Technology tools have been a real life line during the pandemic.
But they have also distracted employees from their workflow and hindered their productivity.
How can HR leaders strike the right balance with tech tools?
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Technology has been essential to successful working from home during the pandemic. Without the use of collaboration tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, it would have been nearly impossible for us all to effectively and productively remote work for the past 18 months.
However, the growth in the number of tools that companies rely on – to around 6 on average – is distracting employees from their work, according to a new study by European HR tech company Personio.
The survey of 50 HR leaders found that almost half (44%) had seen an increase in the number of digital tools in use in organizations during the pandemic.
Also, 25% noted that this acceleration is causing frustration for employees, and 23% recognized that it was disrupting employees‘ productivity and workflows.
These findings were confirmed by 2,000 employees also surveyed by Personio. 37% of them reported that there are too many different digital tools being used and 36% said that working across all these tools is affecting their productivity.
What must HR do to stop digital overwhelm?
Personio’s results echo similar findings from other studies, like from Beezy in May and Qatalog and Cornell University in June. This, therefore, emphasizes quite how serious this problem is for companies and how urgent it is that HR teams act now to rectify this problem.
This is especially the case since the future of work looks set to be hybrid so many companies will continue to rely on HR tech to keep employees connected with their colleagues.
Personio, therefore, recommends that businesses take a close look at their tech tools.
The firm’s CEO Hanno Renner commented: “It is vital that we streamline our tools and processes to become more productive as we continue on our path to recovery.”
Personio’s head of people operations Angelina Gentilli added: “With many businesses choosing to work remotely or in a hybrid model in future, it’s critical that they ensure they’re equipped with the digital tools that’ll best enable their people.
“At this decisive moment, employers and HR leaders need to work with their people to evaluate which tools add value, and where they can simplify systems to bolster productivity and business performance in the long run.”
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