According a recent Cyber-Ark survey, more than half of the IT professionals polled were concerned about losing their jobs, and one third would be prepared to work longer hours with a 25% pay cut, if it meant keeping their jobs.

The survey, which comprised responses from over 600 IT employees in New York, London and Amsterdam, revealed some disturbing inclinations among IT staff.

Responses from US participants in particular, pointed to mounting desperation as the American IT industry feels the pressure of the global economic downturn. Over 50% of US respondents said they would be prepared to work an 80-hour week, compared with 37% in Holland and 27% in the UK. More than one in ten US employees indicated that they would consider blackmailing their bosses to keep their jobs.

“We are fortunate enough, at this stage, not to have as much pressure in the Australian market,” said Bruce Mills, Joint CEO of 3W Consulting Contracting & Recruitment Pty Ltd. “But the survey results do raise some flags.”

46% of all respondents indicated that they would try to find out who was on the list to be laid off when faced with rumours of redundancies. Half of these said that they would use their access rights to pry into corporate servers or bribe a friend to do it for them.

“What we are seeing in these results,” said Mills “is the human tendency towards self-preservation at almost any cost. At times like this it is important that both employers and employees exercise caution.”

More than half of all respondents said that they had already taken commercially valuable corporate data from their workplace as security against losing their jobs. This trend was most prevalent in Holland, where the figure was as high as 78%. One in four British employees and 58% US respondents admitted to downloading sensitive data.

“The balance of trust between employee and employer is a very delicate one,” said Mills. “Naturally both parties have the right to expect loyalty and honest dealings, but it is clear from the results of this survey that, as the pressure mounts, employees tend to become more desperate.”

“My advice would be for companies to observe security protocols. They should ensure that sensitive information is stored safely and that access to it is only given to those who really need it.”

“Lock your intellectual property away in a digital vault and, if necessary, encrypt any highly confidential data.”

The survey also indicated that security is one area in which the US is badly lagging — barely one third of US employees reported that it was difficult to steal data; while 46% of Dutch workers and 71% of UK IT staff found that it was becoming increasingly difficult to access sensitive information.