A recent UK survey of companies and institutions revealed that 79% of employees conduct confidential conversations by cell phone, and 51% do so on a daily basis. However, only 18% of companies had security software in place on their phones.

Even businesses that carefully secure other communications may be unaware of the issue. Most people are used to making calls from standard, wired telephones, where security isn’t that big of an issue (unless the police or the FBI are wiretapping you). But cell phone signals can be picked up far more easily.

Cell phone service providers do provide some encryption with their services, but it is highly vulnerable.

What this means for your business is that such critical details as sales discounts, planned bids and sales leads, which are often discussed via cell phone, might fall into your rivals’ hands.

Problems could stem from a lack of communication between IT and management. If IT isn’t aware of what sort of calls are being made on the company-owned equipment, they may neglect to take proper security measures.

It’s important for IT to know what company-issued phones are being used for. That way, they can increase protection on the phone, if necessary.

Soon, they warn, there’s going to be an explosion in the number of IT-related jobs available, making it tough for companies to hire and keep employees with tech skills.

The reason: a demand from the federal government for more computerization in the health industry. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act earmarked $19 billion in incentives for hospitals and doctors’ offices to use electronic records, and laid out financial penalties for those that don’t make the switch by 2015.

The feds are also expected to increase spending in other IT areas, such as energy and green building projects.

The upshot: a lot of IT job openings appearing suddenly. Estimates for new health IT positions range from 41,000 to 200,000, according to Dr. William Hersh of Oregon Health & Science University.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates demand for network systems and data communications analytics to go up 53% by 2016. Demand for other IT skills, such as database administration, will rise at least 20%, BLS says.

Tech people tend to ask candidates tech questions — the candidate’s qualifications and competencies in appropriate hardware and software. Of course that’s important. HR, however, can provide a valuable service to IT and the company by first filtering candidates.

Business consultant Mike Gorsage, writing in Inc. com, recommends these two questions to help you select the right people:

1. Tell me about the times you were involved in IT problems with business functions — such as on-time processing of orders. How did you solve it? What did you recommend? If you had been in a position of authority, what would you have recommended?

Here’s the answer you don’t want: “We needed to spend more money or hire more people.” Too many ITers think upgrades or more people will solve every problem.

Of course, sometimes parting with some cash is necessary, but it shouldn’t always be the answer.

What you’re looking for: ideas on how the candidate shifted — or would have shifted — people and resources to fix the problem. IT consultants say, more often than not, IT business functions fail because resources aren’t allocated correctly, not because of too few resources.

You want a candidate who knows that.

2. If you were picking a new system for us, what would be your top priorities for selecting that system?

There are plenty of good answers for this one — it must meet the needs, be within company budget, allow for easy transition from old to new, be backed up by training and service, and so on.

If one of those answers pops us, so far, so good.

The answer (or some variation of it) that would be the icing on the cake: “I’d make sure the system was expandable to accommodate growth, so that we wouldn’t have to go out and buy another new system every time the company grows.”

That shows good business sense. The candidate who provides that answer is aware of what makes a company successful — growth — and IT’s role in that success.

Just me: 46%

2 to 5: 35%

More than 5: 19%

Interesting note: Most of the people we talked to – whether in a one-person department or a group – said they were juggling other balls, doing tasks outside of the normal responsibilities of HR. For instance, some were serving as the organization’s safety manager.

Innovative time management

So how were they finding the time to handle all the other duties piled on a typical HR specialist?

Some said they had managed to carve out a little of the IT department’s time to put up an HR intranet where employees can go to find information and answers to questions, meaning workers don’t have to run into HR with every little concern. That’s a timesaver, even though most said their intranet was fairly basic, with few fancy features.

Another time-saver: Some HR managers train employees on how to deal with benefits providers, such as insurance companies. That saves time in the long run because employees then contact the providers directly instead of expecting HR to do it.

Some HR managers hear the term “temp worker” and immediately think “low-ambition slacker.” Think again. Hiring temps has become cool – and rewarding for employers.

Consider: Since 1990, the number of temporary workers in the United States has doubled. And the U.S. Dept. of Labor projects that by 2012 the number will grow by another 50%.

OK, so maybe you’re saying, “Sure, maybe we can use temps to fill low-level leftover jobs that our permanent people don’t want.” Maybe, but that’s not what other employers are doing.

3 good reasons

In fact, the temp market is brimming with high-skill workers in fields like IT, and companies are scooping up those workers, for at least three good reasons:

1. Temps can transform your workforce and your business into lean, quick-reacting machine. They come in, they do the job and they leave. There’s little or no downside.

2. You can use them as try-outs for permanent positions. Some will like the way you operate, and you’ll like some of them. That gives you an instant talent pool to draw from.

3. A lot of them are Baby Boomers. Not that Boomers are better, necessarily, but many are mature, experienced workers who’ve left the daily grind and are looking to catch on as temps. Often, they don’t want a lot of fancy, expensive fringe benefits. They want to do the job well and get a paycheck. Not a bad deal for you or them.

Does your CFO hate the idea of paying the fees required to hire good temps? You might mention all the costs associated with hiring permanent employees, and the pain involved when business hits a slow spot and you’re forced to go to layoffs.

All in all, it looks like the temp trend is one no employer can afford to ignore.