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11/30/2008 How to Keep Employees Happy -

CIOs now face some very turbulent times. The ones that will be successful will manage their most critical resources well. CIOs will need to keep their employees happy or once the recovery starts they will face an exodus of employees who will wait out this down turn.

We have found that are some simple things that CIOs can do to steer their way and motivate employees to excel and perform for the enterprise. They are:

Take a personal interest in employees - Know who they are, are they married, do they have children, what do they do for enjoyment, and what are important dates in their lives (birthdays and anniversaries). If employees feel that you know and care about them they will respond and be valued assets.
Work around employees' requests for time - If an employee has a sick child or an important event coming up, including a vacations, let them schedule it so that they can go to the doctor with their children or take that vacation even though it may not be best for the IT function.
Provide scheduled evaluations - If an employee knows what they are doing well and what they need to work on, job performance will improve for stars and weak employees will be weeded out more effectively. That in turn takes the mystery out of why someone is let go and someone is promoted.
Promote from within - CIO should reward their employees by promoting them and giving them the chance they deserve.
Issue bonuses - But giving bonuses CIOs keep their star employees happy, and they work harder and stay loyal. Everyone needs to be reminded that theyre appreciated every now and then.
Offer benefits - Employees who have health care and sick days available to them do not have to worry what will happen. In a downturn there is much stress and it has been proven that stress is a factor among those in poor health.
Be supportive, not demanding - When CIO want an employee to do something he should not just tell the employee, he asked them in consultative manner.

Have an open door policy - Make time for all of your employees and listen to what they have to say.
Do not play favorites There is nothing worse than a CIO who plays favorites. When a CIO gives all the "dirty"work to one employee and let someone else off without doing anything, employees lose respect for the CIO and you begin to resent them. CIOs should delegate their employees evenly, making sure everyone has their fair share.
Have fun - If the employee wakes up every morning and dreads going to their job, they will not perform well because they're not happy. Keeping employees happy is the sure way to have loyal employees and employees that are willing to go that extra mile for the enterprise.

11/22/2008 CIOs Worry About IT Service Management -

There will never be a time when IT directors can, but with the economic turmoil of today concerns are extremely high. On the security front, internal and external threats are on the increase, especially as the enterprise boundary continues to increase with the growth of mobile and wireless based applications. Keeping the business operating in the face of existing economic conditions, security threats, whether against the systems themselves, or against the business and the environment in which it operates is part of any CIO's basic role.

The top ten concerns are:

Budgets - Budgets have never been tighter. Since the dot com bubble burst where IT budgets were pared to the bone, organizations are striving to keep a really tight control over them, even though they still need innovative IT to keep ahead of the competition. Smart CIOs are seeing savings through standardization of the IT infrastructure so new systems can be financed without increasing budgets.
Staffing - People are an organization's most valuable asset. For CIO they are not only the most valuable, they are causing the most headaches as well. Recruiting, managing and training staff are the most pressing concerns for CIOs
Security - Internal and external threats are on the increase, especially as enterprises continue to increase the growth of mobile and wireless based applications. Keeping the business operating in the face of threats, whether against the systems themselves, or against the business and the environment are a major component of CIO's role.
Compliance - Security and compliance work together for CIOs as many governance and compliance regulations were spawned from risk management and directly affect security. For many companies regulatory compliance is now part of everything they do. This has allowed the CIO to understand exactly what resources and processes an organization has and to increase efficiency and throughput as a result.
Resource Management - Managing time and resources are a major concern for CIOs. Enterprise management now demands more efficient working. CIO now are now using more of their time and resources they used to spend on legacy maintenance on more produce to manage critically short supplies of resources.
Infrastructure - Updating technology infrastructures and keeping the backbone of an organization's IT up to date is another top concern for CIOs..
Business Alignment - Keeping IT strategy in line with business strategy is something at which CIOs have become masters but it is still one of the areas that causes a lot of work and is resource heavy.
Managing Users - CIOs must prioritize the needs of their users and customers. Dealing with users while improving the quality of service for users is a constant for all IT departments. More CIOs are putting metrics in place to see just how well they are doing. Excellent customer service and cost effectiveness in driving the business forward are the two overlying themes for many businesses. The aim is to lift the bar on customer service, on cost effectiveness and on the capabilities of service offerings and people.
Managing Change - The fast moving pace of technological innovation means change is a guaranteed part of the CIO's role. But the way they manage its effect on the business is more critical. Arguably, the most significant management issue that CIOs have to face this year is change management - business process change, changes in organizational cultures and how they affect people are very high on the CIO's agenda.
Organizational Politics - To manage change and integration effectively, CIOs need the support of their senior management team. The success of change management programs and the contribution IT can make to those depend heavily on the support and drive of senior managers. If the CIO lines of report - CEO, CFO or COO -understand the power of transformational IT investment and if a CIO can educate and communicate what is possible, IT should be a key enabler for business and process change. Many companies are going through massive change and integration programs, all of which need board support to succeed.

