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IT pros more likely to suffer from stress, says new survey

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    IT pros more likely to suffer from stress, says new survey

    http://www.skillsoft.com/emea/news/19-may-06.asp

    IT pros more likely to suffer from stress, says new survey


    IT experts are more likely to suffer from stress than any other professional, according to a new survey.

    A staggering 97 per cent of people working in IT claim to find their life at work stressful on a daily basis.

    Four out of five IT consultants feel stressed before they even enter the workplace, in anticipation of another day juggling complaints, pressure from managers and daily targets.

    And a quarter of IT experts are under such enormous pressure to perform at work they have taken time off suffering with stress.

    The poll of over 3,000 people, conducted by SWNS on behalf of online learning provider, SkillSoft, revealed that a third of IT professionals say it is difficult to get the work done when managers are constantly on their backs.

    One IT respondent said: “I spend most of my day fielding calls from people who don’t even have a basic knowledge of computers and printers.

    “It is amazing the amount of time I spend teaching people where the on-off button is.

    “And when I do actually find a technical problem to solve, I have my manager breathing down my neck wondering why I have a backlog of complaints.”

    Kevin Young, managing director of SkillSoft says: “Our research was sparked by a recent Gartner report which claims that the untrained or under-trained desktop user will cost an organisation five times more to support than a well-trained worker. This led us to thinking about how much pressure this must also put on the IT professionals who have to provide such support.

    “By commissioning this study, our aim was to establish to what level workload affects the stress levels of people working in IT and across a variety of other job disciplines; and to learn more about the sort of other factors that impact on stress in the workplace.”

    People working in medical professions have the second most stressful job – with 96.8 per cent saying caring for others is rewarding but traumatic on the same hand.

    Engineers, Sales and Marketing professionals and Teachers also have demanding roles, according to the poll.

    The poll reveals that 37 per cent of folk find it difficult to meet deadlines, whilst 31 per cent stress about taking on other people’s work.

    A disgruntled 28 per cent say they lack job satisfaction, and would prefer to work elsewhere.

    A third of people would rather be their own boss, and have complete control over their daily duties.

    And employees claim to feel put-upon and suffer most at the hands of their managers – who are blamed for lack of support, increasing pressure, interruptions and bullying behaviour.

    Kevin Young continues: “According to the Health & Safety Executive, stress is now the biggest cause of working days lost through injury or ill-health (an estimated 12.8 million lost days each year). And the TUC estimates that work-related stress costs the economy up to £7bn per annum.

    “By understanding more about what makes people stressed at work, organisations are much better placed to manage its causes.”

    TOP TEN STRESSFUL PROFESSIONS

    1. IT
    2. Medicine / Caring Profession
    3. Engineering
    4. Sales and Marketing
    5. Education
    6. Finance
    7. Human Resources
    8. Operations
    9. Production
    10. Clerical

    TOP TEN WORK STRESSES

    1. Workload
    2. Feeling undervalued
    3. Deadlines
    4. Type of work people have to do
    5. Having to take on other people’s work
    6. Lack of job satisfaction
    7. Lack of control over the working day
    8. Having to work long hours
    9. Frustration with the working environment
    10. Targets

    TOP TEN COLLEAGUE IRRITATIONS

    1. Seeing others not pulling their weight
    2. Managers changing their minds about what they want doing
    3. Lack of support from managers
    4. Pressure from managers
    5. Feeling put-upon by managers
    6. Interruptions by colleagues
    7. Interruptions by managers
    8. Bullying behaviour by managers
    9. Lack of support from colleagues
    10. Bullying behaviour by colleagues
    I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

    #2
    Interesting article

    I can well sympathise with this.

    I've been on the receiving end of tearful, angry or violent users, who are completely devastated when their computer does something unexpected.

    Case in point. Today. Doctor's Surgery. Doctor was creating his password for his Choose and Book smart card.

    The prompt on screen... "Please enter a password between 4 and 8 characters in length"

    I was standing behind him, just watching the process.

    Doctor tippity-tap-taps....Error......"please enter again...."...Doctor curses....types again.....Error...."please enter again....."

    Doctor turns to me and says...

    "Er, you're the IT chappie...what's this all about ?"

    I explain, "It wants you to enter a password between 4 and 8 characters long."

    Doctor (and I am not joking) : "What does that mean ?"

    At this point, there is a fundamental change in the "Universe according to BGG".

    Somthing inside me dies.

    I have no idea if it is an important something, like the left ventricle of a heart chamber, or something trivial like a fleck of dead skin falling off my left ear-lobe.

    With a weary heart, I repeat the message to the Doctor.

    "It means that your password has to be between 4 and 8 characters long."

    Now, the more astute amongst you will have noticed that there was no additional information in my explanation beyond that proffered by the computer.

    However, when spoken in a highly sarcastic and annoyed tone, that implied the threat of sudden and gratitious violence, coupled with complete disrepect of a highly-educated professional, the end result was amazing.

