The Top 10 Staffing Issues for Your Data Center

1
The Top 10 Staffing Issues for Your Data Center

• Katherine Spencer Lee
• Executive Director

2
1 Making the Right Hiring Decisions
3

• Todays hiring environment
• Plenty of job applicants
• But finding the right employees remains a
  challenge
• Ways to generate more targeted applications,
  according to a survey of CIOs
• Employee referrals
• IT staffing or recruiting firms

4

• Qualities to look for in candidates
• Honesty and integrity
• Enthusiasm
• Commitment to the profession

5
2 Screening Potential Employees
6

• Conduct reference checks
• Ask candidates to encourage their references to
  provide candid feedback
• Make the calls yourself
• Look for a pattern in responses
• Invest in background checks
• Investigate criminal history
• Verify key information such as education and
  certifications

7
3 Staffing the Data Center 24/7
8

• Need for on-call personnel 24/7
• Impact on recruitment efforts
• Be up-front about the demands
• Look for employees who are adaptable and
  committed to their jobs

9
4 Retaining Existing Staff
10

• Techniques that can help
• Offer intellectual challenge
• Provide a competitive compensation package
• Promote from within
• Empower your employees

11

• Techniques that can help
• Keep the lines of communication open
• Provide encouragement and recognition
• Acknowledge exceptional performance at staff
  meetings or in the company newsletter
• Offer tickets to sporting events, movies or other
  entertainment
• Give small gifts for special occasions

12
5 Retiring Baby Boomers
13

• 76 million Americans to begin retiring in the
  next decade
• 55 percent of workers with mainframe and
  enterprise data center skills are over the age of
  50

14

• Can lead to critical loss of knowledge of legacy
  platforms
• Need to assess your data centers situation now
  to ensure knowledge transfer

15
6 Meeting Diverse Technology Needs
16

• Constant introduction of new technologies
• Also need knowledge of legacy technologies
• 60 percent of hosted applications will continue
  to reside on the mainframe in the next decade
• - Meta Group, Inc.

17

• Investment in training is essential
• Types of training programs
• Topic-specific workshops
• Off-the-shelf non-classroom training
• Interactive distance learning

18
7 Broader Expectations for Data Center Staff
19

• Need employees who are more than just tech-savvy
• Business acumen and interpersonal skills
  increasingly critical
• Best learned through mentoring

20
8 Outsourcing
21
Audience Response
Hosted by

• Question?

22
The Top 10 Staffing Issues for Your Data Center

• Katherine Spencer Lee
• Executive Director

23
1 Making the Right Hiring Decisions
24

• Todays hiring environment
• Plenty of job applicants
• But finding the right employees remains a
  challenge
• Ways to generate more targeted applications,
  according to a survey of CIOs
• Employee referrals
• IT staffing or recruiting firms

25

• Qualities to look for in candidates
• Honesty and integrity
• Enthusiasm
• Commitment to the profession

26
2 Screening Potential Employees
27

• Conduct reference checks
• Ask candidates to encourage their references to
  provide candid feedback
• Make the calls yourself
• Look for a pattern in responses
• Invest in background checks
• Investigate criminal history
• Verify key information such as education and
  certifications

28
3 Staffing the Data Center 24/7
29

• Need for on-call personnel 24/7
• Impact on recruitment efforts
• Be up-front about the demands
• Look for employees who are adaptable and
  committed to their jobs

30
4 Retaining Existing Staff
31

• Techniques that can help
• Offer intellectual challenge
• Provide a competitive compensation package
• Promote from within
• Empower your employees

32

• Techniques that can help
• Keep the lines of communication open
• Provide encouragement and recognition
• Acknowledge exceptional performance at staff
  meetings or in the company newsletter
• Offer tickets to sporting events, movies or other
  entertainment
• Give small gifts for special occasions

33
5 Retiring Baby Boomers
34

• 76 million Americans to begin retiring in the
  next decade
• 55 percent of workers with mainframe and
  enterprise data center skills are over the age of
  50

35

• Can lead to critical loss of knowledge of legacy
  platforms
• Need to assess your data centers situation now
  to ensure knowledge transfer

36
6 Meeting Diverse Technology Needs
37

• The new model of outsourcing
• Off-shore outsourcing
• Co-sourcing
• Utility computing

38
Even if you outsource a problem, you still need
to manage the relationship
39

• Establish checkpoints and measurements in service
  level agreements
• Assign qualified staff to interact with
  outsourcing company representatives

40
9 Keeping Staff Motivated During Times of Change
41

• Change can be unsettling
• Develop a strategy for keeping staff motivated
• Communicate
• Share as much information as you can
• Hold group meetings
• Highlight the benefits
• Maintain a positive environment

42

• Develop a strategy for keeping staff motivated
• Support your staff
• Ask other departments for help
• Bring in project or contract professionals
• Help them focus on goals
• Make sure staff continue to meet deadlines and
  produce quality work

43
10 Staffing Strategically
44

• What is strategic staffing?
• A big-picture, proactive approach
• Determining in advance how projects will be
  completed

45

• Benefits
• Stabilization of full-time workforce
• Increased flexibility
• Improved quality
• Turns a fixed cost of labor into a variable cost

46

• How to staff strategically
• Analysis
• Conduct annually
• Plan for unforeseen workload peaks

47

• How to staff strategically
• Analysis
• Note the hours your core staff is available to
  work on any given project
• List recurring projects

48

• How to staff strategically
• Analysis
• Look at upcoming initiatives
• What projects are scheduled?
• What skills will be needed?
• Are the skills available internally?
• Will we hire someone, or bring in a consultant?

49

• How to staff strategically
• Evaluate personnel levels
• Determine the appropriate mix of full-time and
  project professionals

50
The Top 10 Staffing Issues for Your Data Center

• Katherine Spencer Lee
• Executive Director

www.roberthalftechnology.com