A new study by ReThink Recruitment suggests that IT contractors will soon need to work harder for their money.
Almost 90% of IT directors are expecting to see workloads increase but only 39% expect their budget to increase accordingly. This will be the third consecutive year when workloads outstrip budget increases and this has led directors to worry that they will be unable to deliver business-critical projects.
Michael Bennett, a director at ReThink, explained that organisations are focusing on their balance sheet and expecting wider productivity gains for less expenditure and this is piling an increasing amount of stress on everybody who works in IT. Contractors now have to work extra hours in order to meet unrealistic deadlines, but they are not receiving any additional money for doing so.
ReThink surveyed IT directors with at least 250 members of staff and discovered that years of budget austerity are taking their toll on IT departments. IT heads report that downward pressure on pay is making it difficult for them to retain key talent. In previous years, companies could offer financial incentives to keep skilled umbrella company contractors but this is no longer the case and competitors are stepping in and poaching key staff.
The recruiter believes that companies need to do more to motivate and engage with talented individuals if they want to retain them.
As far as budgets go, 43% of IT departments saw their budget increase last year, up four percentage points on 2010, whilst 32% saw their budget decrease, up three percentage points on the previous year.
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