Quantifying the impact of professional digital tools on your employees will allow you to better manage your teams and prevent you from having to deal with the fatigue and wear out of them.
In order to properly build or improve their entrepreneurial building, any entrepreneur must acquire the right tools. There’s no point in wanting to nail down a saw, nor is it more useful to try to keep tabs on with business management software.
The firm ELEAS, one of the main players in quality of life and psychosocial risk prevention advice at work, has published the results of an unprecedented survey. “The Impact of Professional Digital Tools on Employees” (Opinionway Survey for Ales). The survey was conducted from October 16 to 23, 2018, with a representative sample of 1,010 French employees working in an office for a private or public company.
What professional digital tools are available to employees for business use?
Professional messaging, desktop or laptop computer, smartphone or tablet, intranet, instant messaging (company chat), etc. There are many of them and every day new equipment is interfering with professional life and causing stress and fatigue.
Equipment for essential use?
In less than 10 years, these professional tools have become ubiquitous and have changed the way employees work, whether managers or employees.
In 2018, 75% of employees use professional digital tools for more than 3 hours per day, with 43% of employees exposed to intensive use with more than 6 hours per day. Executives are particularly affected as 55% of them use them for more than 6 hours a day.
a fading border
The door between personal and professional life is open as a new habit appears to have been established: 47% of employees use professional digital devices in the evenings, 45% on weekends and 35% during holidays. The right to disconnect has not yet bode well among companies as 41% of companies have yet to implement action to regulate the use of professional digital tools, despite the risks.
Even though a charter must be established in each company so as not to experience the harmful consequences of unrestrained use of these tools. Only 23% have disseminated good practice charters and only 16% have drawn up disconnection rules.
worry about not being amputated
The negative effects of equipment are clearly felt among employees … Information poured into a continuous stream causes undeniable negative effects:
- Fatigue: 43% use devices for more than 6 hours a day (54%)
- Tension to 35%
- Feeling of being overwhelmed: 36% use tools every day
- Decreased concentration ability: 32%
- Feelings of disorientation for 22% of employees and 29% of managers
This feeling intensifies among young people as they are more stressed (48% against 35% of all employees), overwhelmed (44% against 36% of all employees) and consequently less focused (44 against 32% of all employees). %) appear to. and more disorientation (33% against 22% of all employees).
tools to see in progress
However, many employees appreciate its tools and see them as progress (45%), allowing for greater accountability (62%) and greater professional autonomy (57%) in the exchange of information.
They also have an impact on several areas of the company:
- organization of work in teams (55%),
- emergency management (55%),
- collaboration between coworkers (49%),
- Decision making speed (49%),
- the diversity of the work they do (48%),
- Relationship with customers (47%).
All these positive elements indicate that these tools represent a source of improvement for collaborative work. They respond to the current business challenges but also create a sense of satisfaction among the employees.
What do employees do to save themselves from getting stressed?
Personal breaks are the main way to combat the stress caused by digital devices! Thus for the question “What tools do you use to reduce the flow of information and the stress associated with the use of professional digital equipment?” », the answer of the respondents is:
- Take regular breaks every 2 hours to do some other recreational activity besides work (45%)
- Reserve a time slot specifically dedicated to managing this information (27%)
- Occasionally turn off certain devices (internal chat, e-mail box, telephone, etc.) (24%)
- Apply specific duration of consultation to these tools (21%)
However, 4 in 10 employees believe that its digital devices create too much information (39%), even though 54% believe they produce enough information. Only 4% say they will not do enough.