Leadership Market Insights - May 2023

General thoughts & conversations

Emmbr market insights were created to connect leaders in our network with each other, to help you understand where you have challenges in common, and as a way of sharing our knowledge of the current IT labour market.

I hope they are helpful to you. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have or to make suggestions for how we can improve to add the most value to solve your problems.

To begin, I am keen to understand how your year has been so far? I hope you enjoyed the Easter and Anzac breaks and had a chance to catch up with family and friends. Balancing work and home life while finding time to recharge is essential for both leaders and their teams.

As we head into May, I know that many executives and senior leaders are in the midst of planning, budgeting, and influencing processes for the new financial year. Through my conversations with leaders in my network, I've noticed a common theme: the importance of having a robust business case, irrespective of industry.

At Emmbr, we're observing a more balanced and normalised market this year. I will share more on this in the insights that follow.

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Drivers in the market

2023 is another year of change.

As we came into January, talk about the economy centered on a potential recession and challenging times ahead.

However 4 months in and a level of optimism remains a constant theme

“There are positive signs emerging in 2023 that the inflation surge which has been plaguing most countries around the world is starting to ease." KPMG

"Australian enterprises are squeezing their existing technology investments but still spending on digital transformation projects  that are seen as  'strategic'." IT News

At Emmbr, we have noticed the impact of this ease on role releases, and we continued to grow our business through both February and March. There remains a strong focus on investment in digital solutions, by comparison to last year we are seeing an increase in this investment focused on aged infrastructure, a move to cloud solutions, and a significant uplift in demand for security specialists.

There has also been a noticeable move to refresh ERP, HRIS, and core business operating solutions which is continuing to drive an increase in demand for project professionals. Right now, the Emmbr Transformational Project Services team is heavily engaged in delivering Change, Project Management, PMO, and Business Analysts.

Governance and regulatory change in health, finance, and aged care are predicted to increase the demand for IT skills in the market as the year progresses.

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Leadership Market

It is a year of change for senior and executive leaders. Most are 3 – 5 years into their current roles and keen to prioritise their careers. However, we are not seeing the same demand in roles at this level just yet. We do expect that to change as we move into the new financial year. Once roles open, the candidate market will respond, and we will see the domino effect.

I am also seeing a stronger move towards the CIO title as the most senior role for technology leaders. I am investigating whether this role will include responsibility for the delivery of Digital Solutions.   Gartner seems to support this position. Their recent CIO agenda shared that CIOs should partner with the business to deliver digital solutions, CIOs should share resources with the business leader focused on a digital initiative. The term used is the ‘Fusion Team’.

Gartner | CIOs Role in Digital Transformation

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Senior leadership has also hit the headlines, this time following an interview with Ross McEwan, CEO of NAB.  He has jumped off the fence on working flexibility.  "executive general managers and above — this week, telling them they need to set a greater example"  by attending the office five days a week.

I am interested in hearing your views on this.  

The Australian | NAB chief Ross McEwan calls time on work from home with senior management office edict

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One final point to share as I write this, is the breaking news of changes to the immigration process and visa restrictions that are hitting the press citing a recent panel of experts, including former public service chief Martin Parkinson.

"Worker-starved businesses in technology, financial services, consulting, and law look set to be able to import overseas candidates more quickly without an occupation list, provided they will be paid a high salary, stemming the loss of the best and brightest to other countries"

Key points highlighted are

• The minimum salary that employers pay to bring in skilled workers will raise
• Jobs will no longer need to be advertised for local applicants before an employer can consider candidates that are immigrating.
• Temporary migrant workers will be able to switch employers.

AFR | Migration review cuts temporary workers

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Research reports

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.6 trillion in 2023, an increase of 5.5% from 2022, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. Despite continued global economic turbulence, all regions worldwide are projected to have positive IT spending growth in 2023.

“CIOs face a balancing act that is evident in the dichotomies in IT spending, For example, there is sufficient spending within data centre markets to maintain existing on-premises data centres, but new spending has shifted to cloud options, as reflected in the growth in IT services.”

Suggested readings:

Gartner | Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 5.5% in 2023

Gartner | Gartner Experts - John-David Lovelock

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McKinsey  

McKinsey is sharing a range of articles focused on Talent. One in particular addresses the question of what employees of different generations want of their employer. Surprisingly the headline suggests that they have a significant list of common requirements that impact why they stay in a role and opt to leave.

In summary, the article suggests that in order for organisations to improve their employee value proposition (EVP) they should ‘let go of generational stereotypes.

McKinsey also provides an industry-specific focus. The focus on preventing burnout in non-profits was particularly interesting. The Not for Profit sector is a strong growth area for Emmbr. The report published on April 23 shared - Nearly one in four employees are experiencing burnout symptoms, resulting in six times more employees wanting to leave their jobs within the next three to six months.

