In my local environment, there are probably three major problems. Number one is Morale. Nobody can see a way out of the hole that has been dug; and kicking the can down the road is not a solution. Relatively small projects are all over the newspapers cataloguing the scale of inexperience of short-duration hires that now fill our business. This is doubly damning given the scale of what we need to do over the next 20 years.
This is compounded by loss of experienced personnel to retirement and/or high priced but short duration contract work. I've been offered such work myself in fact; although I have no desire to work in the Gulf States.
The third major problem is that routes for progression up the ranks. All but dead mans boots routes are closed. Join as a promising grad? Get a flat pay rise for the forseeable future (below inflation) regardless of your performance. For those of us that are already at the top of the pay scale due to better T&C's 5 to 10 years ago, this is not a big deal. But if you're new, watching your salary go up at a rate below rent and house prices is not conducive to retaining staff. Yet the unions consistently argue against performance-based pay. This is not without precedent, because there are lots of examples of performance based pay being at the mercy of the manager responsible - and also - the forced-fit curve. i.e. for every person "above average" there has to be one below for the budget to fit. So pay has never, ever really been performance based.
The done thing now is, as a grad, to get three years on your CV with us as a reputable outfit; then move to something better paid.
The bit that is perhaps most damning about this is that the board are actively pushing the cost cutting agenda while simultaneously whinging about the great resignation. The real great resignation is, that many orgs are resigned to doing nothing about it.
In the meantime I predict widespread failures of such orgs over the next 5 to 10 years. I have no golden handcuffs, beyond relatively favourable base pay right now; and frankly with the right offer I'd be off. I'll keep looking.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
