News Feature | October 10, 2014

HIT Consultants Happy, Full-Time IT Professionals Are Not

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

HIT Consultant Growth

Report finds 13%t of HIT full-time employees very likely to switch to consulting.

Healthcare IT Consultants are happier than their full-time IT Professional counterparts, according to a new study conducted by Healthcare IT Leaders. The study surveyed 446 IT employees in May 2014, 198 of whom were self-identified as permanent IT professionals with a healthcare industry employer, and 248 who were IT consultants with healthcare clients.

The survey found that while HIT professionals are in high demand, many of them are constantly keeping an eye on the job market and their next career move. It also revealed:

  • HIT professionals rank “better compensation” as the top reason they would consider changing jobs.
  • A significant majority of all HIT professionals say their work is “extremely meaningful” or “very meaningful,” which correlates strongly to job satisfaction.
  • Thirteen percent of HIT full-time employees say they are “very likely” to switch to consulting.
  • Only one in 10 HIT workers is completely satisfied with their job, the rest are actively job hunting or passively open to new opportunities.

Meanwhile, many healthcare IT consultants report they are riding sky-high on a surplus of challenging projects and ever-increasing pay rates. In fact, 43 percent of HIT consultants responded they were very satisfied with their jobs, compared to just 19 percent of full-time HIT employees. And only 2 percent of consultants stated they were very dissatisfied, compared to 12 percent of FTE respondents. And in both categories, 76 percent of those who reported being most unhappy also stated that they were actively searching for a new position.

The survey showed consultants generally make more money than FTE HIT personnel, and perhaps not surprisingly, consultants are happier with their pay. Forty percent of consultants stated that they were very satisfied with their current pay, compared to just 18 percent of FTEs, while 28 percent of FTEs reported being somewhat or very dissatisfied with their pay, while only 12 percent of consultants felt the same way.

Both groups reported that they found their jobs to be extremely or very challenging – 54 percent of each group, to be exact. This is not surprising, given the growing complexity of HIT initiatives, the growing volume of work resulting from government mandates, and rapid advances in areas such as cloud computing, big data, and interoperability.

What is somewhat surprising, however, is that challenging work correlates to high levels of job satisfaction among consultants, but not among FTEs. In fact, almost a quarter of FTEs who ranked their jobs as extremely challenging also said that they were very dissatisfied with their jobs.

Overall, responses from both constituencies suggest large segments of each believe the grass to be greener on the other side. Consultants tend to be travel-weary or worried about their future prospects and therefore look for the security of a full-time position. On the other hand, FTEs may see the higher pay and relative autonomy of consultant as preferable to their current roles.