IT workers jump ship before they even start

Highly skilled IT workers are breaking contracts with new employers before they even start work with them to accept lucrative offers from competitors, according to an Ambition Recruitment study reported by ZDNet Australia.

According to the report, the demand for good IT workers has never been higher. As a consequence, even after someone accepts an offer to work for a particular business they continue to be inundated with counter-offers from other employers.

It is in the early period between when they agree to take a job and actually start doing it – known as the onboarding period – when employees are most vulnerable to a counter offer. During this time employees already have the tick of approval from one employer, making them more attractive to everyone else, but they are yet to develop the relationships and loyalty that tie people to a workplace.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of IT staff that jump ship during the onboarding period in the second half of this year as the skills shortage has intensified, according to Ambition Recruitment managing director Andrew Cross.

“The first time you hear it, you shake your head and say ‘I can’t believe people do it’,” Cross says. “They are oblivious of the fact that they could be taken to court for breach of contract.”