Summary
Employees frequently encounter workflow interruptions due to IT-related issues such as slowdowns, updates, and new processes, which result in significant productivity losses. To effectively enhance daily operations, workplace technology must function seamlessly, requiring employees to understand and use various digital tools efficiently.
However, IT glitches are inevitable, making IT services and support critical to maintaining organizational efficiency. Properly addressing these issues is essential, as failure to do so can lead to substantial long-term impacts beyond just time loss.
Gathering feedback from employees about their experiences with the digital workplace is crucial. Employees are on the front lines, dealing with IT issues daily, and their insights can reveal the true extent of productivity losses and the specific pain points that hinder their work. By actively seeking and analyzing this feedback, organizations can gain a clearer understanding of the issues that need addressing. According to a study by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Nexthink, nearly 80 percent of respondents believe that unreported IT issues often escalate into bigger problems. Therefore, employee feedback is invaluable in identifying and resolving these problems promptly.
Strategies to Leverage Employee Feedback
Regular Surveys and Feedback Mechanisms: Implement regular surveys and feedback tools to collect information on employees’ IT experiences. Use this data to identify common issues and areas needing improvement.
- Value: Continuous feedback helps in pinpointing recurring problems and understanding overall satisfaction with IT systems, leading to targeted improvements.
Employee Focus Groups and Workshops: Conduct focus groups and workshops where employees can discuss their IT challenges and suggest solutions. These sessions can provide deeper insights into specific issues.
- Value: Direct engagement with employees fosters a collaborative environment and ensures that their concerns are heard and addressed effectively.
Transparent Reporting and Communication: Establish clear channels for reporting IT issues and ensure that employees know how to use them. Communicate how their feedback is being used to improve the digital workplace.
- Value: Transparency builds trust and encourages more employees to report issues, leading to quicker identification and resolution of problems.
Training and Support Programs: Develop training programs to enhance employees’ digital skills and familiarity with IT systems. Offer continuous support to help them navigate new technologies.
- Value: Improved digital literacy reduces the frequency of IT issues and empowers employees to handle minor problems independently, boosting overall productivity.
Data-Driven Decision Making: Use the feedback data to make informed decisions about IT investments and upgrades. Prioritize areas that significantly impact productivity and employee satisfaction.
- Value: Data-driven strategies ensure that resources are allocated effectively, addressing the most critical issues and enhancing the digital workplace experience.
By prioritizing and acting on employee feedback, organizations can create a more efficient and satisfying digital workplace. This not only improves productivity but also increases employee well-being and job satisfaction, leading to better overall organizational performance.
Full Article
Gain Time and Happiness with Flawless IT
Employees who work with IT-related hardware and software are accustomed to workflow interruptions. Computers slow down, applications require updates, and new systems and processes take time to understand. For those who rely on email, messaging, storage, business applications, and communication platforms to do their job, an IT interruption can cause a series of complications and setbacks. These negative outcomes add up to problems significantly larger than just productivity loss.
Workplace technology should facilitate day-to-day operations to enhance performance, services, and products. That’s the expectation we have. Likewise, employees in office environments need a baseline understanding of how to use their computer, navigate digital communication, use applications and collaboration tools, and, more recently, use AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Co-Pilot.
Still, no matter the skills of the employee and no matter the organization, glitches happen – that’s why IT Services & Support is so critical. But over time, organizations that don’t properly address technology problems affecting productivity and flow can expect greater institutional impacts than time loss.
Where the IT time goes
Technology problems that interrupt flow and productivity range from small inconveniences to considerable obstacles that cause companywide delays. Employees are so comfortable with this range that they may not recognize how many interruptions they’re accustomed to. These can include:
- Internet connection issues
- Obstacles with passwords and password creation
- Program crashes
- System updates and upgrades
- Lack of familiarity or comfort with technology
- Slow boot-up and load times
- Security breaches
- Outdated technology
- Waiting for the service desk
Oftentimes, employees don’t contact IT right away if their problem seems fixable. For example, a less digitally savvy employee might ask a more proficient colleague for help with a problem, instead of going directly to the service desk. In this case, both employees, or more, have lost productivity time and energy. What’s more, if the same problems persist across the organization and employees opt for troubleshooting independently, IT employees are left unaware of ongoing issues that could be solved more efficiently. A study performed by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Nexthink found that nearly 80 percent of respondents agree that when IT issues are not reported, it often leads to bigger issues.
Planned vs. Unplanned Downtime: Understanding the Impact
When it comes to IT downtime, there are two main types: planned and unplanned. A study by IBM and Forrester Consulting in 2019 surveyed 100 IT leaders from large U.S. enterprises, revealing that most organizations face both types of downtime regularly. The majority experience planned downtime quarterly, while unplanned downtime occurs roughly every two months.
