Economic Recovery: Will Your IT Security Department Jump Ship?

Signs of a more stable economic climate continue to trickle out. IANS CEO Jack Phillips says savvy CISOs need to now switch from budget cuts to competitive employment.

By , Senior Editor

December 06, 2009 — CSO —

After a year of uncertainty and difficult circumstances in business, many analysts say it appears the economy has begun to calm down and organizations are slowly shifting from survival mode back to strategically considering ways to grow business. Sounds like good news, right? According to IANS, a Boston-based research company that focuses on information security, regulatory compliance and IT risk management, it is good news, but it doesn't come without some challenges for information security departments.

Jack Phillips, IANS co-founder and CEO, conducts two-day information sessions with clients—mostly CISOs, CSOs and other security leaders—to find out what they are seeing, hearing and experiencing in the enterprise and to share information that might be helpful to others. Phillips said as the economy recovers, the concern now has changed from how to handle workforce cuts, to how to keep team members from defecting now that they may have more options. He spoke with CSO about how security leaders can keep morale high among the infosec department and hold on to talented employees who might be looking elsewhere.

CSO: You mentioned you've heard career and workforce management concerns really change over the last year for security folks. Can you tell me more about that?

Jack Phillips, IANS: In around Februrary and March of this year, when things were much more critical than they are now, the message we heard from clients was "I'm worried about losing my job, how should I be prepared for that?" That came not so much from CISOs, but more from their team members, the work force. They were preparing for the worst. So we began the curriculum with a plain, vanilla approach with basic thinks like how to use LinkedIn and other social networking tools to see not only what is coming but to prepare yourself for the next move.

What then happened about mid-year was that the leaders came to those sessions as well and said "I have the inverse concern. First of all, I don't want to lose people. I don't want to have to cut, and I also have to maintain morale. Can you give me ideas for keeping people interested and engaged when I've asked them to work with no pay increase and it's been a tough road here for the last 8 to 9 months?"

The second concern was: If the economy turns around in 2010, will we see a competitive market dynamic where on the margin my team members may leave for a marginal difference in salary, benefits and conditions for other organizations in my geographic area? In other words, if XZY institution offers a marginally better package than ABC institution, my folks are pretty weary right now. So the concern is all of a sudden I could lose people I really want to keep. Is that going to happen? And if it does, what can I do to stem that? It really comes down to that the sun is coming out here and I've got some people who have stuck with me. I don't want to lose them when I've fought so hard to keep them for such a marginal difference.

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