IT managers relieved of residual and training costs with flexible recruitment

According to recent research the biggest challenge to organisations in the next few years will be the recruitment of quality talent into their IT departments, and this despite the economic downturn and continued pressures on operational costs and headcount. But according to Andy Jenkinson, CEO, Charterhouse Group, outsourcing is not the best solution.

ìBusinesses are increasingly under pressure to cut headcount cost by up to 20% and the automatic assumption is that they should simply outsource. For any recruitment outsourcing is the obvious answer to shift cost out of the business. IT managers often turn to contractors to avoid the overhead of full-time staff and to meet peak demand. However, if contractors change frequently, what happens to the continuity and retention of IP and skills development?î

ìThese are the hidden costs of attrition that can rapidly increase expenditure when using the traditional agency model. Charterhouseís intelligent talent management approach means that every employee or associate working with Charterhouse is underwritten in terms of performance and is managed to deliver results,î says Andy.

Charterhouse offers a unique recruitment model known as ëIntelligent Talent Management. This approach takes full responsibility for the recruitment process and even directly employs talent. It guarantees to greatly improve the quality of people deployed while substantially reducing overall costs and time for clients.

ìThe main benefit for employers is that responsibility and ownership is taken off their books and onto ours. There are no recruitment fees, no additional costs, and itís a simple matter of just signing up and pay as you go.

ìWe take the burden, cost and responsibility of the entire recruitment process. We then manage and deploy technically qualified people for an agreed and transparent cost. Scales of economy are very important and in truth, the bigger the project, the bigger the benefits,î he added.

The recruitment model offered by Charterhouse also benefits employers financially by taking away the responsibility of paying residual costs such as sick leave. Recent figures released by the Confederation of Business Industry estimates that across the UK, all industries spend annually a staggering 1.6 billion on sick leave alone.

ìWe have been offering this model since 1995, actively ëemploying and deployingí teams of bespoke qualified technology professionals for individual projects. The model has been hugely successful with technology giants such as Sun Microsystems and ComputaCenter who are clearly seeing the benefits.

Recent research carried out by e-skills UK, the sector skills council for the IT and Telecoms industry, demonstrates that training in IT has worryingly remained static at 29 per cent.

ìThe industry appears to be neglecting to raise their training investment with IT professionals. The rapid deterioration of the economy is putting tremendous pressure on companies and they are rapidly realising that to remain competitive they have to face the fact that they need to invest in IT.

ìOrganisations are going to come under increasing pressure to find skilled IT staff, which means their existing staff must therefore be highly competent and well equipped with the latest skills. Weíre confident that our intelligent talent management model offers great cost effectiveness, flexibility and training for IT employers to remain competitive and financially conscious during the recession,î added Andy.