How much does it cost to hire internal IT staff?
Today we're going to provide you with some resources and insight into how much it costs to hire an IT professional. When businesses start looking at the cost to hire internally compared to the cost of partnering with a local IT company the differences can be rather eye opening. Even in cases where a business may already have internal IT staff, a service like our Complete Care offering, can be used to provide a full service help desk without the burden and cost of hiring a single employee to accomplish the same goal.Now, of course, there are many different IT roles that you may be looking at but today we're going to primarily focus on Systems and Network Administrators. These are the people that are capable of keeping your core IT infrastructure up and running and are responsible for knowing all of the complexities of your network as well as how all of the hardware and software interact to keep your business running smoothly day in and day out.There are a host of industry staffing firms and trade magazines that publish IT specific salary guides, a few of which I've listed below:
- Robert Half
- Dice - Technology Salary Survey
- Computerworld - Salary Survey
- Indeed.com - Salary Search
These can all be used as a reference point for getting a good idea of what you'll be looking to pay when you hire an IT professional but the main resource you should be using is the data that comes in from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or BLS. While the above links are generally industry specific they often come from surveys and polls which don't always truly reflect the going market rate. The BLS statistics on the other hand are a solid representation of what IT professionals are actually making in your area. Here is the average pay for an IT professional working in Washington State.Network and Computer Systems Administrators:Salary: $83,490Hourly: $40.14Computer Network Support Specialists:Salary: $71,370Hourly: $34.31Computer User Support Specialists:Salary: $56,310Hourly: $27.07You can verify this information and check other IT salaries by viewing the current data posted on the BLS website. You'll find the positions listed under "Computer and Mathematical Occupations." These numbers do not include bonuses or benefits such as healthcare and the day to day duties and skill set for the positions can vary widely. In some places you'll find some very good employees making below average wages where a nominally skilled employee could be over paid. It's often difficult for most companies to recognize and evaluate the talent level they are hiring so they can align it with appropriate compensation. To further complicate the process, IT is a highly competitive field and turnover can be quite high.For the reasons listed above and the 30% addition for taxes and benefits, it generally makes a lot more sense for small businesses to partner with a technology firm that provides managed services rather than hire internal staff. If, however, you do want to move forward with hiring someone to join your team, you now have some good resources to gain some insight into the current market. If you'd like to hear about our Complete Care service and how much you can save compared to hiring internally (hint, it's typically about half the cost), give us a call! Want Bellingham IT blog updates to hit your email? Click here to subscribePhoto Cred: BLS