IT Cluj market has evolved tremendously in the last five years. Latest studies showed that at the moment there is a shortage of senior IT professionals to meet the projects" needs. According to statistics realized last summer, there were 11 000 opportunities and only 9000 IT professionals on the market at that time. It is the perfect chance for the HR functions to emerge from support functions and begin to play a key role in business strategy.
2014 is the year when it will be more difficult to attract and retain talents, to provide training and development programs that employees need. The key words for what will define the HR trends this year are "Innovation" and "Focus". In this article I will present the trends this year, determined under this continue evolving IT market.
In 2014 the main problem in the IT market will be retaining employees and increasing their commitment in their company. Deloitte study presents a top of the biggest challenges that the HR department will encounter: 1) leadership and 2) retention. Although the study was conducted globally and not just in IT, the lack of IT professionals in the Cluj market shows that these two problems can be applied easily to the local market.
"The war for talent is over, and the talent won" since this year, employees have a critical word to say and they actually have the power in the companies, which they did not have before. Top performers and top talents who have key skills are becoming harder to find. Meanwhile, companies are differentiating each other from the financial and non-financial benefits that they offer, as well as the nature of business, but also the most updated technologies. This way, employees have a variety to choose from in respect to the company where they want to work. And companies that do not know how to create commitment among its employees will lose resources.
HR acts as a reliable strategic partner for business leaders and projects. HR develops plans to collaborate with customers to translate business challenges and objectives in human resources objectives and action plans to ensure that organizations are built to be able to anticipate changes in the market. HR provides strategic and sustainable solutions for human capital aligned to company strategy, including attracting and retaining the best talents, organization effectiveness, employee engagement and optimal job performance.
I think that the classical approach like "recruiting the best on the market to the detriment of competitors" should be changed, given the dynamics that exist. Sourcing candidates should extend beyond Cluj market and expand operations in markets where there is a surplus of candidates. Markets in Western Europe and North America have benefited by addressing the strategy to work "at home" in different cities other than where the company is located.
Gaining reputation in the market and convincing candidates to consider the company as the first option has become an increased battle. Numerous studies have been effectuated to determine the top hiring companies. The criteria are different: the working environment, community involvement, benefits, creating an image of the company as the "best working environment". For the best possible positioning, HR needs to develop horizontally they need to understand the aspect of marketing, brand management and associate the company name with various community events.
IT companies are quite similar in Cluj in creating the working environment or offering the same benefits .What will make the difference in retaining employees is how they have the opportunity to enhance their careers within the company. It is important that employees have a direction to move towards. Career is defined as "the advancement of persons or professional life." Beyond trainings and certifications that IT employees have access to, they need to see their progress on medium and long term. The trend is either to build a career in a more technical direction (eg software architect, technical lead) or towards people management (eg. scrum master, project management). The more opportunities, the easier the retention of employees.
Daniel Pink in his book "Drive" defines three important elements in increasing employee engagement in the company. The classical team building activities offered by most of the IT companies are no longer the defining element in increasing engagement.
Pink talks about: autonomy, mastery and purpose. In this article, I will present them only briefly.
This article presented only five of the trends identified. To arouse your curiosity, I will list the other five, which will be detailed in the next issue of Today Software Magazine:
Good luck in 2014 to attract and retain the top talents!