Employers looking for the ROI

It may be hard to believe, but despite the virtual world that we live in, the CIO's job is not always protected. There is plenty of unemployment in the IT industry, despite the continued growth in the field and new firms are popping up all the time. The IT industry is still relatively young, and it is now facing the growing pains that many other industries have faced in the past. Nevertheless, only an uninformed company thinks that it can go it alone, without the experience of a hands-on player who can fix a computer system when it crashes and teach employees how to get the best and most efficient return on a piece of technology.

Still, it will take time before IT becomes a necessary part of every organization's map and the topsy-turvy state of the employment market may discourage employers from providing on-the-job training and retraining, according to Ron Hira, assistant professor of Public Policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and author of a report just issued by the nonprofit Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology. "Companies are less willing to pay for training and professionals development," Hira said. "In the past, they expected that you'd be with the company for a long time, so they'd be willing to pay tuition reimbursement or for other training. Now, employers, rationally, don't think they'll be getting the return on that investment [ROI], so they're not offering it. They know that the worker may jump ship, or they might lay them off," he told CIO Insight. It might be about time to show your employer that you're worth the investment. -Judi