Survey: Data Center Staff in the Dumps

Data centers and IT departments are not among the happiest working environments on earth, according to Meta Group Inc.'s annual IT staffing and compensation survey.

Nearly 75 percent of the 650 companies interviewed reported having a morale problem among their IT staff. Though the industry as a whole is emerging from an economic downturn, it appears that many staff are still stuck in the doldrums.

"It doesn't surprise me all that much. I think that IT professionals are still under pressure because IT budgets have still not been released," says the report's author, Maria Schafer, senior program director for Meta Group's Executive Directions Advisory Service.

"Until we see higher levels of investment, people will still be working long hours and feeling put upon -- they have also not seen the big bonuses of a few years ago," she adds.

More than half of the respondents indicated that they lost staff this year, so the burden of extra work is coming to rest on those IT professionals left behind. Schafer says that IT professionals are now working, on average, up to 60 hours a week.