Jeff Roberts

London

CIO

I think the purpose of this article must be to stimulate responses rather than putting a serious proposal forward. I understand you to mean we should work to develop a large, well-trained, highly-skilled IT workforce in the UK (so far so good) that is paid on par with the alternative labour markets (here we part with reality). Firstly, how do you intend controlling the salaries of IT people in a specific region? A fair free market for IT specialists results in competitive market-based rates that inevitably rise in times of high competition for people with specific skills and experience. You have to pay people the going rate (i.e. what your competitors are paying) and you have to pay even more for good quality people. Secondly, what incentives will people have to become trained? Will you tell them to get three years of full-time study and three years of experience, and then they can earn the same salary as someone in a developing country (where incidentally the cost of living is a lot lower and the quality of life compared to the UK is debatable)? That may be an argument for looking to use the alternative markets yourself, but it won't motivate anyone in the UK into following this career path. They will look at more lucrative careers and abandon IT altogether. Finally, if IT is not being valued in your organisation and is just seen as a growing overhead, then there are probably other reasons for that view than just a rising salary base.