You may not need to add tech staff right now, but it’s almost certain that you will at some point during 2016. Understanding the job market at present and the hiring challenges faced by enterprises like yours can help you make the most of your inevitable recruiting process. This is what you need to be concerned about:

• Retaining Top Talent – Competition for top talent can be fierce, and companies regularly poach exemplary performers from other companies. Holding onto this talent is imperative but it often forces companies to stretch compensation budgets into uncomfortable territory.
• Lifting Employee Morale – The long hours and high stress experienced by many IT employees have a direct impact on morale. And when morale is low, output begins to suffer and turnover begins to accelerate. Keeping employees happy and engaged in the face of mounting workplace pressures is an ongoing challenge.
• Recruiting High-Skill Applicants – Compounding the need to retain top talent is the relative dearth of high-skill applicants in the recruiting pool. Candidates with average skill sets are common, but candidates with highly specialized credentials and proven competencies are rare.
• Providing Competitive Compensation – Salaries for IT employees have risen quickly and significantly. Raising the rates of compensation can hurt the bottom line, but keeping compensation flat can lead talented professionals to jump ship.
• Worker Burnout – This is directly related to morale. When an employee feels burned out, he may be motivated to leave no matter how much money you offer him.
• Keeping Productivity High – The challenge of staying consistently productive involves setting realistic expectations, hiring motivated employees, and watching closely for the signs of fatigue, stress, and burnout. It takes a lot of work.
• Managing Organizational Change – The speed and scope with which IT impacts business have left many IT hiring managers scrambling to satisfy staffing requirements that appear with little advanced warning.
• Providing Competitive Benefits – Today’s IT employees are looking for benefits that are both generous and creative. Many companies use benefits rather than salary to entice top talent, creating something of an arms race when it comes to benefits packages.
• Providing Opportunities for Advancement – Restless employees are not content to occupy the same role for 10 years, five years, or even one year. With limited opportunities for advancement available, it creates an inevitable friction between employee/employer.
• Cutting Down on Cost-Per-Hire – Due to many of the reasons mentioned above, the cost of making a single effective IT hire has ballooned. Recruiting can’t be neglected or ignored, but it’s increasingly cutting into the bottom line.

Two things are certain – hiring IT employees in 2016 is going to be difficult, and the employees themselves have more of the leverage. Get help mitigating these challenges by partnering with RennerBrown.