Suggested readings:

McKinsey | Gen what? Debunking age-based myths about worker preferences

McKinsey | Supporting resilience and preventing burnout in nonprofits

Seek employment report for March 23 shared that across Melbourne – advertised jobs in Science and Technology have increased by 4.3% in March compared with February. Second only to sports and Recreation at 7.2%.

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Top questions

I have been asked in 2023 (and answers)

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What is the reality of the current market?

Clients are focusing on their strategic plans for 2023/2024 and require strong business cases to support investment recommendations. Technology product organisations are hiring interim advisors to secure private equity investment, but they need to demonstrate a higher level of operational and commercial maturity to attract the investment they seek.

There is a consistent demand for skilled professionals in the data, digital, and security sectors, and salaries and contract rates have stabilized without significant increases or decreases. Project skills are increasingly in demand, as predicted in late 2022. The candidate market for leadership roles is more active, with more leaders preparing their CVs and expanding on their value messages as they seek new challenges.

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How do others manage the demands of leaders for work flexibility?

P&C executives prioritised workforce planning in January and February. Candidates at all levels are seeking flexible work arrangements, with a maximum of 2 days per week in the office. Some technology leaders are naturally increasing their time in the office order to spend more time directly engaging with the business leaders.

Traditional high-performance cultures may risk losing key leaders who are prioritise work-life balance.

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Emmbr updates

from our CEO - Anton Roe

The Emmbr brand was launched in October 2022, and we had amazing support from our network. Thank you!

The Emmbr brand & name was chosen to reflect our strategic objective to transcend the market for Technology talent solutions and to delight our customers in every interaction.

Anton Roe - CEO Emmbr,  sums up our mission well -  To solve problems by creating Talent Solutions, and through collaboration with companies to attract, hire and retain the best talent across Technology, Transformation, Data & Digital. Together we are passionate about making a difference across Diversity, Equality & Inclusion.

Our strategic focus was ignited as we entered COVID lockdowns, raising the question, what did we envisage the other side of this challenge to be like? The answer was EVOLVED. We believed that the technology market would lead the change and that our industry would be disrupted. AI is already making a significant impact.

The old name of Marshall McAdam no longer reflected who we are, what we stood for and, most importantly, how we partner with and support our clients. We have always known excellent talent is at the heart of your success; our future now includes so many more ways to help you achieve this.

In collaboration with our clients, we deliver specialist talent solutions, critical resources for engineering teams, and transformation programs and across technology leadership, we are helping clients develop strong EVP messaging to address culture challenges, succession planning, and much more.

2023 is about bringing our strategic vision to life.  

The rebranding process to Emmbr identified us as the sage - the educator. You will see clear examples of this through our new website and learning hub.

Emmbr Learning Hub

Reach out to us anytime to find out more - www.emmbr.com

And, also let's connect on LinkedIn

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Peak diversity program

PEAK was established to provide a safe environment where women in leadership roles can meet, share experiences, and learn from each other.

We were excited, therefore, to reconnect in person in early April at the recent PEAK Breakfast and Lunch sessions.  We purposely decided not to focus on a speaker with expertise to share at this session.

Instead, in recognition of the wealth of experience amongst members, we introduced a new feature, ‘Ask PEAK’.  Members were encouraged to ask questions of each other and learn from their common experiences, and the conversation flowed.

The conversations were prompted by:

• How to manage Hybrid working while facilitating collaboration?
• What career advice would you give to your younger self?
• How do you gain value from an open-door policy without encouraging too much emotional transference?

What advice do you have to ensure that you protect your own mental health during stressful times for the team and/or business?

What are 'normal' working hours at the highest level? When to draw the line?

For those that attended, I would personally like to thank you for your contribution.

The next PEAK session is on June 7th at 4.00 pm – Diary placeholders will be sent soon.

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Conclusion

As I arrived in the city at 8.00 am this morning the coffee shops were full of people catching up over breakfast and coffee. It had me wondering, is the city regaining its momentum for early starts and connection?

As a leader, how has your operating rhythm settled or are you still exploring what the future of work will look like for you and your teams?

I am also curious, has there been an increase in investment in the development of leaders in your organisation? The talk for the past couple of years has been about how leaders of the future add value through their abilities to lead with empathy, shape diverse thinking in their teams, manage the demands for flexible working, and create a common purpose.

I am going to suggest that few leaders can demonstrate natural strengths in these areas, and yet results are said to be demonstrably better where a leader does.  Is, therefore, leadership development a critical investment area for you?  

It could be the reason some of the best leaders choose their future employers.

I look forward to catching up with you in person over the coming weeks to ask more about this and to understand where

Emmbr Leadership Solutions team can be of help.

Best wishes

Christine, Karina and the broader Emmbr teams.

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