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A recent survey of 500 IT workers by a recruitment website has found that British IT support employees are being paid less than they were two years ago for more hours of work, it has been reported.

The study, taken out by theitjobboard.co.uk, found that respondents cited the increased demands of the job as the determining factor for the dramatic shift.

It was also noted that despite European Working Time Regulation limiting workers to 48 hours per week, five per cent worked as many as 60-75 hours a week.

Alex Farrell, managing director of the company, noted that British culture surrounding long working hours should be addressed as many people had found their relationships and health had taken damage.

He added: "As businesses look to derive as much value from their people assets as possible during lean times, it is going to be imperative that we don't drive employees to burnout."

This week, Lisa Hoover of IT discussion community DaniWeb noted that workers in the IT support sector should get a sense of the market before looking for a wage that pays them what they are worth.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent)