Overworked and Underpaid: What Tech Salary Declines Mean for Providers

We’re going to talk about all the pressures of working today.

IT and security teams are taking on more responsibilities as corporate networks expand with hybrid work and cloud adoption. In a study commissioned by Cloudflare, 52% of IT security professionals are now responsible for ensuring the security of on-site and remote workers compared to five years ago. Additionally, 46% have taken on the task of managing and securing applications in public cloud platforms or data in SaaS environments, which was not part of their role in the past.  The IT professionals are finding it increasingly difficult to handle these new tasks, with 30% describing managing and securing public cloud platforms and data in SaaS environments as significantly more complex today than in 2020.

According to Hired’s 2023 State of Tech Salaries Report, tech salaries in the US have dropped, with local roles experiencing a 3% decline and salaries reaching their lowest point in the past five years. Junior talent with less than four years of experience saw the most significant decrease in salary at nearly 5% year on year, and the demand for junior staff also declined. However, the tech industry still offers an average salary of $158,000, nearly double that of a US knowledge worker.

IT growth is leading to increased burnout among professionals due to excessive workloads, long hours, lack of recognition, and lack of challenges. Incidents and glitches demand their attention, causing frustration for both IT teams and end users. 57% indicate they get more incidents than they can handle, and 49% are repetitive and automatable. Lack of organizational support and awareness exacerbates the problem, leading to attrition and alert fatigue.

According to a survey by Bamboo HR, nearly half of workers (44%) regret taking a job within a week of starting it. The survey also found that 70% of employees decide if their job is right for them within the first month, and on average, employees figure it out within seven weeks. Poor onboarding experiences and inconsistent expectations from managers were cited as reasons for job regret. The survey highlights the importance of a clear company vision and culture during hiring.

If you want to know why I talk about cloud management, it’s that 46% of IT professionals now manage cloud platforms.    We can take our cues from internal IT on this one – there’s a need.   I’d also be remiss if I didn’t note how the workloads are simply ever-increasing.   With 49% of IT incidents being repetitive and automatable, MSPs can offer value by implementing automation solutions that handle these repetitive tasks, yet must also make sure they are automating that for themselves to reduce alert fatigue and attrition.  

Providers are in an exciting spot — MSPs can market themselves as a cost-effective, outsourced alternative to in-house IT teams that are already overstressed, but remember, you can’t simply move that labor cost into your own business.  You had better be significantly more efficient at delivering the service.    You too, are facing salary costs.