Electronic Media

Published: 06-17-96



Internet Boom May Lead to Employee Exodus



By - Joe Fedele 



The Internet revolution has spawned a new industry and sent people scurrying to get online, to 

the tune of an estimated 4 million new Internet accounts this year. The number of new or 

planned Web sites is keeping pace with the growth.



From my point of view, one of the tasty little dividends of all this is the increasing demand for 

computer-literate Web site editors, coordinators and tech support engineers. Just look at the 

classified section of this newspaper and you'll see ads for jobs that were unheard of a year ago. 

This is in stark contrast to the mid-'80s when mass layoffs were just another fact of life. Luckily, 

the pendulum is swinging back the other way.



I believe we are about to witness a hiring boom in which workers with that certain special talent 

such as HTML editing and server installation and maintenance will find their niche in a changing 

marketplace. 



The net result of all this (no pun intended) is that your station may very well lose employees in 

virtually every department The effect on broadcasters could be traumatic as some of their top 

sales, advertising and technical employees are hijacked by a growing industry. 



Managers, a word to the wise: It all starts with your technical staff. You see, someone has to 

build and maintain the Internet.



Next come the Web designers. You could expect to lose your best graphics people to that wave 

of new jobs. Advertising, promotion and sales staff could follow in short order. Smart managers 

will take precautions to head off losing their best people.



First, if you don't have a Web site yet, start one. A site could become your station's first crucial 

link to an interactive TV service.  What's more, creating a site gives your in-house talent a 

creative outlet and keeps them working for you in-stead of the competition. An added benefit is 

that going online attracts  other creative people to your station.



On the same note, keep Internet skills in mind while hiring. Your technical staff, for instance, 

should be well-versed in dealing with computers and computer-related problems. Computer 

literacy may very well become an absolute minimum requirement for most positions. 



Lastly, review your operating and capital budgets and make sure you're reasonably funded for 

computers, training and increased salaries, so that you can have a chance in keeping your most 

valuable asset, your staff.