Bad technology costs employees up to four hours a week

A new study from Scalable Software found that employees lose an average of almost four hours a week (3.78) due to digital employee experience (DEX) errors.

The survey of 400 IT decision-makers in the US and UK also shows that 90 percent of respondents in both the US and UK say their organization suffers from “productivity paranoia” around hybrid working. This means they can’t accurately assess productivity or identify where blockages are occurring.

Companies rely on insufficient metrics such as job performance (67 percent), line manager ratings (56 percent), time tracking software (51 percent) and employee self-assessment (48 percent). The risk of relying on such limited and subjective methods is to conflate performance or online presence with productivity.

“Today, the foundation of productivity is digital efficiency, and digital friction can significantly reduce an employee’s potential for efficiency at work,” says Mark Cresswell, co-founder of Scalable Software. “Unfortunately, this study shows that companies still do not really realize that the indicators used only give a partial picture of an employee’s performance. Many knowledge-based jobs do not allow for simple quantification of “output”, making it a poor measure of productivity. Moreover, IT teams have little or no visibility into how tasks are performed, what digital issues an employee is dealing with, or where workflows can be optimized to improve efficiency.

A previous study by Scalable found that 43 percent of knowledge workers said a poor DEX lowered their job satisfaction, and 29 percent said they wanted to quit their jobs.

“As the workplace is now a predominantly digital experience, IT departments need to move beyond a break/repair approach to supporting employees. The focus should be on eliminating digital friction and objectively measuring productivity to support a hybrid work environment,” adds Cresswella. “Many IT leaders understand the challenge, but the problem is that they are not armed with the tools required to identify and eliminate productivity barriers that exist in their environment. However, for organizations that are at the forefront of implementing DEX analytics, the benefits are significant. By optimizing experiences and eliminating friction in digital workplaces, companies not only achieve a happier, more productive workforce, but also a much healthier bottom line. At the same time, the IT department can continue to evolve from a breakdown/repair department to become the backbone of the modern enterprise.”

The full report can be accessed on the Scalable website.

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