APAC IT skills gaps narrow slightly, but recruitment/retention challenges remain: survey

The report found that IT leaders’ two biggest challenges were employee retention and recruitment. Also, the following trends were observed:

1. 80% of respondents indicated that skills gaps posed high or medium risk to their team’s ability to meet objectives. Some 63% had been unable to fill at least three IT positions in the last year.
2. 44% cited difficulties with hiring skilled candidates, followed employee retention (33%) and insufficient training (26%) as the top factors driving IT skills gaps.
3. 70% of APAC respondents expected a budget increase in the next year (up from 44% in a similar 2021 survey), with the top skill areas of investment being cloud computing, AI and machine learning, and data analytics, data management and data science. The top three most challenging areas to find qualified talent in APAC were cloud computing; AI and machine learning; and data analytics, data management and data science.
4. 92% of APAC IT professionals in the survey had taken some form of training in the last year. The top three reasons for doing so were: to prepare the organization for new technology upgrades; earn a salary increase; and as a personal choice or interest to upskill.
5. 61% of respondents’ organizations offered a leadership development program. Team communication, interpersonal communication, and emotional intelligence were cited as the most important power skills to build. One-in-four had opted into this type of training in the last year.
6. 75% of respondents indicated that their organization took diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) seriously, and 74% indicated they felt comfortable expressing their opinions at work.
7. 25% of respondents indicated they had experienced micro-aggressions, harassment, and/or discrimination in the workplace.
8. 43% of respondents who were non-management IT staff indicated they were seeing their management recruiting diverse talent. Of this group, 19% saw management setting and measuring DEI goals and objectives, while 17% indicated their management teams were providing mentorship, coaching, or executive sponsorship.
9. Among IT professionals in the survey that had changed employers in the past year, their top three reasons for leaving were better compensation; a lack of training and development; and a lack of work-life balance, respectively.
10. 97% of IT decision-makers in the survey indicated that certified staff add value to the organization. Benefits cited included: improved quality of work (56%), increased engagement (41%), and faster job performance (36%). Meanwhile, the respondents’ top cited inhibitor to training was that “management does not see a need for it.”