And IT employees say they would take less cash in favor of a reduced workload or more flexibility about scheduling. Indeed, this has turned out to be the No. 1 hot button for IT workers, many of whom feel not so much underpaid as overworked and tied to a job that makes having an outside life difficult. There are a number of things I would accept in lieu of extra money. Some flexibility on my hours, for example. Regardless of what part of the IT industry they work in, approximately two-thirds of IT workers say they have good relationships with their bosses.
Training is key Still, getting enough training remains on most IT employees' hot list.
For precisely those reasons Ryan Smith went job hunting last year. Smith was an experienced Novell networking consultant at a midsize Salt Lake City IT consulting firm. And he was increasingly dissatisfied that management failed to understand how critical it was that he keep his skills honed. And the fact that he has much more generous training opportunities was key. He believes that IT employees would be willing either to forgo salary increases or sign contracts stipulating their agreement to stay for a certain period of time, if they will be guaranteed a certain amount of training.