Would you take less pay to cut job stress?

WASHINGTON — Stress levels among IT workers remain low, according to IT staffing firm TEKsystems, but those who are stressed would take a pay cut to get rid of it.

While the annual survey points to reasonable levels of stress, it also shows a decline in satisfaction levels with current roles and responsibilities.

When asked whether they’d ever considered taking a new position that would pay less in order to escape stress levels at work, 41 percent of entry-level and midlevel IT employees said yes, down from 69 percent two years ago. But 49 percent of senior level IT workers said they’d take a pay cut in exchange for less stress, more than double those who said so in 2014.

The biggest causes of stress among IT professionals are keeping up with the workload, the impact on work-life balance, keeping up with technology and interacting with co-workers and supervisors.

But not many IT professionals are subject to middle-of-the-night fire calls.

Only 19 percent of senior level workers said they are expected to be accessible 24/7 — no excuses, and only 17 percent of entry-level and midlevel employees said so.

The online survey of more than 240 IT professionals in the U.S. and Canada was conducted in April.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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