1 in 3 employees ‘frustrated’ with job-related technology

More than one in three employees are frustrated with everyday job-related technology, according to new research.

Additionally, one in five employees actually say that technology is actually making their job harder, reveals the study carried out by Eagle Hill Consulting with Ipsos. The Employee Experience Survey 2021 found that 35% of all US employees are frustrated with their organisation’s technology in general. Around 44% of workers say that technology either does nothing to enable them to be happy in their job; or makes work harder. 

In fact, one-third of employees say that technology makes it harder for them to serve internal and external customers. And 37% of employees maintain that technology makes it more challenging to collaborate with colleagues; or has no effect.

EMPLOYEE ‘TECH’ NEEDS

“Our research shows that far too many employees are frustrated with technology at work; and no one wins under those circumstances. The challenge for companies is to shift their technology culture and mindset,” explained Eagle Hill Consulting’s President and CEO Melissa Jezior. 

For example, implementing ‘the best’ technology does not always lead to the desired outcomes. “Instead, the maximum return on technology investment hinges on fostering a culture in which employees provide input and embrace technologies that are incorporated into their daily work to drive efficiency and performance. Technology change should focus on responding to employee needs and shifting ingrained worker behaviours to deliver more value; and that’s where organisations often fall short,” said Jezior. 

Organisations depend upon technology advancements to improve customer and employee experiences, as well as business results. “But failure to engage employees at every stage of technology decisions and deployment can create more problems than it solves,” added Jezior. “Failure to engage employees throughout the technology change process can have deep negative impacts on productivity, morale, work quality and workforce retention – all key drivers of business outcomes.”

EMBEDDING TECH CHANGE BEHAVIOURS

So how can organisations ensure that staff benefit from technological advancements? Eagle Hill Consulting recommends that organisations embed ‘technology change behaviours’ into the company culture. Here are a few recommendations:

• Make technology change everyone’s responsibility. Technology should be viewed as a relationship that IT does not fully own. It’s vital to ensure end-users, supervisors and teams are engaged, knowledgeable and accountable for the specific actions they must take to adopt new technologies successfully. 
• Ensure that every C-suite leader owns the transformation. The brand promise, employee experience, customer service, finance – everything the company does every day – is tied to technology. As such, leaders at the highest levels must act as agents of transformation when it comes to their responsibilities, skills, and accountability for technology change. 
• Evolve performance measures to reward connectors. In technology change initiatives, connecting and collaborating are desired behaviours to be acknowledged. To encourage employees to embrace these behaviours, organisations should reward cross-team problem solvers, connectors and educators. 
• Create feedback loops to align tech change with people’s needs. Organisations should seek to incorporate employee input and feedback to identify what technology would be most helpful to increase productivity and success. 
• Continue to make a case for change with purpose and vision. Employees should be connected to IT decision-making and planning, know the why, what and how of changes before, during and after launch. And, employees should know the connection to the broader organisational strategy and purpose.