News / Employers' Charter

Please find below a copy of the e-skills Employers’ Charter.

Employers produced the Charter in response to research published by the e-skills NTO, which showed that the skills shortage could be eased by addressing the poor image of IT, broadening recruitment into the industry and by increasing the provision of work experience placements.

Employers committed to the Charter by 20 March 2001:

ARM, Barclays B2B, EDS, Ericsson, ForeSite, GreyUK, High Tech Women, IBM, Intel, Logica, Microsoft, Nortel, Simply Webcast, TNL and Vistorm

Make sure your name is added. E-mail to find out more and to sign up.

For further information, refer to the 4 press releases issued on 13 March 2001 by the NTO.

13th March 2001

The e-skills Employers’ Charter
Combating skills shortages for the Information age

A million extra trained professionals are needed in IT in the next five years. Without UK wide industry action to address this need growth will slow and the UK will fail to reach its potential. As employers we will not be able to fill our vacancies and we will lose business.

As employers of IT professionals we are therefore committed to taking immediate action.

• Current recruitment practices will not give us access to the skilled people we will need. We will work with the NTO’s to identify the potential for recruiting people into IT professional roles from recruitment pools currently under used.
  
  
• Some people, from a very young age, develop a negative image of careers in IT. They think that the industry is for "nerds" only or are just very confused by what we do. This image dramatically reduces the number of people considering careers in IT. We will work with the NTO’s to look at ways to overcome this. Specifically we will:
  • Consider whether it is possible to standardise job titles across IT in the UK;
  • Look at ways we can help schools to inspire young children in IT;
  • Review the way we advertise for jobs. We recognise that changing the wording or the placing of an advertisement can make a dramatic difference to the number of women (for example) who apply;
  • Recognise the power of dramatic media. We will help writers better understand the excitement of the industry. We may not save the world everyday ¹ but it is an exciting industry and we can claim the credit for changing the way everyone lives; and
  • Compare our personnel practices with other successful organisations (particularly those that are more successful at recruiting and retaining women) and consider whether we can improve. To recruit and retain the best people we must have the best personnel practices.
    
    
• Work Experience is a valuable way for people to find out whether they are suited to a career in IT. We will work with the NTO’s to find ways to offer more quality placements.

¹ The film "Independence Day" where the computer expert saved the world by downloading a virus onto the aliens computer.