Dr. Paul Carton, Research Vice President at Uptime Institute, recently stated in his blog post that finding and retaining competent data center employees has been a significant challenge for many years.
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This problem continues to pose difficulties for data center managers worldwide, with personnel and organization being the top needs of data center operators, according to the Uptime Institute's 2022 Management and Operations Study (54%).
More than half (53%) of participants in the Uptime Institute's 2022 Global Data Center Study reported that it is challenging for their companies to find suitable applicants, up from 47% last year and 38% in 2018. Staff attrition is also a major issue, with 42% of respondents indicating that their companies struggle to retain employees who are frequently lured away by competing organizations (up from 17% in 2018).
The data center industry has traditionally underrepresented women, with over 75% of owners stating that they only employ 10% or fewer women, according to the Uptime Institute. Despite the increasing number of job opportunities and the stagnant percentage of female employees, much more needs to be done to take advantage of the latent potential of the female workforce.
Respondents cited personnel problems as the most common difficulty faced in the past two years in the Uptime Institute's survey. They are grappling with "the loss of accessible and competent personnel for both technological and organizational duties," according to one respondent. Others identified insufficient amounts of operation and repair employees, staff attrition, and inadequate training/experience as major challenges for their businesses.
AI-based components are presently being integrated into data center electricity and ventilation systems, but it is not yet clear if or when artificial intelligence (AI) will replace data center workers. Only 19% of respondents believe that AI will result in a reduction in data center management personnel within the next five years. While 52% anticipate AI will eventually lead to fewer employees, it will not happen within the next five years.
Despite forecasted worldwide labor needs increasing from about 2.0 million full-time equivalents in 2019 to nearly 2.3 million by 2025, managers are finding it increasingly difficult to fill essential data center roles and maintain employees as the demand for skilled workers rises. Additionally, many current workers in more developed data center markets, such as North America and Western Europe, will leave simultaneously, causing a shortage of both numbers and expertise.
Many data center operators are not yet prepared to tighten sustainable development requirements, displaying a lack of tracking on critical environmental indicators, despite reporting total energy consumption and PUE. While 63% of operators anticipate public submission of data on their environmental impact in five years, only 37% disclose carbon emissions and 39% report on water usage. New laws and regulations will soon necessitate more strict tracking and reporting for sustainable development.
While the annual Energy Efficiency Assessment Index slightly improved from 1.57 in 2021 to 1.55 in 2022, outages continue to be a major issue. The number of outages costing operators over $1 million rose from 15% to 25% since last year, with 60% reporting an outage event in the past three years. Despite a general trend towards fewer outages, current rates remain too high.
Data center equipment suppliers remain optimistic amid supply chain problems, with three-quarters forecasting revenue growth in 2022. However, half of those involved in data center construction reported significant supply chain delays, while one third experienced moderate issues. Challenges in attracting and retaining qualified personnel also persist, with 53% of operators experiencing difficulties finding qualified employees, a significant increase from previous years.
Despite this, operators are investing in facility fault tolerance and upgrading power and cooling systems, indicating a growing trust in the public cloud, as only 63% do not use it for critical workloads. The industry is expected to implement more robust tracking and reporting methods for sustainable development in response to upcoming laws and regulations.