2021 Sleep & Stress Report
We asked IT pros how the pandemic is affecting their workloads, stress levels and work-life balance. Here's what they had to say.
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Our respondents were IT pros in a variety of industries including service providers, education, manufacturing, healthcare, finance and retail.
Responses by industry
- Service provider / IT consulting
- Manufacturing
- Finance
- Retail
- Education
- Healthcare
- Other
1. Work & workplace shifts
The majority of IT pros (46%) work a combination of on‑site and remotely.
In the last year, I have been working
The industry most likely to be in the office?
Healthcare (42%).
Most likely to be remote?
Service providers and consulting (49%).
60% of IT pros saw their workloads grow in 2020.
Compared to this time last year (pre Covid‑19 pandemic), my workload has
IT pros in 
education (69%), 
finance (79%) and 
retail (71%) were even more likely to report higher workloads.
On average I work _ hours per week
80% of staff have switched to WFH, however we already had almost all of the infrastructure in place to handle that.
Anonymous respondent
2. Stress & Sleep
As workloads grew, so did anxiety.
Compared to this time last year (pre COVID-19 pandemic), my anxiety about work has
58%
reported more anxiety than the year prior.
IT pros in education (72%) and retail (65%) were also most likely to say that their anxiety about work increased.
The biggest cause of stress?
Continous uncertainty (31%).
and doing more with less (26%).
Currently, my biggest causes of work stress and anxiety are:
Results ranked most stressful (5) to least stressful (1)
Despite increased workloads and rising anxiety, most IT pros are sleeping soundly.
70% sleep 6 or more hours per night.
Their most common nightmares? Cyber monsters in the network closet.
My IT nightmares are usually about:
Results ranked highest concern (5) to lowest (1)
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I have much fewer human resources to support an increasingly critical enterprise service to my employer. Way too much change all at once with unrealistic deadlines. This is not all new but more extreme since the pandemic.
Anonymous respondent
3. Work-life balance & job satisfaction
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, IT pros found some unexpected silver linings.
Have you experienced any positives as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?
26%
My company has made more financial investments in IT infrastructure
32%
Management has a higher appreciation for IT
41%
I don’t have to commute as much (or at all)
44%
I’ve been able to spend more time at home
20%
No, it’s been all bad
I am working from home every day and spending more time with my 8 furry co‑workers who adore me being there.
Anonymous respondent
Stressed about power management? We can help with that too.
We hope that this report has given you some useful insights into yout own work experiences. As always, we're here to help with any of your power management needs.
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