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How Tech Talent Shortages Are Affecting Legacy Infrastructure
Rachel Moniz | September 23 2024
Ongoing talent shortages are impacting industries across the board, including the tech sector. According to 64% of tech leaders, lack of talent is a significant obstacle in adopting new technologies and modernizing legacy infrastructure, and 70% of digital leaders are facing skills shortages. To get ahead of these challenges, leaders will need to adopt various forward-thinking workforce strategies.
In this blog post we’re going to discuss the impacts of talent and skills shortages on legacy infrastructure in the tech industry and provide proven solutions on how to overcome these barriers, including: upskilling, benefits, and partnerships.
The Impact of the Tech Talent Shortage
Lack of talent and skills are impacting how legacy infrastructure in tech is maintained and upgraded. This, in turn, is creating obstacles in progressing innovation and modernizing systems, including:
- Rising Maintenance Costs: With less skilled workers available in maintaining and managing legacy systems, tech organizations may experience prolonged downtimes and higher costs when problems come up.
- Gaps in Knowledge: The institutional knowledge necessary to troubleshoot legacy systems is lost when knowledgeable workers leave, which creates additional risk for operational disruptions.
- Delaying Modernization: Transitioning from legacy systems to modern infrastructure is delayed when organizations are facing a lack of skilled workers, which then prolongs the time it takes to reap modernization benefits like cost savings and improved efficiencies.
- Workforce Burnout: As the pressure and workloads associated with maintaining and upgrading legacy systems increases, staff could face rising burnout and may even leave the organization for better work-life balance.
While there are a number of complexities and barriers that come with lacking the right skills and talent to maintain and upgrade legacy infrastructure – especially in the highly competitive tech industry - organizations can implement various proven strategies to overcome them.
Upskilling and Professional Development
Investing in upskilling can be an effective method to retain high caliber tech talent. For example, organizations can implement skills-based hiring practices, which will enable them to understand the skills they already have in-house. By utilizing data-driven and AI-powered technologies, tech companies can pinpoint gaps in their current workforce skills and identify opportunities to upskill employees to address those needs. This not only enhances talent acquisition but also strengthens employee retention by providing professional development. Additionally, these AI tools can help forecast future skill demands and match candidates to roles based on competencies instead of traditional qualifications and can help create tailored development plans to foster growth for each worker. Read more about how your organization can strengthen tech talent retention in our blog.
Benefits and Competitive Pay
Tech organizations can also invest in world-class benefits for their workforce to strengthen talent retention efforts. Retirement choices, paid time off, sick leave, and mental health benefits are essential, especially as these can help reduce burnout. By working with an Employer of Record (EOR), tech businesses can offer contingent talent industry-leading, competitive packages affordably, while delegating payroll processing and risk mitigation related tasks. Learn more about the advantages of EORs in our blog.
Organizations can also increase retention by ensuring they are providing competitive pay. Utilizing pay intelligence provides strategic insights on location-based, real-time bill rates. As a result, they can fight attrition more effectively, improve talent strategy, save sourcing expenses, and maintain a much-needed competitive edge.
Explore Magnit Pay Intelligence in the video below:
Establishing Strategic Partnerships
Tech companies looking to find the right talent to fill their needs can also collaborate with specialized consultants or industry-leading Managed Service Providers (MSPs).
MSPs serve as a point of contact between businesses and their contingent talent. They manage vendor relationships, implement technology solutions, control expenses, streamline workforce sourcing with best practices, ensure regulatory compliance, and optimize staffing workflows to boost productivity.
Prominent MSPs in the technology industry also provide immensely beneficial data-driven insights and reports on the performance of the contract workforce to help businesses make well-informed decisions about their talent strategies. MSPs work in tandem with businesses to help them effectively manage, leverage, and maximize their contingent labor to satisfy business needs while reducing risks and administrative expenses. (To learn more, download our Ultimate Guide to Selecting an MSP.)
Organizations benefit from these partnerships by saving on costs in addition to gaining access to high caliber tech talent, especially when working with a vendor-neutral MSP. Vendor-neutral MSPs aren’t associated with any particular staffing agency, which incentivizes suppliers to provide their best candidates quickly and provides unbiased access to wider talent pools as well.
Understand the benefits of partnering with a leading MSP when you check out our infographic.
The battle for tech talent will continue raging on, and organizations looking to innovate will need to implement modern, multi-faceted approaches to attracting and retaining those highly sought after workers. By providing clear paths to professional development, investing in offering leading benefits, and finding the right partners, they can get ahead and remain flexible – no matter how the tide turns in the labor market.
Get the knowledge on how to gain greater speed and access to talent, cost savings and more when you download our ebook, “Navigate Your Journey to Contingent Workforce Success.”
Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of Magnit and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.