The numbers are grim, but so far, the reality has been more manageable. That's the viewpoint of Missouri Chief Information Officer Rich Kliethermes, who spoke with Government Technology at the annual National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) conference late last year about the impending silver tsunami of retirements that have been forecasted to hit government IT.
The IT team numbers about 950 in Missouri. "We average between 10 to 12 retirements, resignations, terminations a month in Missouri, from the IT perspective," Kliethermes said. In the video above, he details the percentage of his workforce eligible to retire within the next few years.
It's a concern many CIOs share. The Center for Digital Government's* 2017 Digital Counties survey reveals that IT staffing is the No. 2 concern on the minds of county-level technology leaders, while the most recent Digital States survey has the issue ranking as No. 4 on state CIO priority lists.
"Knock on wood, but as of yet, it hasn't been a full wave of that silver color coming through our organization."
*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, Government Technology's parent company.