* IT workers stressed with overtime
One IT executive recently recommended to his peers to curb staff overtime, noting that IT workers are already a frazzled bunch who face dangerous stress.
As reported by Computerworld, sister company to Network World, Seminole Electric Cooperative CIO William Cross is something of an expert on the topic. He notes that techies tend to work long hours, deal with systems that can cause frustration. Requiring your IT staff to come in nights or weekends will only add to that strain.
However, requiring staff to work overtime is a common practice in IT. A recent survey conducted by King Research for automation vendor KACE revealed that 87% of IT workers in midsize companies need to work outside of regular business hours to complete routine IT tasks such as software upgrades, inventory, patch management and security vulnerability assessment. Rather than disrupt employee access to applications and the network, most need to perform this work after hours.
The need to clock in outside of traditional hours is greatest for IT departments in midsize companies. By contrast, 20% of IT staff at large companies are able to avoid working evenings, weekends and holidays, as do 34% at small companies. And IT workers at midsize companies do more work late at night (25%), compared to 20% at large companies at 13% at small companies.
Holidays aren’t necessarily cause for celebration either, as 68% of respondents have been required to work a major holiday to perform routine IT tasks. Here, the larger the company, the more holidays worked. According to the results, 58% of IT pros at small companies were required to work holidays, compared to 68% at midsize companies and 84% at large firms.
Long weekends like Memorial Day and Labor Day are the most commonly worked, as cited by 59% of the respondents. Next, 21% report having worked Thanksgiving, 20% New Year’s Day, and 12% Christmas.
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