Both employment opportunities and workload are on the rise for IT workers in the insurance industry. So, businesses must act quickly to avoid staff burnout.
When times are tough, many employees feel fortunate to have a job, but as business gets better and the workload gets bigger, the belts on the payroll need to be loosened, according to the 2005 Salary Guide from Robert Half Technology. Weve just come out of a downturn, and companies were running with a much leaner ship, says Ryan Gilmore, branch manager for Robert Half Technology in San Francisco. What that does is put a lot of pressure and a heavy workload on a lower number of employees. You risk burning out your employees if you dont start putting steps in place to alleviate some of that workload.
Gilmore says his firm sees an increase in hiring for technology professionals as companies start to grow again. However, he adds, organizations need to be careful dealing with the current staffthe people who carried these companies through the downturn. Thats really your core group, he says. You cant afford to lose talented and dedicated people who have gotten you through the storm.
The technology market is in a much better state than a year ago. There are certain skill sets more in demand than others, but some [technology] employees will have leverage, maintains Gilmore. Hiring really has spiked in specific areas. In general, its up across the board, but certain skill sets have spiked more than others. Its evident the economy has picked up. Companies are growing again, revenues are increasing, and the budget is loosening up.
Since insurance and financial services companies deal with large quantities of sensitive data, Gilmore believes there will be a demand in organizations for IT professionals who are savvy with network security. Such workers are put in place to ensure there are measures to prevent theft of information and protect data from intruders, hackers, or anyone who may attempt to break into the network. In addition, with organizations such as [insurers], you probably will see a certain amount of business intelligence professionals, people who are capable of running sophisticated reports for management to show it where the business really is at, he says. Business intelligence professionals and network security professionals are two areas where weve seen a spike in hiring.
Another area that has become fertile within insurance is database administrators because of the amount of information carriers are managing, according to Gilmore. You need to have good systems in place as they relate to how you are storing that information and how you are accessing that information, he says.
Government regulations, in particular, Sarbanes-Oxley, have created a major increase in spending for insurers. A lot of companies pulled money from other projects to go toward Sarbanes-Oxley, says Gilmore, because it has been costly for companies to comply. There has been a big demand for both financial auditors and IT auditors, people who are really savvy with the processes and can document, test, and fix any problems before getting the sign-off.
Cash bonuses may be returning to top IT professionals, but Gilmore believes employee happiness involves more than just money. Other than money, there are some non-monetary things a company should be doing for its people, such as regular performance reviewsgiving employees good feedback, listening to them, and soliciting input, he suggests. Make sure your employees have a good balance, that they are taking their vacations. You have to make sure you are communicating with your employees and they are maintaining a decent balance of work/life ratio. For many employees, its not just about money. They want to enjoy coming to work every day. They want to work in an environment that has a good culture; supportive, open communication; positive reinforcement; and constructive criticism.
Companies still are not throwing above-market salaries at people to get them to jump ship, Gilmore reports. If [IT workers] make a move, its because they probably are feeling unappreciated, perhaps they are feeling stagnant, he says. There are so many non-monetary things that are causing people to leave organizations. Robert Regis Hyle
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