Many IT professionals will look for a new job after just three years in any one workplace, a new report has found.

Research into more than 500 IT professionals, conducted by IT recruitment consultancy CV Screen, found that a so-called 'three-year itch' was a common theme among the IT workers it questioned.

Common reasons for respondents to look for a new position included salary, lack of career progression and long commutes, but online job boards were also found to have a strong effect, with IT employees now better able to gauge their standing within the industry.

"The job boards give candidates ready access to information on IT salaries and demand for staff, which enables them to assess their worth within the IT market," commented CV Screen director Matthew Iveson.

"It is clear that we have a more reactive workforce in the UK which is not prepared to remain in roles where they are not valued.

"Management need to offer their IT staff a personal development plan and regular appraisals to ensure that staff retention within the IT department does not suffer," added Mr Iveson.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'