Less than 10% of user organisations run a professional
development scheme for their IT staff, despite more than 80% of UK
employers consider it important to develop their IT staff’s
professional skills, a study has found.
The survey was jointly conducted by the British Computer Society
and InfoBasis, a skills management provider.
Almost one-fifth of organisations polled had spent £10,000 or
more on professional development over the past 12 months while just
over half had spent nothing or did not know how much they had
spent.
"The figures show both sides of corporate attitudes to
professional IT development in the UK," said Malcolm Sillars, BCS
professional director. "While increased professionalism of the
industry is widely viewed as important, only a handful of employers
are actively engaging in it."
The survey of IT decision makers was conducted via an internet
poll of 3,000 IT decision makers and drew 183 responses invited to
participate by e-mail.
Almost two in three IT practitioners are now aware of the
British Computer Society and its relevance to the IT profession,
according to its latest public profile survey; a substantial
increase since the Society embarked on a new membership recruitment
campaign last year.