29
Fri, Nov
0 New Articles

IT Scalability and Job Burnout

Commentary
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

My, how times have changed! Three short years ago, the critical personnel issue facing many organizations was how to attract good talent in a heated job environment. Today, according to a new study by META Group, it's IT burnout. According to META's "2003 IT Staffing and Compensation Guide," this issue could spell longer-range turnover and lower productivity, potentially severely impacting the organization as a whole.

That's right! Job-related burnout has finally registered as a serious IT human resources problem, and the issues go straight to the heart of the continuing IT recession, while adding fuel to the topic of IT scalability.

According to Meta, 71% of IT managers surveyed identify employee burnout as a major source of concern. And the causes of this concern point directly to the inability of organizations to align the IT infrastructure with the realities of the economic climate.

What is IT scalability? How does it impact the organization?

Why IT Can't Scale Its Resources

Consider the normal corporate response to poor economic conditions. A manufacturing organization must be resilient to handle the ups and downs of the economy: It can scale down its production costs by shutting down unprofitable product lines. It can lay off workers, mothball equipment, and cancel orders from suppliers. The organization can hunker down to weather the economic cycle until better times come around.

The functions of IT services, however, are not designed to be scalable in the same manner. You can't shut down a section of IT--such as network administration or application development--without impacting the entire infrastructure. These services reach into every nook and cranny of the organization. So, when job cuts happen in IT, the remaining personnel must take up the slack. That's the normal mode of IT during a recession.

What's made this worse is that IT budgets for automation--new software and more-efficient hardware--have been frozen too. This means that the opportunity to purchase tools that IT would normally use to increase its own productivity have been taken off the table. And because IT was in the midst of a historic expansion when the economy faltered, many services were never fully optimized before the cutbacks hit.

Meanwhile, the organizations themselves have new requirements to adjust and scale the information systems to meet the changing economic climate. This has actually added more work to the pile of requirements IT already had on its plate.

The result is that, according to META, IT productivity is beginning to fail as personnel struggle to meet its workload.

So how are IT departments handling this dilemma?

Organizations Beginning to Notice

According to META, the majority of those IT organizations surveyed are beginning to seriously assess the degree of employee dissatisfaction, with 84% indicating they do employee surveys, while another 18% use the performance review process to obtain employee feedback. About 15% of these organizations use the traditional suggestion boxes to attempt to open communication lines with employees.

Meanwhile, 55% of those companies surveyed have begun implementing skill development programs as a means to boost employee morale during this critical time in IT history, while 24% have focused upon creating a better overall retention program.

But only 11% of these surveyed companies have actually raised salaries, and only 11% are hiring more staff. Cash incentives are being offered to only 8% of those IT employees in the surveyed companies.

The point is that companies are realizing that IT has now cut back just about as far as it can without sacrificing the overall productivity gains that were made in the 1990s, and should the economy rebound, IT will be in difficult straits to respond to the new demands that will be placed upon it.

META's Guide to Best Practices

META Group's "2003 IT Staffing and Compensation Guide" is a comprehensive compendium of IT staffing and retention-related research, containing facts, figures, and guidance required for attracting, compensating, and retaining business-critical IT talent.

According to META, the 900-page report provides an exhaustive analysis of the most current best practices in human capital management, plus detailed models, illustrations, and recommendations. The report is offered with an online, keyword-driven navigation tool that enables customized queries of the compensation data, based on industry, geographic location, organization size, and number of IT personnel.

If you're interested in obtaining more information about the "2003 IT Staffing and Compensation Guide," you can visit META Group's Web site or call 800-498-META (800-498-6382) or 203-973-6700.

Thomas M. Stockwell is the Editor in Chief of MC Press, LLC. He has written extensively about program development, project management, IT management, and IT consulting and has been a frequent contributor to many midrange periodicals. He has authored numerous white papers for iSeries solutions providers. His most recent consulting assignments have been as a Senior Industry Analyst working with IBM on the iSeries, on the mid-market, and specifically on WebSphere brand positioning. He welcomes your comments about this or other articles and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thomas Stockwell

Thomas M. Stockwell is an independent IT analyst and writer. He is the former Editor in Chief of MC Press Online and Midrange Computing magazine and has over 20 years of experience as a programmer, systems engineer, IT director, industry analyst, author, speaker, consultant, and editor.  

 

Tom works from his home in the Napa Valley in California. He can be reached at ITincendiary.com.

 

 

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: