IT workload is getting bigger

More than half of CIOs say their IT staff has taken on bigger workloads this year, but not necessarily for the reason most would expect. Only 9% of CIOs surveyed by recruitment firm Robert Half Technology attributed the extra work to reduced staffs because of layoffs. New initiatives are the biggest culprit contributing to rising workloads, according to 46% of those surveyed.

Robert Half Technology asked CIOs how the workload of their IT staff has changed in the past 12 months. Of the 1,400 respondents, 20% said it had increased significantly; 35% said it increased somewhat; 38% said there was no change; 6% said the workload had decreased; and 1% didn’t know or answer.

CIOs citing an increase were asked to identify the main factor contributing to a growing workload. According to their responses, 46% accounted the bigger workload to new projects; 36% said the cause was corporate expansion; 9% cited decreased IT staff size; 8% chalked it up to other unspecified reasons; while 1% didn’t know or didn’t answer.

“Many companies that postponed hardware and software upgrades to save costs are now faced with a business need to move forward with these projects,” says Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. “A number of the systems purchased during the technology boom of the late nineties, for example, are nearing the end of their lifecycle and must be updated or replaced.”

For more information about Robert Half Technology go to  www.roberthalftechnology.com