Managing IT Employee Retention: Challenges for State Governments

Abstract

IT employees are critical to the successful functioning of contemporary governmental agencies. Researchers and practitioners have long sought to identify workplace factors that influence employee retention. In this chapter we review the existing literature on factors that may reduce the voluntary turnover of public-sector IT professionals. Examples are presented that illustrate what states have been doing to improve their ability to retain their technology workforces. We conclude with an in-depth review of two studies addressing workplace factors that may influence state government IT personnel retention. The first is a study from a single state, designed to test factors potentially influencing affective commitment (a precursor of turnover intention) for state IT workforces. The second is a study from two states, designed to examine factors potentially influencing retention of state IT workforces. The message for decision makers is clear: When it comes to the retention of IT personnel, workplace and job characteristics matter. The insights from this chapter should aid public agencies in their ongoing efforts to retain quality IT professionals.