- With these seven recommendations, companies will successfully attract highly sought-after IT professionals in 2023
- Authenticity, flexible working models and trust ensure success in the global labour market
The Internet industry – whether cloud start-ups, IT SMEs or Internet corporations – urgently needs more IT professionals of every skill level in 2023. The shortage of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professionals is expected to reach an all-time high in 2023. By the end of 2022, Germany already lacked a record number of around 326,000 of these skilled workers, according to the MINT Autumn Report of the German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne (IW).1
“The competition for the best minds is raging worldwide. German employers will be more successful in 2023 if they offer attractive working conditions and also communicate these authentically,” says Lucia Falkenberg, CPO (Chief People Officer) and spokesperson for the New Work Competence Group at eco – Association of the Internet Industry. “Potential candidates expect flexibility, diverse teams and meaningful activities. Employers who live a culture of diversity and ownership in 2023 will retain employees for the long term and need not worry about quiet quitting and the ‘Great Resignation’. The Internet industry, in particular, is paving the way for rethinking work and promoting freedom, meaning and diversity in the workplace. For 2023, Lucia Falkenberg lists seven resolutions that will make companies more attractive for IT specialists.
- Create a corporate culture based on trust. Leaders in the digital world – digital leaders – focus on trust, transparency and participation. They act as moderators and coaches of digital, locally distributed value networks. This ownership ensures that people enjoy working for their company, especially if they find a deeper meaning in it. The focus is on purpose and the question “What am I working for and what am I contributing to?”
- Offer the chance to choose the place of work and the working hours flexibly. More and more employees are opting for mobile working models and are also working from abroad or within the framework of the 4-day week. The trend is towards work-life blending, i.e. mixing work and private life to a greater extent.
- Get your female professionals and managers in the front row to actively recruit female professionals. Only a quarter of IT and tech professionals worldwide are women, and the proportion is even lower at 18.5 per cent in Europe.2 A corporate culture characterised by diversity and measures that promote the compatibility of family and career will help you find female professionals. Further tips are provided in a white paper by the eco Association.
- Go for diversity. Your company culture should promote diversity and differences in the workforce – not only in terms of gender but also in age, origin, religion and sexual orientation. Recruit beyond your bubble and approach lateral entrants, for example, or skilled workers in other cities or abroad – the labour market in 2023 is the whole world.
- Communicate authentically. Only those who communicate genuinely can engage others. Only communicate values that you really stand by. Make your employer branding authentic and avoid meaningless phrases. Instead, give applicants a clear and unadulterated picture of what your company stands for.
- Offer modern, open workspaces. Those who want to work in the office rather than at home should have the chance to do so – with shared desk offices, meeting rooms and areas for concentrated quiet work. Rooms that allow for personal conversations and networking are also important to strengthen team cohesion and identification with the employer.
- Qualify your employees on an ongoing basis. Investments in staff training pay off and make employees fit for the future. Internal know-how can be passed on via mentoring programmes or in-house training. Supplement this with external know-how in the form of training and education.
2 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en
