Both employment opportunities and workload are on the rise for IT workers in the insurance industry. So, businesses must act quickly to avoid staff burnout.

When times are tough, many employees feel fortunate to have a job, but as business gets better and the workload gets bigger, the belts on the payroll need to be loosened, according to the 2005 Salary Guide from Robert Half Technology. Weve just come out of a downturn, and companies were running with a much leaner ship, says Ryan Gilmore, branch manager for Robert Half Technology in San Francisco. What that does is put a lot of pressure and a heavy workload on a lower number of employees. You risk burning out your employees if you dont start putting steps in place to alleviate some of that workload.

Gilmore says his firm sees an increase in hiring for technology professionals as companies start to grow again. However, he adds, organizations need to be careful dealing with the current staffthe people who carried these companies through the downturn. Thats really your core group, he says. You cant afford to lose talented and dedicated people who have gotten you through the storm.