Study finds that 63% of security practitioners suffer from burnout

A report from Tines surveyed 900 security professionals, offering insights into job satisfaction, workloads, and obstacles to productivity. The report also discusses the top three ways security leaders can improve retention on their SOC teams.

In terms of job satisfaction, many SOC professionals enjoy their jobs and feel respected in the workplace. 99% express satisfaction with their role, 98% report being engaged with their work, and 99% feel appreciated by peers outside of the SOC. However, 63% report experiencing burnout, 50% state their team is understaffed, and 81% report higher workloads over the past year.

Five of the most time-consuming tasks teams face include:

1. Security orchestration, automation, and response (18%)
2. Troubleshooting (17%)
3. Intelligence, such as researching threat actors (16%)
4. Monitoring (15%)
5. Managing documentation (15%)

36% of respondents consider time-consuming tasks to be the largest hindrance to their productivity. Other barriers include an excess of data with limited insights (37%) and excessive reporting expectations (34%).

22% of respondents plan to switch jobs within the next 12 months. According to the survey, the top three ways to retain SOC employees are:

1. Increase pay: 49% of respondents indicate that an increase in pay would help retain them.
2. Provide better resources: Modern tools with sophisticated capabilities would help to retain SOC team members, according to 42% of respondents.
3. Hire more: 40% say hiring more people for the team would increase retention.