As the economy strengthens and more opportunities arise for IT talent, employer concerns peak, according to surveys released today by Protech. The Boca Raton Fla.-based IT staffing firm surveyed South Florida IT leaders and found 69% of employers are concerned about losing talent, up from 63% last year.

“We continue to see a strong shift from an employer-driven market to a candidate-driven market, where candidates are weighing multiple offers and sign-on bonuses are coming back,” said Protech CEO Deborah Vazquez.

According to the Tech Leadership Survey, 73% of South Florida IT leaders perceive the overall economy is getting stronger, up significantly from 47% last year. And strong hiring activity is predicted to continue into 2015 with 81% of IT leaders ranking the IT industry as being “very strong” in terms of hiring activity, up from 56% last year.

IT budgets in 2015 for South Florida have also increased 10% compared to 9% last year, with 42% of IT leaders reporting that IT budgets are adequate for their needs, up from only 37% last year.

Primary reasons cited by employers for losing staff are compensation, at 71%, followed by lack of career path at 18%, benefits at 6% and company culture at 4%. According to Protech’s Tech Talent survey, 88% of employees are willing to change jobs, with better compensation and leadership quality cited as most important when considering a job offer.

The top reasons cited by employees were salary at 42%, company culture at 16%, and lack of career path at 15%. Salary has been consistently ranked first. However, company culture has been the fastest moving of the three; it is now the second most important reason for employees who are considering leaving their current employer, up from ranking fifth in 2013 and third last year.

Protech surveyed almost 900 IT director to CIO level executives for its 13th annual Tech Leadership Survey; and over 22,000 IT professionals for its 11th annual Tech Talent survey. All participants are located in the South Florida tri-county area.