The Great City Talent Drain

Are the bright city lights draining the IT talent from your company?

If you are a company not based in one of the UK’s major cities, then this article just might resonate with you.

There are black holes appearing in this country and they seem to be relentlessly sucking in all the skilled young people who live in the towns and villages outside of major cities. Not unlike the pied piper of Hamelin, the youth are being drawn away with an almost trance-like effect on them and the promise of fame and fortune under the big city lights!

Unfortunately for you this means that if you want to bring new young blood into your company or if you hope to retain staff you have invested a lot of time and money in, then your job is getting harder and harder to achieve.

Why is this happening? What are the main factors at play here and what solutions do you have available to help?

Well let’s start with salary

A young software developer or tester living on the south coast has a choice. They could join a local company and accept a salary in the range of 20k-25k per annum. In London, which is only 90 minutes away, the same role can easily pay 25k-35k per annum! The same is true for other major cities around the UK too, and smaller companies can find it hard to compete.

Then there’s location

The fast paced and buzzing atmosphere of big cities can be a big draw to workers, especially those who are fresh out of university. The precincts of smaller, more rural towns cannot compete, and so are losing lots of talent to the big cities.

Peer groups

Younger people have most likely seen a lot of their friends move to cities in the last few years and are understandably keen to live closer to their peers. Again this is another powerful pull in the wrong direction in the tug-of-war for talent.

Stability and retention of staff

Most companies would like to bring good quality staff into their teams and have a guarantee of retaining them and their skills in house for a good length of time (usually at least 18 months to deliver return on investment). This can be very challenging however, and companies can often face the situation of a resource leaving their company midway through a project as they have received a more lucrative job offer elsewhere!

How are companies combating these problems?

By way of example, in the technology sector we are seeing an increasing number of organisations using IT contractors to keep projects on track and make sure that they don’t lose out on opportunities. This can be a good option for companies, but it also comes with its problems.

Cost is certainly one of the biggest issues with using contractors for longer periods of time. Daily charge rates can easily be upwards of £450 per day in a lot of cases and this can have a big impact on overall project expenditure.

Contractors can also be a wonderful source of knowledge and experience as well as a new face around the office. However, once the project ends and they leave to go elsewhere, you lose both their skills and office personality in one go.

So what’s the alternative?

This blog may seem like it is written by a person with a glass half empty view on life, however let me counter this thought with a positive solution to the problems I have highlighted above.

There is now a concerted effort from within government and from the current leaders of each industry sector to find new and innovative ways of fighting back against the great city talent drain. One current success story has been an innovative resourcing model run by Capita, called The Novus Programme.

The concept of this programme is to offer IT, Science, and Business graduates who have already finished their Degree course additional commercial awareness training and soft skills development through a unique programme of learning. This programme is designed to train graduates in the employability skills which the modern employer requires so urgently. This includes soft skills, communication skills and professional presentation skills alongside technical training in one of our training streams.

As a FTSE 100 organisation, Capita is able to offer a real world training environment where the graduates learn to become young IT professionals within a true project driven environment.

Graduates commit themselves to Capita for up to two years in return for Capita’s investment in their training. We then place these young professionals with our clients for anything from three months to full two year engagements.

This model has shown itself to be a real win-win solution for both graduates and employers, especially those based outside of major UK cities:

The young Novus professionals will not leave mid-project or disappear to the big smoke as they are contractually committed to Capita

The Novus daily charge rate is a lot lower than contractor rates, making Novus very cost effective

You regain time as Capita takes care of the HR and direct management of your Novus

Capita pays graduates a competitive salary once they are placed with a client company, helping combat the big salary draw of major cities

After their two year commitment to Capita, you have the option to take your Novus on permanently, hence retaining their skills and knowledge in-house

There is little doubt that the day has arrived for organisations to start tackling the big city talent drain head on. However the future is actually looking very bright for those who are willing to look seriously at some of the latest and innovative solutions available to them.