Posted by Ben Worthen

Corporate-technology heads are becoming less strategic to their organizations. And it looks like they’re not going to stand for it.

CIOs may need these

That’s according to a new survey of over 650 chief information officers by the staffing company Harvey Nash. Only 62% of CIOs said that their role was becoming more strategic, according to the survey. That’s not so bad on its own, but it’s a 14% drop from last year’s survey. This has some CIOs unsettled: Only 31% of CIOs said they are very fulfilled with their job and a staggering number are open to a new job. Twenty-nine percent say they are actively applying for new jobs, 43% will take a call from a headhunter, and 21% are keeping an eye on the market, according to the survey. (For the math challenged, that means only 7% aren’t open to a new job.) No surprise given the other results, 58% of CIOs say they plan to leave their current job within 24 months.

The big caveat: The CIOs surveyed are based in the U.K., not the U.S. But a third are responsible for information technology at their companies globally. Plus, the challenges they describe are remarkably similar to the ones their U.S. colleagues describe.

A few other notes from the survey: CIOs in the U.K. fit the stereotype to perfection. Seventy-eight percent are over 40-years old – 24% are over 50 – and 90% are male. And in a sign that CIOs may know that fighting the influx of consumer technology into the workplace is futile, only 36% of CIOs say the computing environment they offer employees at work is better than the ones workers have at home.