Forrester’s research shows that two-thirds of US firms are moving to anywhere-work models, bringing a significant shift to the tech labor market. For most companies, the labor market is tight and continuing to tighten. The highest attrition rates and hardest jobs to fill are concentrated in the IT labor force. But there is another side to the story. For those in the IT labor force, the market is anything but tight. The groundswell of options allows candidates to pick the best opportunities at their own pace. Bottom line: Companies that do not acknowledge this shift of power will assume a larger share of the risk and receive little of the reward.

In our most recent TIER report, Adopt An Anywhere-Work Strategy To Compete In The Future Tech Labor Market, we dive into the key issues and opportunities for tech execs to win in the talent game. Key takeaways for technology execs in this report include the following:

  • The decoupling of work from location changes the game. The pandemic proved that work can be accomplished anywhere, and this shift is becoming the biggest point of leverage for employees (current and potential). As a result, talent mobility will continue to trend up and existing pipelines can no longer be managed as the talent strongholds they once were.
  • An anywhere-work strategy provides the greatest labor flexibility. The tech labor force trends showcase the importance of localizing your labor strategy based on the talent you need to source and the flexibility required to source it. As a result, IT labor costs are less and less defined by geography and more and more defined by sets of skills.
  • Open your labor strategy to find success. To find the right talent at the right price requires a distributed approach, much like the patterns of anywhere work. As a result, talent pipelines need to evolve into talent ecosystems with employee experience becoming the differentiator.

Technology executives cannot afford to hesitate. Even with an uncertain economic future, your ability to succeed is tied strongly to the skills and capabilities your team brings to market. The ability to productively source talent from anywhere is now a requirement for IT labor strategies, and it will also require new thinking for how you deliver. If you would like to learn more, reach out to our team.

This research falls under Forrester’s tech insights and econometric research (TIER).