. S. Florida; Theoretical Model of Training Factors for IT Professionals; S. Wingreen; 2000
• CIO: CIOs Need to Address Warm-chair Attrition Head-On; M. Santosus; August 15, 2003
• CIRANO: The Impact of HR Practices on IT Personnel Commitment & Turnover I Paré, G. et al., 2000