Tips to Help Prevent Burnout in Your IT Department

There has been a transformation in the way we work, educate and live our daily lives over the last eighteen months. Those who are in the medical field have been impacted in ways that no others can truly understand. The impact of the pandemic on families who have lost loved ones, their jobs and have had to step back from careers will be felt for years to come. It seems that the pandemic has changed our world forever. The increase in remote work resulted in a spike of cyberattacks and has been dubbed the “Cyber Pandemic”. The cyber pandemic has impacted more than the pocketbooks of businesses and the government, it has caused security concerns for millions of people and spurred mass amounts of burnout among cybersecurity professionals. The IT security field had skill gaps prior to the pandemic, and the increase in bad actors taking advantage of the pandemic has caused these professionals to be working longer hours and handling greater threats.  

The result of the increasing workload and threat levels that IT security professionals are managing have business leaders concerned. A recent study 2021 Forward Together , commissioned by Sage Canada and conducted by Angus Reid Group, reviewed business post-pandemic recovery. The survey results are concerning, 47% of business leaders indicated that they were concerned about employees experiencing burnout. More concerning is that of the 47% that are concerned 68% have yet to take action to address the issue. The report also highlighted that one in three Canadian workers believe that burnout is affecting their household, either themselves or family and that this burnout will affect their ability to do their job effectively this year(Forward Together, 2021).  

Burnout is a serious concern for IT Security Departments. Most breaches are a result of human error and burnout results in increased errors. Burnout poses a security threat that can have dire consequences for the business. Businesses that plan to reduce burnout are taking a step towards mitigating risks and providing employees much needed support. Check out these tips for avoiding burnout in your IT department and be sure to comment and share any of your successful strategies to avoid burnout with us! 

1. Plan for an incident. In 2021 we know that most, if not all businesses will experience some type of attempted breach. It will happen and it is just a matter of when.  
2. Have a backup plan for when an incident happens. You may have your own internal IT  department, but when an incident occurs you will need to have additional hands on deck of professionals with Security+ certification training or Network+ certification  Consider using an MSP provider who is on contract for major events. Don’t wait for the incident to occur to reach out to an MSP provider. Your MSP provider should be someone you have already developed a relationship with ensuring that when an incident occurs, the provider is already up to date on your business and needs.  
3. Have a succession plan. Find people in your company who are loyal and provide them cybersecurity courses for all levels. Even having non-tech staff become trained for entry-level positions by providing A+ certification training can ease the load. These individuals will be able to provide relief for your experienced IT professionals by taking on tasks that are less demanding. Help these employees to gain hands-on experience prior to an incident occurring.   
4. Provide regular IT cybersecurity training for general users to minimize the number of incidents that your IT department is required to respond to, provide them with steps on how to be more secure online. Continued Professional Development Courses keep cybersecurity awareness up among all employees.  
5. Implement flexible scheduling. IT specialists tend to work many hours when an incident occurs. When there are not active incidence, allow entry-level security IT professionals to monitor for events and give some of your senior team members flextime to reduce burnout.  
6. Avoid using pay bonuses to ensure your staff is happy. Use bonuses as a thank you for hard work, but not as a means to avoid burnout or retain staff. Burnout cannot be solved by increased wages. Have your senior IT or cybersecurity professional become top level expert by providing CySA+ certification training, increasing their worth as a professional and their trust towards your company. 
7. Encourage healthy living by providing opportunities for increase fitness, meditation and healthy living opportunities for all staff.  

Managing burnout for your IT department means going beyond your IT team. All members of your company have increase risks of exposing the business to threats when they are burned out. These human errors cause your IT department to become overworked and results in the business being more vulnerable. If you have yet to develop a wellness program for your employees, 2021 is the year to do so. 

Disclaimer

The information contained in this post is considered true and accurate as of the publication date. However, the accuracy of this information may be impacted by changes in circumstances that occur after the time of publication. Ashton College assumes no liability for any error or omissions in the information contained in this post or any other post in our blog