11/20/2008 Downturn and Managing Your Employee Base -

With the business environment in turmoil, here are some things you should consider:

Take care of your "A" players. Do not project the attitude that "you are lucky to have a job". The best players are hardest to come by and will always have career options. Sales organizations feel this more than others. Your "A" players will always be sought by your competitors and the same players know they can be successful for you or against you.
It is the wrong time to make cutbacks in your incentive compensation plans. Sales people are motivated by money; do not make major changes to their compensation plans or their territories unless it only benefits them. A top sales person wants lower quotas, more territory and more money. Almost any other change will be viewed negatively.
At all costs, avoid across the board layoffs or restructuring. If necessary, make cutbacks based solely upon performance. It is a good time to look at your "C " players and work them out of the business, with the intention of finding an "A " player as their replacement. Another benefit to this type of employment action is that you give your competitors less chance to tell your clients that your business is struggling and it was necessary to resort to layoffs.
Start planning for 2009 by acting now. Many companies are currently cutting back on hiring in response to the unknown certainty of our economy and future business climate. Companies are starting their fall planning process, which normally involves hiring requirements for the next year. If you are planning to add staff for the 2009, you will want to start the process sooner rather than later. A good sales candidate might be interested in switching, but will be too busy finishing out their quota year and not able or willing to devote their time to the hiring process. Thus, October and early November are the ideal times to select your new hires for January.

11/18/2008 Economiic Condition Go South For IT Professionals -

The future for many IT professionals is highly uncertain, no matter how positive the government statistics may make things look. Before the pre-election economic meltdown reports showed IT employment was healthier than ever: The U.S. IT workforce topped 4 million for the first time this spring, according to government data.

Now hordes of American IT workers find the news hard to reconcile with their own day-to-day experiences. Highly qualified American IT workers now say that they cannot find jobs in the United States. Add to that the massive layoffs that are occurring in the financial sector (Citicorp 52,000 jobs eliminated) and you have a very glum picture.

CIOs are under pressure to cut costs, improve productivity, and maintain a high service level. Some CIOs are paring down overhead and finding cheaper labor elsewhere. But it doesnt provide heartening news to unemployed IT workers.

And the truth is that the woes of American IT workers may well be just beginning. The global business landscape is morphing by the day. Globalization is no longer about American businesses colonizing the third world.

So what is an out-of-work IT professional to do? Many of the more fortunate (employed) IT professionals urge the unemployed to sharpen their skills and evolve in their professions.

11/17/2008 Secrutiy Tool Kits Offered - The risk of information exposure is well known today, but have we really understood the lessons taught? We all too often approach Information Security from the bowels of technology, forgetting the first word was information. To understand what we're trying to protect is paramount in this game of ever changing threats.

Today's challenge isn't much different. We are faced with increasing amounts of data, overwhelming storage methods, and new changing methods of corporate data access. Whether we are focused on protecting classified government documents, corporate secrets, or sensitive personal information about employees, partners, or customers, we face new hurdles and every day.

eJobDescription.com solutions provide data protection for laptops, PCs, removable media and mobile devices. Our data security products ensure that our enterprise, government and law enforcement customers remain in compliance with regulatory standards. By leveraging a strong and efficient blend of eJobDescription.com solutions deliver comprehensive data security.

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11/11/2008 27% of H-1B Vias for Computer Professionals Show Errors -

In the wake of a report claiming up to 27 percent of computer professionals and 42 percents of business analysts for H-1B applicants may be fraudulent, the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services now audit H-1B visa applications more closely. Errors and misrepresentations that were found were:

the business did not exist;
the educational degrees or experience letters submitted were confirmed to be fraudulent;
signatures had been forged on supporting documentation; and
the beneficiary was performing duties that were significantly different from those described on the LCA and I-129 petition.

11/04/2008 Sex Discriminination at High Tech Firms -

Former female executives of Dell have sued their ex-employer, the world's second-largest computer maker, alleging gender discrimination and seeking $500 million in damages.

According to the lawsuit, the Texas-based multinational technology company, whose top 14 executives are all male, unfairly laid off four former senior female employees in the job cuts earlier this year. The plantiffs in the case are seeking class action status and have filed in a federal court in California.

The lawsuit demands $500 million in damages on behalf of female and older former Dell employees, who they say were singled out during recent layoffs and systematically discriminated against.

The lawsuit states nearly 80 percent of the top executives in Dell are male. Dell has declined to comment on that figure, although its website says women and people of color represent 32 percent of its U.S.-based vice presidents.

