Dianah Neff’s staff was sick a lot last winter. But the CIO of the city of Philadelphia was worried that it wasn’t just the record cold and snow that had her employees under the weather. With the city facing its worst fiscal crisis since 1991, Neff had been forced to cut 10 percent of her staff through an early retirement program. She started cross-training the remaining 535 to deal with increasing demands being placed on IT. Meanwhile, as each new project request came in, Neff was openly looking at whether outsourcing some work might be more cost-effective -- another anxiety source for her already stressed staff.

"People have become anxious. We’re watching to see if we’re getting increases in sick leave or if other issues are occurring. People deal with the stress of layoffs and increased workloads in different ways," Neff says. "The staff is realistic. They know it’s a tough job market. I don’t know that you can ever really reassure people in these situations."

Neff expresses a pervasive feeling: 75 percent of 290 IT executives in a recent CIO survey said their top staffing concerns in 2003 are their employees’ demanding workloads and staff burnout. At the same time, more CIOs are looking outside their company walls to fill their labor needs -- 37 percent plan to increase the use of outside sourcing options, such as contractors and outsourcers, to meet work goals in the next year, according to the survey.

Add to this fiscal funk such nonwork stressors as homeland security alert levels and the war with Iraq, and it’s like the perfect storm for the IT staff. CIOs who think there’s no real threat of turnover in tough IT times and put off dealing with the situation may be in for a rude awakening even sooner than the highly anticipated economic turnaround. "Your best workers will leave and go somewhere else, and you’ll be left with heavier workloads and fewer top performers," warns Diane Morello, a Gartner analyst. "We’re already seeing the start of a workforce backlash. There’s a subtle pulling back on the part of employees who are saying, If you’re not going to help me put the brakes on [the workload], I’m going to do it myself."

Instead of waiting to see productivity slip, CIOs must to do everything they can now to prevent employee burnout, stress and doubt. Read on to share the experiences of CIOs who have learned the importance of adjusting office conditions -- from establishing project management controls and making staff workloads more reasonable to recognizing top workers.