Managers in the UK IT sector are overworked, put business ahead of family and rarely get on with their bosses, according to a recent survey conducted by The Chartered Management Institute in England, and Adecco, the global human resources company.

The Business Energy Survey, conducted in May 2004, assessed the attitudes, motivations and aspirations of 1,500 IT managers across the UK.

The survey revealed that a third of IT managers work 14 hours a week more than their contracted hours. In addition, 55% of IT managers feel that they are overloaded with work and 56% admit to missing family commitments due to work pressure.

One quarter of managers think their organisation has an ‘authoritarian’ culture, while 34% feel exploited. In terms of motivation, 54% of IT managers cited ‘sense of purpose’ as their primary motivating factor, while 31% saw pay as a main motivator.

The survey also illustrated a real desire by managers to implement flexitime, or at least, flexible methods of working. The most popular responses generated in the survey were the introduction of ‘compressed’ weeks and career breaks. Despite enthusiasm for these notions, though, only 3% of those surveyed believe that these practices will come to fruition in their organisation.