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According to the results of GFI Software's third annual IT Admin Stress Survey, conducted by Opinion Matters, fully 79 percent of IT staff are actively considering leaving their jobs due to job-related stress.

That's a significant increase from 2013, when just 57 percent of respondents said they were actively considering leaving.

The survey of 200 U.S. IT administrators also found that 38 percent of IT staff have missed social functions due to issues at work, and 35 percent have missed time with their families due to work demands on their personal time. One quarter of respondents said they've seen a relationship severely damaged or fail due to their job.

Twenty-three percent of respondents say they work between eight and 12 hours of unpaid overtime each week.

One third of respondents say they regularly lose sleep over work pressures, one quarter say they've suffered stress-related illnesses, and 17 percent say they're in poor physical condition due to work demands.

Thirty percent of respondents say they're the most stressed person in their social or family group.

"IT is renowned for being one of the most stressful white-collar jobs to undertake, now more so than ever given the critical role IT plays in everything from ecommerce to facilities management," Sergio Galindo, general manager of the Infrastructure Business Unit at GFI Software, said in a statement.

"There is a lot that organizations can do to reduce the burden -- and with it the stress levels -- carried by IT staff," Galindo added. "Providing realistic IT budgets and staffing levels helps a lot, but there are productivity changes that can also significantly de-stress the IT department, such as investing in technology to automate personnel-intensive activities like deploying software updates and managing sprawling Wi-Fi networks and the myriad of mobile devices that users are bringing to work."