ACM TechNews

Young IT Workers Disillusioned, Hard to Hold, Survey Says

Network World (01/10/08) Dubie, Denise

IT managers say employees between the ages of 18 and 31 hold employers to unrealistic expectations and make unreasonable demands for their services, concludes an IT staffing survey by Atlantic Associates. More than 100 Massachusetts executives were surveyed on the challenges they face, and more than 50 percent responded that teens and 20-something employees are the "toughest generation to manage." Employees between the ages of 32 and 42 years old were considered the second most difficult to manage, with 17 percent saying they pose a management challenge. "The issue managers are facing is with retention, not hiring," says Atlantic Associates' Jack Harrington. "That means the work environment is not living up to the employee's expectation." Many younger workers expect to be given an office and a high salary at an entry-level position, for example. Harrington says that younger workers have to change there expectations, but that the work environment also has to change to keep high-demand, skilled, IT employees. The survey also found that 23 percent of executives say retaining existing staff is the top concern and 22 percent say they struggle to find new qualified candidates. "There is a shrinking talent pool of qualified IT professionals and some managers are talking about the graying of their current staff," Harrington says. "They want to get young workers in here before those older staff members retire so they can retain that knowledge."

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/
011008-young-workers-hard-to-retain.html

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