Both types of downtime can lead to significant issues, such as lost revenue, decreased productivity, and damage to brand trust. However, the study found that unplanned downtime is 35% more costly per minute than planned downtime. Unplanned incidents often lead to critical concerns, including data recovery and revenue loss, impacting the entire organization.
Interestingly, the Forrester study also challenged the notion that planned downtime is less harmful. IT departments are tasked with maintaining a balance—ensuring maintenance and upgrades are done efficiently to minimize downtime. The longer systems are down, the greater the financial impact. To avoid excessive disruption, organizations may delay necessary maintenance, bug fixes, and security updates, which ironically increases the risk of unplanned downtime.
The Cost of Downtime
Recent research from 2024 highlights that downtime costs Global 2000 companies a staggering €368 billion annually, or about 9% of their business profits due to unexpected digital failures. This data comes from the report ‘The Hidden Costs of Downtime’ by Oxford Economics and Splunk. Beyond financial losses, downtime also affects shareholder value, brand reputation, innovation, and customer trust.
The Real Cost of IT Issues
Minor IT issues add up, leading to significant productivity losses. Academic research indicates that organizations lose around 7.6% of their productivity due to poor IT resources or insufficient computer skills. For a company with 1,000 IT end users, this inefficiency could mean a loss of approximately €1.9 million annually.
Employees encounter IT-related problems an average of 1.7 times per week, with less skilled employees facing issues up to 2.5 times weekly. Forrester’s study with IBM found that planned downtime alone cost organizations $1.5 million in the last quarter and $5.6 million over the previous year.
Yorizon’s research further shows that negative IT interactions increase employee stress, reduce motivation, and lower job satisfaction. These factors can lead to higher absenteeism and turnover, as dissatisfied employees are more likely to take sick leave or seek new jobs.
Improving Digital Employee Experience
Instead of solely burdening IT departments with preventing downtime, organizations can benefit from a holistic approach. A seamless IT experience enhances employee productivity, well-being, and overall organizational performance. Positive interactions with technology improve employees’ workflow and job satisfaction.
Yorizon surveyed a group of 652 people from the Netherlands, U.K., and U.S. about how much time they would gain if their organization’s IT worked flawlessly. They represented employees who work in governmental services, healthcare, business services, information and communication, and education and training. On average, they expect to gain 70.5 minutes of extra productivity per week.
The results varied considerably, too.
- Employees with IT-dependent jobs expect to gain 82.7 minutes of extra productivity.
- Employees in the Netherlands expect a gain of 60 minutes; in the U.K., 71 minutes; and in the U.S., 80 minutes.
- There are large differences between professional branches: Governmental services employees expect to gain 133 minutes; healthcare, 94 minutes; business services, 79 minutes; information
The road to gaining time.
Leaders of organizations should not feel frustrated that IT, by nature, can work adversely from their goals on occasion. The technology is only going to evolve and expand, and the wisest decision they can make is to embrace it and work alongside it: Prioritize the role IT plays; understand how it influences employees individually, departmentally, and collectively; encourage a healthy relationship with IT. More tangible recommendations include:
1. Monitor lost productivity time and translate it into business costs
Not a lot of companies calculate the exact loss of productivity and translate it to business costs. In doing so, it clarifies that investments to minimize these costs are worthwhile. To calculate business costs, multiply the percentage of productivity loss by the salary sum of the number of IT workers in the organization.
Business costs = %productivity loss x Σ salary IT end users.
2. Finding out what kind of systems, projects, locations, or jobs lose the most time.
Find out where exactly this time is lost. Maybe some applications run too slowly or experience frequent downtime. The loss could be occurring in specific jobs or within certain departments. Pinpointing these problems makes it easier to find solutions. Sometimes, a specific application needs an update, or people in a particular department require extra training.
3. Use employees’ knowledge and experience.
Next to using IT workers to calculate the percentage of productivity loss, it is also advisable to ask these employees for input on the elements that hinder them the most. Employees will give you a more specific insight into the applications and systems where productivity is lost. They will also give you a more subjective impression of their experience and can probably offer valuable insights towards solutions. Sometimes the problem is not the IT system itself but poor communication or a lack of knowledge. This obviously requires a different kind of action.
Finally, we recommend taking a broad perspective when deciding how to invest in IT experience optimization. Minimizing the IT-related loss of time will have a larger effect than just a gain in productivity minutes. The energy level and happiness of employees will also increase exponentially. Even if just some of the problems are solved, employees will be less frustrated.