HR survey forecasts IT jobs gloom

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The number of IT job cuts during the first of the year will accelerate, with many organisations saying they plan to cut IT staff despite skills shortages, a recruitment survey has suggested.

The latest poll of UK human resources (HR) directors on their recruitment plans for the coming year has revealed many have plans to cut IT headcount.

Across industry sectors, 38 per cent of the HR directors from 355 organisations surveyed said that they had made headcount reductions since the summer and mid-November last year. But 46 per cent said they plan to make cutbacks in the next few months.

Among the cuts, IT figures highly with 26 per cent UK firms. But the figure rises steeply among media and technology firms, with 40 per cent saying they were planning job cuts.

But IT fared better than clerical and administration staff, who have been subject to the most swingeing cutbacks. Overall, 57 per cent of those planning reductions said this employee group would be affected.

The poll, commissioned by recruiter Randstad and conducted by Ipsos MORI, did however find that skills shortages would position IT well to avoid the worst of the cuts.

More than half of the organisations surveyed (55 per cent) said that they were experiencing skills shortages, with the key areas of demand being managerial, operations and IT.

The three areas of greatest demand for employees with the right skills are operations staff, mentioned by 36 per cent of organisations reporting shortages, managers (32 per cent) and IT executives (29 per cent).

Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), stated: “The report underlines the important fact that – even in the current climate and with an increasing number of jobseekers – accessing the right skills remains a major challenge for employers.”

The survey also found that employers plan to cut their employment costs in other ways. The most favoured strategy was curtailing expenses, mentioned by 59 per cent of respondents, which was followed by increasing the workload of existing employees rather than hiring new staff (47 per cent).

Below inflation rate salary increases (cited by 44 per cent) and cutting bonuses (43 per cent) were the next most popular options. And salary reduction was the least popular, with 75 per cent saying it was unlikely. Only a fifth of organisations expect to freeze salaries and eight per cent said they were likely to reduce the working week for some employees.

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