Companies are cautious about IT hires

Research firm Gartner predicts that the depressed economy will make IT organizations careful about their hiring plans. A newly released survey of 285 U.S.-based IT organizations found that 57.9 percent projected an increase in IT staff levels, including full-time employees and contractors through February 2009.

While that doesn't seem so bad, Gartner said this was a "notable drop" from the 66.3 percent reported in the 2007 study. Even though the number of vacancies and turnover rates remain at similar levels as 2007, organizations are being cautious in their hiring practices, said Lily Mok, research vice president for Gartner's CIO workforce management group.

"We have not seen extreme measures being taken by IT organizations, such as hiring freezes, but we do expect to see enterprises take a more conservative and wait-and-see approach to staffing for the rest of 2008," Mok said.

On a positive note, the survey showed that current economic conditions have yet to have a material impact on compensation budgets. "Enterprises are continuing to budget for pay increases in 2008 at a level similar to previous years, with the reported median salary increase budget at 3.6 percent," Gartner said.

For more on the survey: 
- see this Gartner announcement