In the lawsuit the plaintiffs said they were repeatedly passed up for promotions and increased pay despite receiving good performance reviews.

Despite laws prohibiting unequal pay for equal work, women in the United States are paid about 22 percent less than men on an average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

11/03/2008 More Job Cuts in the Technology Sector -

Economic conditions are not getting any better as shown by the recent announcement by Motorola confirmed that they plan to lay off 3,000 workers as part of a $800 million cost reduction program. Approximately 2,000 of those jobs would be from the handset division. According to its annual report Motorola had 66,000 at the beginning of 2008.

10/29/2008 Goverment Control of Compensation Begins Now -

The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Chairman has asked nine major banks who have received $125 billion in capital infusions from the federal government to provide information on billions of dollars they spent on compensation and bonuses. The banks, which include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., have been asked to give the Oversight and Government Reform panel compensation information from the last three years.

The chairman requested total and average compensation paid to all employees, a breakdown of the number of employees receiving more than $500,000 in annual compensation and compensation paid to the ten highest-paid employees. He said that he questioned the appropriateness of depleting the capital that taxpayers just injected into the banks through the payment of billions of dollars in bonuses, especially after one of the financial industry's worst years on record.

The nine banks received the money when the government purchased ownership stakes in them by authority granted in a $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan. The nine banks have awarded $108 billion in total compensation and bonuses in the first nine months of 2008.

Other recipients of the letter include Bank of New York Mellon Corp., J.P Morgan Chase Co., Merrill Lynch Co. Inc., Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp., and Wells Fargo Co.

10/27/2008 Five Things To Do The First Week In A New Job -

Success in a new job or with a new organization is often defined by the first steps that you take. A process that we have found that works is simple and helps CIOs as well as project managers succeed includes:

Assessing the environment to understand the current state of affairs - enterprise want new employees or managers to bring something to the table. If the department is running smoothly, they want the new employee to help move the organization forward. If something is not working, they want the new employee to help fix it.
Defining what is expected of you and what success is 3, 6, and 12 months out - How management define success for the position. To do this the new employee needs to know what managements expectations are. Ask the right questions and listen to the answers.
Learning the politics of the situation - the new employee needs to get to know their peers, supervisors and who the power centers they will be interacting with are. The new employee will need to identify the individuals who will directly and indirectly affect your ability to get the job done - it may be an individual completely out of the new employee's organizational structure.
Learning how people interact and how things get done - one of the trickiest tasks of any new job is figuring out the culture and office politics so you don't step on toes or run afoul of your colleagues.
Getting something good done quickly - the enterprise will judge the new employee from the start, so the new employee needs to establish credibility quickly. One way to do that is to look for an early success.

10/22/2008 Yahoo to Lay Off 1,500 -

Yahoo is laying off at least 1,500 workers in the wake of sluggish corporate profits. The layoffs equate to 10 percent of the Internet company's workforce.

Yahoo stumbled in its third-quarter earnings report. Revenues were $1.79 billion for the quarter, a one percent increase compared to the year-ago period. But operating income was $70 million, a 53 percent decrease from $150 million in the same period of 2007.

Jerry Yang, cofounder and chief executive officer, said as economic conditions and online advertising softened in the third quarter, the company remained highly focused on its strategy to invest in initiatives that strengthen its long-term competitiveness.

"During the third quarter, Yahoo! began implementing a series of cost reduction initiatives that contributed to the Company's adjusted operating cash flow exceeding the midpoint of its outlook for the quarter. The Company's goal is to reduce its current annualized cost run rate of approximately $3.9 billion by more than $400 million before the end of 2008. The Company anticipates that both headcount and non-headcountrelated costs will be reduced by these actions. Because the majority of expenses are headcount-related, Yahoo! expects to reduce its global workforce by at least 10 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008. Yahoo! also plans to implement additional cost-cutting measures aimed at achieving additional structural efficiencies over the next year. The Company anticipates these will result in substantial additional cost savings. The goal of these measures is to position Yahoo! for long-term, sustainable growth."

10/22/2008 Techology Job Cuts Will Be Minor Compared to Dot Com bust -

eBay recently announced to lay off 1,000 workers, a long list of smaller Internet outfits have begun cutting jobs, and most industry watchers expect Yahoo to announce another round of layoffs when it discusses third-quarter earnings.

Whatever job cuts occur in the technology sector in the coming months, they are not likely to be as deep or as lasting as the cuts that occurred during the dot-com bust, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor and industry employment experts.

Call it learning from past mistakes: tech companies have not experienced the hiring binge that occurred in the late 1990s, when a combination of Internet investment, repair work on older computer systems to deal with Y2K transition issues, and massive investment in telecommunications infrastructure teamed to create double-digit tech employment growth through much of the second half of that decade.

