Employees in the IT industry are each fitting the equivalent of 7.5 work days into the working week and it's leading to stress and work-worries.
In a survey of over 2,000 British employees, specialist recruiter Randstad found that on average IT workers feel they currently have to perform the job of one and a half people, the equivalent of fitting an extra two and a half work days into the working week. In comparison the average British professional feels they currently have to perform the job of 1.3 people meaning they are covering 30% more work than one person should be.
While a third of IT workers feel their workload is suitable for one person, more than one in four (26%) feel that in an ideal world their role would need one full time and one part-time member of staff. Nearly one in five (17%) believe their role needs two full-time people to manage the level of work while 14% feel their role really needs at least two full-time members of staff as well as an additional one part-time person.
Over a third (34.5%) of employees in the sector feel they are working harder now than they were twelve months ago while only one in five workers (19.5%) feel their workloads have eased over this period.
Rising stress and work worries also mean that holidays are unable to provide suitable respite. Over half (56%) of IT employees don't feel they can completely switch off from work when on holiday with one in five (21%) of workers stating they know that clearing the backlog of work from their time away will make them feel like they've had no break at all.
Mike Beresford, managing director of Randstad Technologies, said: "The IT industry is under immense pressure. With the economic outlook so uncertain it's understandable that management are keeping workforces as lean as possible. Unfortunately, this isn't a sustainable model.
"Making fewer people work harder can improve the bottom line initially, but in the long-run, spreading the workforce too thin leads to burnout, mistakes and lower productivity. Not something the sector needs at the moment."
