The majority (74%) of IT professionals work unpaid overtime each week.
According to a survey from Lieberman Software, that amount of IT OT can be significant: 34% reported working an average of more than 15 extra hours a week. Only a quarter (26%) of respondents said they usually go home on time.
About 15% work between 10 and 15 extra hours, and 10% work between 5 and 9 additional hours per week on average.
Respondents were also asked how they are trained to use new IT security products. Alarmingly, 35% said they train themselves. However, most (52%) are taught how to use the product by the vendor, while 12% are taught by a third-party trainer.
Most unfortunate, only 1% said they ignore the product altogether because they don’t have time to learn how to use it.
“While the numbers are illuminating, it‘s no secret that IT staff are often overworked and underpaid,” the firm said. “So how can we expect them to stay on top of all the cybersecurity threats attacking their organizations alongside all the other tasks they have, like making sure systems stay up and running? In order to help their IT staff, organizations should invest in automated IT security solutions that save time and are more efficient than manual operations.”
This would include technology such as privileged identity management (PIM), Lieberman added, which can automate the discovery and rotation of privileged credentials in an enterprise.
“So, rather than spending untold hours attempting to manually track and change these passwords on a regular basis, PIM solutions can quickly handle this critical task in the background,” it said. “That means more time for IT folks to dedicate to other duties, and hopefully fewer hours of overtime work.”
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