Retaining IT pros isn’t ‘your’ problem, it’s a ‘you’ problem
Robert Walters published some interesting findings this month about the Irish jobs market, placing great emphasis on the fact that 55% of employers are finding it harder to attract and retain talent this year compared to at the same stage in 2024.
According to the company’s country manager for Ireland, Suzanne Feeney, businesses are under pressure to tailor their offerings to employees to ensure they remain attractive in a market where competition is at an all-time high and the jobs market “looks like it could go from strength-to-strength”. Needless to say, IT is one of the areas of high competition.
Admittedly, that rosy prediction might be affected by Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs that were announced at almost the same time as the Robert Walters e-mail arrived but I think it might be better if we assume, for the moment, that they don’t, because they’re not relevant to what I want to focus on.
Anyway, to pull out a few highlights from the data, companies also revealed that high salary expectations (22%) and tighter hiring budgets (18%) were causing problems. On the other side, employees identified health and medical insurance (89%), bonus schemes (82%) and work from home subsidies and equipment (61%) as the most important workplace benefits. At the same time, 72% claimed their employer didn’t take the time to listen to what they want.
Which brings us to the finding which I am most interested in from a technology perspective, namely that 89% of Irish professionals have admitted to quitting a role due to a bad relationship with their line manager. Feeney commented: “Managers play a huge part in a professional’s experience of a workplace and as such, they should be trained to give their teams the best experience possible. A positive workplace culture will in turn boost engagement and morale levels, which will inevitably lead to improved productivity, rates of attraction and lower staff turnover.”
The reason I thought this worth exploring is because it’s an aspect of workplace culture that I’m not sure technology can improve. There have always been poor or bad managers, there will always be poor or bad managers. I don’t think technology can do anything about that. In fact, there are some notable technology businesses out there led by people who could well serve as prominent examples of bad managers.
You might argue, with some justification, that their prominence as the head of a technology business has amplified their management inadequacies on a much bigger scale. It’s also exposed the limitations of tech businesses that have ended up being led by people who just aren’t that good at managing.
I’m mildly reassured by this state of affairs, however, because it brings clarity to the limitations of technology. It can’t fix everything. The reason why this brings me comfort is because it suggests we’re not going to have to worry about being ruled by computer overlords for a while yet. Most of the people developing technology can’t manage so why on earth should the technology they create be any better?
That won’t save us from the consequences of having our fate in the hands of incompetent human overlords, of course. There’s no ‘Liberation Day’ in sight from them yet. You can’t just switch them off and on again.
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