Revealing the Impact of Staffing Shortages in the Data Center Industry

The outbreak of Covid-19 resurrected the testing of data centers when a vast workforce unexpectedly relocated to remote work during the global recession

 After the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe, the global data center industry size has seen a big increase. Owing to the increased exposure to internet-related resources funded by nation-wide lockdowns enforced by governments worldwide, demand for data centers has escalated. According to Arizton, "The global data center market size will reach USD 251 billion during 2021-2026, growing at a CAGR of 4.5%."

It has recently been observed that there is a simultaneous need for more workers with the expected growth in the data-center industry. Network World mentions that, according to a report from the Uptime Institute, the number of staff needed to run the world's data centers will grow from around two million in 2019 to nearly 2.3 million by 2025.

This estimate covers more than 230 technical job roles for different types and sizes of data centers, with varying criticality requirements, from design to operation, and across all global regions.

Reasons for Industry Staffing Shortages

The sector is already struggling from shortages of personnel. 50% of those surveyed by the Uptime Institute have found it difficult currently to find candidates for vacant positions, up from 38% in 2018. The need for recruiters and the exclusion of any other candidate who does not comply with the profile partially explains the deficiencies.

While employers usually have high demands on eligibility requirements, a high level of education is not always required by data centers. In other words, in most positions, professional experience, an internship or work-study training can compensate for the lack of skills and experience.

Most sectors are having a hard time finding qualified talent today as it is even harder for data centers to hire high-demand roles such as technicians and analysts of power systems, control specialists of facilities, robotics technologists, and so on. A specialized mix of skills requires success in the data center environment. First, infrastructure skills, such as firsthand mechanical or electrical equipment expertise are required. It is also extremely important to have basic technology skills, such as programming and skill set with specific technology platforms and tools. In addition, data centers need specialists with problem-solving abilities and the determination to practice them, ability to think critically, a mission-driven emphasis on business objectives, and excellent customer support and teamwork ability. It's a diverse applicant profile that has made it tougher than ever to fill today's data center positions.

And that isn't even considering the jobs outside the data centers into consideration. There is also a strong demand for IT and software expertise for the workplaces and offices of today's data center companies, making the proportion of qualified workers to total jobs in the field far higher than in other sectors. This is why many data centers run understaffed and overburdened today with a higher than expected number of open roles that go unfilled.

Effect of Covid-19 in the Sector of Data Centers

The outbreak of Covid-19 resurrected the testing of data centers when a vast workforce unexpectedly relocated to remote work during the global recession. Since data center services worked at full power, businesses were able to connect, handle and manage their data from a remote environment to the degree that data center services were listed as one of the critical services. The advent and adoption of the modern standard of cloud adoption and digital technology advancement have now become the foundations of post-Covid-19 world business continuity strategies.