When the dust settles and the recession of 2009 finally comes to an end, most CIOs say their top priority will be retaining existing workers. And that's a pretty good goal considering that many IT workers could be eager to find new jobs after a year of working for a company that may have treated them poorly, cut their wages and laid off their co-workers.

Robert Half Technology released a survey of 1,400 CIOs last week showing that nearly half said retaining IT workers is their top priority for 2009. The survey also reported that more than 20 percent of CIOs polled said they would offer more training and professional development to employees in 2010.

"Employers need to focus on preventing burnout and keeping their best people engaged at work. This may be a challenge, given that staffing cuts and the reduction or elimination of benefits have left many employees feeling overworked and undervalued," said Dave Willmer, executive director at Robert Half Technology, in a statement.

Research from other firms already shows that employees are likely to look for better jobs and flee from the company they helped keep afloat during the recession.

A September 2009 report from Deloitte Consulting warns: "a resume tsunami may threaten unprepared companies as key employees who held on to their jobs in tough times seek out better opportunities when economic fears recede."

Jeff Schwartz, principal of human capital at Deloitte Consulting, says there is plenty of evidence that 12-24 months after the end of a recession "very critical employees leave."

"Companies, especially in IT, need to get ahead of the curve in terms of retention plans in the next year because it is a very reasonable bet that companies are going to see a pike in turnover after this recession," Schwartz warns.

What should you do? Keep ahead of the problem by developing crucial IT skills in-house and make sure you have backup talent if you are left holding the bag, suggests Lily Mok, vice president of Gartner's CIO Research. "Some IT skills take time to develop and companies hiring in these areas can face challenges finding permanent staff," Mok says. "We advise clients to be strategic and develop the technical skills they might need in the future in-house."

For more on post-recession IT planning:
- see this Computerworld.com article

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