The silicon.com Skills Survey 2004: IT staff working fewer hours

silicon.com's sixth annual Skills Survey has shown that there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel for the UK IT industry – believe it or not, technology staff are now working fewer hours than at any time in the last few years.

Compared to the last two years, there has been a steady increase in the number of people saying their average working week is between 35 and 40 hours or below 35 hours a week.

In 2002, only 4.2 per cent of IT workers did less than 35 hours a week – for this year, 6.5 per cent do.

The number of techies putting in a marathon week of 50 hours or more has also dropped slightly, down from 15.3 per cent two years ago and 16.1 per cent last to 14.8 per cent this year.

With a slew of analyst houses – and a good slice of silicon.com readers in a recent poll - all predicting a recovery is already making its first tentative steps towards becoming a tangible reality, the news isn't as surprising as it may first appear.

With tech budgets increasing and business more confident about the future, techies are now able to relax a little. Firms are starting to hire more staff again or put more of their money into technology, the pressure is starting to slacken after several years of workers struggling to prove their worth and dodge the redundancy axe.

So who are the IT jobsworths and who have to be dragged from their desktops kicking and screaming?

Those who turned in the most hours were IT managers at 11.3 per cent, IT consultants at 17 per cent and board director taking the lion's share at 23.6 per cent.

Terry Watts, COO for the IT skills council e-skills, said that for IT managers and board directors long working weeks are part of the job description. "It's a sign that the IT function is becoming core to the business more and moer... they're used to that," he told silicon.com. "In small companies, IT managers often make up part of the board."

IT consultants, however, should get the gold star and the wooden spoon – they make up the largest proportion in both the longest and shortest working weeks.

Watts put the disparity down to an equally large gap in consultants' skills. "If someone has a good reputation as a technical architect, say... they can afford to be slack if they get the job done. If they're at a lower level, I would expect them to prove themselves to you" and put in the hours, he said.