    The Doctor had an epihany on the spot !

    Disappointed, I put the Epidural equipment down. Perhaps it would see active service another time, but not today.

    "So, what you are saying", he said, "is that my password has to be between 4 and 8 characters long ?"

    I stood there. Motionless. Wondering how many years in prison I would get for stabbing him repeatedly in the eye with the closest object to hand. Which happened to be a secretarial typist's chair.

    I nodded in affirmation.

    The Doctor gingerly typed in his new, improved password. Hey Presto ! It worked ! The clouds parted above the practice, shafts of sunlight shone down from the heavens, and cherubs themselves flew down and flitted about the room. All was good with the world, once again.

    "Well, you can tell your people not to make things so bl00dy complicated", and with that, Doctor Chaos muttered his way out of the room.

    After 8 hours in extensive surgery, they are still trying to remove the chair from his rectum.

    Yes.....I do get stressed, because I get shouted at for someone else's stupidity. Someone who is meant to be infinitely more intelligent than me, ie, a Doctor.

    I suppose Doctor's in their defense might say, "We are specialists in our field, and you are in yours"......but that is just a cop out answer for not reading the bleeding screen and applying some common sense.

    I really can understand the stress factor though. As soon as I hear "I think I've got a little problem with the computer" my mind starts racing with things like HDD Failure, Virus, Incorrect Service Pack, Corrupt File(s) immediately followed by "Guess which muggins has to sort out this crap (again)."

    I'm seriously of the opinion that the worst thing Microsoft ever did was to release Windows 95. It signalled to the world that "computers can't be that hard, can they ?" and ushered in a new age of doom for the IT technicians.

    Now we have the world and his dog fekking about with computers and mucking things up left, right and centre.

    Sure, the opportunist in me says "Geek ? Be thankful that they know not what they do, for the path to Wonga that way lies", but, and it's a big but,

    My blood-pressure starts to go sky high when I hear those infamous words....

    "I gotta problem with my computer............"

    Because what follows next is "and if you can't fix it, then my life is ruined, because I have lost all my data, and the cat will die of syphillis and the children now have Down's Syndrome, and next door have just got a bigger car than us, and if my daughter can't get her homework done within the next 23 milliseconds then she will be defenestrated by her headteacher, and everything in the whole town will die immediately"........

    .....which you know, and I know is complete bull......

    .....but.......

    ....they have now made the complete collapse of their world YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY........

    ....and most IT Geeks are too polite to say....you are a fckwit, and shouldn't have a computer in the first place. Even if that's what we think inside.
    Last edited by Board Game Geek; 17 May 2006, 22:35.
    Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

    C.S. Lewis

    Comment


      #3
      I think IT is a piece of piss.

      Cushy number.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Board Game Geek
        The prompt on screen... "Please enter a password between 4 and 8 characters in length"
        A programmer that puts upper limit on password to something like 8 or 12 or even 16 chars should be fired on the spot.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by DimPrawn
          I think IT is a piece of piss.

          Cushy number.
          Feck me - don't you have any kind of life Prawn? Even at the bottom of a shallow rock pool at low tide?

          It's 23.27 on a Wednesday - I've just come back to check my emails, after a riotous night down the pub watching Arsenal bomb, and there's the Dim Prawn (and others) hanging around on here.

          Nighty night!

          You've come right out the other side of the forest of irony and ended up in the desert of wrong.

          Comment


            #6
            I think IT is a piece of piss.
            Absolutely, 100 %, bet your mortgage on it agree!

            IT must have one of the lowest stress : £ ratios around - especially Contracting.

            Oh and I've just watched the Arsenal Game and I'm getting paid for writing this!

            Shame the Gunners were let down by dirty, cynical Lehman. He should have walked and the goal should have stood!
            Last edited by Alf W; 17 May 2006, 22:36.
            Guy Fawkes - "The last man to enter Parliament with honourable intentions."

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by AtW
              A programmer that puts upper limit on password to something like 8 or 12 or even 16 chars should be fired on the spot.
              Absolutely agree with you on that!
              Insanity: repeating the same actions, but expecting different results.
              threadeds website, and here's my blog.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by DimPrawn
                I think IT is a piece of piss.

                Cushy number.
                Yeah! Most people who get stressed in this game are really not cut out for it.

                threaded in "The reason I don't look busy is because I got it right first time" mode.
                Insanity: repeating the same actions, but expecting different results.
                threadeds website, and here's my blog.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by AtW
                  A programmer that puts upper limit on password to something like 8 or 12 or even 16 chars should be fired on the spot.
                  So shouls a programmer who makes such a sweeping statement without taking into consideration system limitations!

                  Fecking C# walla!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by threaded
                    threaded in "The reason I don't look busy is because I got it right first time" mode.
                    surely : Threaded - in "is it lunch time yet?" mode.

                    Comment

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