Information Technology Sector includes: software publishers, telecommunications, data processing, hosting and related services, internet publishing, broadcasting, web search, and portals. Manufacturing Sector includes: peripheral equipment, storage devices, broadcast and wireless communication, audio and video equipment, and semiconductors.

10/18/2008 Economic Downturn Impacts MoreTech Firms -

Economic downturn forces budget cuts and layoffs in many technology companies:

Ebay cuts 10% - 1,000 jobs
Pandora cuts14% of its staff to 120 from 140
Biotech firm Cell Genesys Inc. is laying off 290 people, or 75% of staff, and possibly seeking a buyer
Zillow.com laid off 25% from 155
Fast Company TV online site, Mansueto Ventures is laying off 20

Other cuts the companies make include:

Shelving new business expansion
Closing remote location
Cutting IT help desk coverage
Curtailing perks like tuition reimbursement and free snacks

10/18/2008 Intel and Micron Announce Layoffs of 4,000 -

Economic turmoil hits two giants, Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp., who plan to shut down their joint production of NAND flash memory from a plant in Boise, Idaho, and Micron plans to lay off about up to 4,000 employees. The layoffs are a result of a combination of lowered customer demand and product oversupply in the market, Micron said in a statement.

Intel and Micron, through their IM Flash Technologies joint venture, were supplying NAND flash memory from Micron's Boise facility. The shutdown will reduce the joint venture's NAND flash production by about 35,000 wafers per month, in the factory using 200-millimeter manufacturing lines per month. IM Flash Technologies also has a facility in Lehi, Utah, which has 300-millimeter manufacturing lines.

Micron's 4,000 employee workforce reduction will occur over the next two years and will primarily affect employees at the Boise facility. According to Micron's Web site, the company has 22,600 employees worldwide.

10/10/2008 H-1B Visa Audit Shows Extensive Fraud and Inaccurate Application Data -

H-1B documentation shows that 21% of the visas studied had material errors. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) found evidence of forged documents, fake degrees and shell companies being used in H-1B. In a report that was published September and publicly released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said that 21% of 246 H-1B applications reviewed by USCIS staffers contained either outright fraud or "technical violations" of federal laws and regulations. The findings mean that thousands of employers may be violating the rules, some willfully.

In addition to finding fake information in applications, the USCIS investigators discovered on visits to work sites that some employers weren't paying prevailing wages to H-1B holders. In other cases, the report said, companies had "benched" visa holders when work wasn't available for them, or had them doing different jobs than the ones that were listed on their H-1B applications.

10/09/2008 State Goverments Try Four Day Work Week -

Tucked into an energy policy proposed by Maine's governor is one energy-saving idea used by the state of Utah and being experimented with this summer by several Massachusetts communities: the four-day workweek.

Utah state government recently announced a one-year trial of a four-day workweek where most non-essential services are shut down on Fridays to save more than $3 million in utility costs. Across the country, other organizations, such as the Hawaiian state government, have disclosed similar plans as well as telecommuting initiatives and flex-time to reduce carbon emissions, give employees a break from crushing gas prices and possibly cut down on expenses.

Hawaii is taking its cue from Utah and piloting a four-day workweek that state has also thrown in the challenge of adding greater support for remote access for employees.

Hawaii's government, the state's largest employer, says telecommuting is a necessary element of its project to help reduce traffic congestion in Honolulu's downtown area during peak hours, provide employees with a better work/life balance, and serve as a recruitment and retention tool.

10/05/2008 Microsoft and Hiring Freeze -

With the downturn in the economy, even the high tech companies are looking at hiring. Conmpanies that we have heard are doing so are Cisco, Yahoo, and Microsoft.

Microsoft Corp. today denied that it has instituted a hiring freeze, despite an internal memo described by an employee indicating the move.

"It is not true that we have instituted a hiring freeze," said a Microsoft spokesman. "What is true is that we are evaluating hiring as we always do and we might make projections that are different than perhaps we had at the beginning of the year."

Some employees reportedly received a note saying that the company was re-evaluating its staffing levels and wouldn't be expanding its head count.

09/30/2008 Surplus of IT Talent form Wall Street -

During the first half of this year, Wall Street laid off 22,000 workers, and there are thousands more to come. In the past seven months, the city has added 1,100 tech jobs for a total of about 42,700, according to an analysis of New York State's Department of Labor figures by Eastern Consolidated, a real estate investment firm. Strength in tech hiring outside of the finance sector has kept employment up.

2008 IT Salary Survey

Summary Results and Changes in Demand for IT Jobs 2008

IT Median Salaries June 2007 versus June 2008