Nearly half of chief information officers from companies across the U.S. believe their IT departments are understaffed in relation to current workloads, according to a new survey by Robert Half Technology.
The survey, which was based on interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs at companies with 100 or more employees, found that 43 percent of CIOs believe their IT departments are very or somewhat understaffed in relation to current workloads. Fifty-three percent of CIOs said they had the appropriate level of staff to complete IT projects.
The survey did not indicate what issues could be contributing to understaffed IT departments, such as a lack of qualified applicants for IT jobs, increased work demands, or hiring/budgetary freezes.
While the survey did not tap into the views of federal IT executives, the findings may still have some significance, especially as new demands, including the new open government directive, fall into the hands of agency IT workers. Is your agency's IT department understaffed in relation to current workloads? What issues or challenges are contributing to the staff shortage?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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