Why IT Pros Are Feeling Less Stressed About Work

Far fewer technology employees feel overwhelmed with stress these days, according to TEKsystems' annual "IT Stress and Pride" survey. Findings show significant improvements on this front in multiple areas. For one thing, IT pros are far less likely to be expected to be on call 24/7 during the work week than they were two years ago. And, when they are on vacation, more tech staffers are actually enjoying their vacation, rather than fielding phone calls and emails from the office. Even more significantly, a greater number consider the current work they're doing as the most satisfying of their career, and many are proud that they chose IT as their vocation. "The last two years have been a time of lower stress levels for IT professionals," said Jason Hayman, research manager for TEKsystems. "IT may be focused on maintaining core IT programs while overall trends—appropriate staffing levels, decentralization of new [line-of-business] LOB-focused IT programs, outsourcing, BYOD [bring-your-own-device] initiatives and others—have all contributed to allowing workloads to be reasonable. The big picture looks positive in terms of IT professionals' satisfaction with their career choice and outlook toward future options." More than 240 U.S. tech employees took part in the research.