Research reveals that 61% of IT directors fear that heavier workloads could add more pressure on employees, as businesses are budgeting more tightly in areas such as the workforce due to the recession. A further 22% of directors said that budgets applied to IT departments may have wider implications in performance for other areas of a business, a study by ReThink Recruitment, an IT staffing company reported. Michael Bennett, director of ReThink Recruitment said that the value of IT departments is underestimated and actually it is an 'integral part of the way that modern corporations work that you cannot do much more than trim around the edges without undermining the way that the entire organisation works and the quality of its output'. Another growing risk that Bennett comments on is that IT executives fear investment in big projects that could benefit the business with savings and high return could be cut, leaving the impression that businesses could be losing sight of the bigger picture. Bennett said: 'How these companies perform after the recession is over will in part depend on the investment decisions they are making now.'