One in three employees are feeling less productive in their current work from home environment, most of them citing not having the proper set up, tools, and technology to enable them to be more productive, even after working remotely for more than two months, according to a recent ServiceNow work from home productivity study.
Almost nine in 10 Canadian office workers report relying on technology in both their work and personal life more now than they ever have before. Despite increased dependence on technology, many of the issues that employees working from home face today are directly related to tech, according to the study. Most Canadians working from home feel that their employers aren’t supplying them with the right tools to help them best work from home, causing significant barriers to productivity. Forty-eight per cent of the surveyed Canadian workers say their employer has a lot to learn when it comes to setting employees up for success as they work from home, and 44 per cent feel their employer was unprepared for work from home scenario.
The participants of the survey included 1,000 English and French Canadian office workers. Survey participants must have been a full-time, or part-time employee in an office setting where computers, laptops, phones, and tablets are regularly used. They also must have been working in companies with 500 or more employees.
“More than half of Canadian office workers experience challenges with feeling connected and a third are less productive as they work from home during COVID-19. When employees are working in isolation through a pandemic, leaders must be extra diligent about listening to their employees, supporting them and making sure they are meeting their needs. This could be by providing workers with additional tools to communicate and connect with their colleagues, leading with humanity and compassion, and being flexible and supportive while acknowledging the different and difficult circumstances we’re all in. We need to make work, work better for everyone – no matter where we are,” Marc LeCuyer, general manager, Canada, ServiceNow, said in a press release.
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COVID-19: Lessons learned by enterprises during the remote work era
Pressure on technology
Working virtually has been pressurizing Canadian technologists to devise better solutions and ensure digital security as well as smooth functioning. Eighty-one per cent of Canadian technologists state that COVID-19 has created the biggest technology pressure for their organization they have ever experienced, according to a global research study conducted by AppDynamics, a Cisco company, which surveyed 1000 IT professionals across 10 countries.
While no one can accurately predict how long the effects of the pandemic will last, proper planning and preparedness will be key to ensuring long-term success. Sixty-four per cent of Canadian technologists confirm that the pandemic has revealed weaknesses in their digital strategies, creating an urgent need to push through initiatives that were once part of multi-year digital transformation programs, according to AppDynamics.
Expectations about working from home have transformed forever, and employers should be prepared to meet these needs, the report emphasized. Sixty-eight per cent of employees in the ServiceNow study say work-life balance is very important to them during this time, and competing obligations are challenging. Fifty-five per cent of working parents say they have a lot of personal responsibilities that get in the way of productivity when working from home.
“It’s important to create great experiences for employees during the best of times. And during tough times, such as the one we’re currently facing with COVID-19, it’s even more important to consider and prioritize the employee experience,” says LeCuyer. “Now that Canadian office workers are working from home and will likely do so for much longer, it’s critical to understand what we need to do to support employees to do great work from anywhere.