Recruiting and Retaining

Library IT People

- What We Learned -

A panel presentation by

Kelly Sattler, Bill Helman,

Erin White, and Aaron Dobbs

eDUI Conference

Oct. 25, 2016All meeple images by Caig, modified under CreativeCommons

I’m glad

I’m here!

Should I

stay?

Why we’re here & Who we are

Here today in person:

Kelly Sattler (@ksattler)

Head of Web Services at Michigan State University Libraries

Bill Helman (@thinkpol)

Information Technology Librarian at Towson University

Erin White (@erinrwhite)

Rest of the team:

Wenjuan Ma

Michigan State University

Mark Dehmlow

Notre Dame

Janet Crum

Sharing results from a survey with 531 respondents

concerning recruiting and retaining library IT.

Recruitment

Top 5 ways people found their current position:

What about Social Media?

For those who found their job within the past 3 years:

1. LinkedIn (45)

2. Facebook (36)

3. Twitter (26)

4. Glassdoor (22)

What influenced people to accept a position?

Top 3 factors by age after salary...

35 - 44 years old:

1. Paid time off

2. Job security

3. Insurance benefits

45 - 54 years old:

1. Insurance benefits

2. Job security

3. Opportunities for promotion/growth

Over 55 years old:

1. Location

2. Insurance benefits

3. Job security

Under 34 years old:

1. Location

2. Opportunities for promotion/growth

3. Paid time off

Top 3 factors by time in position after salary...

Less than 3 years:

1. Location

2. Paid time off

3. Opportunities for promotion/growth

4 years or more:

1. Job Security

2. Insurance Benefits

3. Location

Retention

What keeps people onboard?

It’s more than money, but money’s really important.

Compensation

Benefits

Work-Life Balance

Why do they jump ship?

For respondents planning on leaving in the next two years.

Lack of opportunity for promotion

Not involved in decision making

Insufficient resources to do the job well

Lack of mentoring programs

Not enough interesting projects

Mind the gaps.

Some of the gaps between what they want and what they get:

Telecommuting and flexible hours

Opportunities for promotion

Insufficient resources

And mind the gaps in leadership too.

Or where the boss “does not meet expectations.”

Trust in senior leadership

Clear expectations

A leadership that “understands IT work”

More than Money

Should I stay or should I go now?

Here why respondents said they’re tempted to leave

Salary (offers of ~40% more salary elsewhere)

Demanding (many only-loosely related tasks)

Poor management (unrealistic expectations / lack of understanding)

Technology refresh rate / legacy technology (how old is this technology?!)

Lack of IT integration into organizational goals (out of sight out of mind)

Lack of advancement path (if there is only a few people, how to advance?)

Should I stay or should I go now?

Here why respondents said they would rather stay than go

Teleworking options (skip the commute a couple days a week? sign me up!)

Customer focus (care about the customer & technology will (usually) follow)

User Experience Focus (higher ed & libraries help student/faculty success)

Integration of IT into strategic planning (IT knows what’s realistic, let us help)

It ain’t a huge salary, but…

...what can we offer instead?

Tuition remission and other non-salary bennies and discounts

Support for conference travel, webinars or other training

Work/life balance: *only* a 40-hour workweek, lots of leave, flexible hours

Options to telecommute regularly

Ability to work on fun projects/20%-time projects

Inclusion in organizational decision-making

Working directly with stakeholders

Where are my competent managers at?

Good managers = happier employees

Not much training for managers in libraryland or higher ed

Peter Principle

What motivates people: “autonomy, mastery,

purpose”

- Daniel Pink, Drive

For managers

Trust your people. Document, cross-train, delegate, and let it go.

Communicate. Make sure folks know why their work matters.

Don't roadblock. Street sweep. Take yourself out of workflows to avoid

bottlenecking. Spend your time getting rid of obstacles for your team.

Support employees’ growth. Ask “how do you want to grow?” then follow

through.

Advocate. Find ways to let employees’ voices be heard. Use your position to

push for humane policies and practices for all employees - not just faculty.

Be open to new ideas and technologies. Folks want to learn and your

organization will benefit.

Questions?