Only nine percent of information technology leaders say they have a formal, very well-defined process in place to address the organization’s current workforce planning strategy, and just eight percent have a process for addressing future workforce planning strategies, according to results of TEKsystems’ IT executive outlook survey, released Aug. 16.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents say they plan for the next year, while less than 20 percent plan for the next two years and only six percent address workforce planning for the next five years.

Meanwhile, only 15 percent of IT leaders say their companies are very good or excellent at succession planning, while 28 percent say the same about retaining employees.

“IT departments are constantly assembling teams to tackle emerging trends and stay ahead in a changing marketplace. Proactive workforce planning is an essential and competitive capability for high performance IT organizations as it ensures they have the skills required to meet project milestones and handle the ebbs and flows of workloads as projects evolve,” said Rachel Russell, TEKsystems’ director.

TEKsystems, a technology staffing and services company, partners with the Inavero Institute to conduct the quarterly survey of nearly 3,000 IT leaders.