From a hiring frenzy to a hiring freeze. From quiet quitting to quick quitting. Being an (IT) leader is increasingly more difficult.
In the past 24 months, companies have spent massive amounts of time, energy and money on hiring – some backfilling roles, others growing their teams and taking advantage of a nationwide talent pool of remote workers.
And in tech, where we are constantly discussing the lack of available talent in the marketplace, one might think it would be foolish for a company to downsize or freeze hiring – but we’re starting to see some of it.
The long-term impacts are likely minimal for big tech companies that tend to easily attract talent due to their progressive nature, emerging technologies, and high salaries. But for a majority of companies where competition to win talent is fierce, a hiring freeze means the loss of your talent pipeline and can ultimately have an adverse impact on the company according to an August 2020 SHRM article.
There are many experts who would even tell you that suddenly halting hiring is an economic mistake that hurts revenue generation and product development. Internationally known HR thought leader Dr. John Sullivan says a hiring freeze can mean:
- Leaders keep under-performing employees
- An opportunity for your competitors
- A loss of innovation and forward progression
Now is Your Time
If you’re at an organization that has spent the majority of 2022 challenged with finding and hiring tech talent, help your stakeholders understand why pulling back the budget within the IT department may actually do more harm than good. As outlined in a recent TechRepublic article on How CIOs Can Defend Against IT Budget Cuts, tech leaders need to show how their work directly impacts company outcomes. Often executives make budget decisions without understanding the true implications downstream
“CIOs must provide business executives with the information they need to appeal more eloquently and effectively to the CEO, chief financial officer and the board against damaging cuts.” - Stewart Buchanan, VP Analyst at Gartner