Hi-Tech Workers In High Demand

Whether they're offering athletic facilities or a full espresso bar, computer industry companies are doing whatever they can to keep employees happy, reports CBS News Correspondent John Blackstone.

"From corporate concierge services to dry cleaning being done for you, and laundry being done while you work and meals at your desk," says Roger Herman, who studies trends in the workforce. Right now, he says, high tech companies have to offer unusual fringe benefits to hang onto workers.

"People are definitely job hopping in Silicon Valley," he says.

Marcy Keenan has done her share of job hopping. Her resume sounds like a whirlwind. Now on her third job in 18 months, she says she's settled in at Kana Communications, a hot startup in Internet e-mail.

"Once I got to Silicon Valley," says Keenan, "there were a lot of opportunities for someone who had a high-tech background who could sell enterprise software and really focus on the customer."

Particularly now with the fast-growing Internet economy there seem to be more opportunities than there are workers. People are moving from job to job with surprising speed.

"Most companies lose about 25 per cent," says Phil Hakke, a recruiter in Silicon Valley. "You're going to lose a quarter of your workforce every year."

The competition for workers is driving up salaries in Silicon Valley, and that makes life good here right now. The average income for workers in the software industry here now approaches a hundred thousand dollars a year. And stock options have populated this place with millionaires.

Many workers in their twenties and thirties can already contemplate retirement. Many young high-tech workers are planning for that. "I'm looking forward to that day," says Keenan with a laugh.

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