by Shane Henson — November 11, 2013—Facilities managers wanting to help make office employees happier and boost the company’s bottom line in the process may look into working with their information technology (IT) staff to make sure employees have technology in place that truly meets their needs, whether working at home or in the office.
According to a new survey commissioned by IT services provider NG Bailey, failing IT set-ups are frustrating U.K. office workers and impacting on businesses’ bottom lines with hundreds of hours lost each year to downtime and delays. The same results are likely to be found among office workers in other countries.
The survey sought to identify which factors most affect productivity and satisfaction levels in the workplace. The results show that British office workers believe they could save an average of 4.3 hours a week (equating to 27 days a year) with the perfect IT set-up in place. Two-thirds (67%) say that poor IT regularly holds them back from being productive, with half (49%) being held back once a week or more.
Among those whose productivity has been held back by IT, almost half (44%) report that they have suffered from stress as a result of failing IT not allowing them to work effectively. One in three (32%) workers say they work longer hours to make up for IT failures, and 30% say they are forced to miss deadlines.
Bob Dunnett, managing director of NG Bailey’s IT services division, says the impact of this on businesses is profound and extends beyond just budget implications.
“It’s clear many businesses don’t currently provide the IT resources that could help their employees achieve maximum productivity. What we’re also seeing is that this is having a big impact on employees’ health and quality of life,” he says.
Other key findings include:
- IT infrastructure is key: Hardware (72%), software (71%) and networking (70%) are the top three areas that employees view as the most important to get right in order to have a positive impact on productivity.
- Flexible working improves productivity: Four out of five (82%) of office workers say flexible working hours (including the ability to work from home) would have a positive impact on employee productivity.
- BYOD impacts on satisfaction: More than half (57%) of employees who are able to bring their own devices (BYOD) to work say this has a positive impact on their productivity. Nearly a third (29%) of BYOD users say they are very satisfied with their office environment, compared to just 13% of those in businesses without a BYOD policy.
- Hunger to innovate: 91% of those surveyed want to try new technologies at work if this will make them more productive. However, fewer than half (46%) of office workers view their employer as innovative when it comes to IT in the workplace.
- Willingness to sacrifice to succeed: Nearly half (44%) of office workers say they would sacrifice their Christmas party in order to get the perfect IT set-up, and a staggering 7% of 18- to 34-year-old employees say they’d even give up part of their salary.
NG Bailey’s specialist IT Services division provides a service that includes the design, integration and on-going management and analysis of IT solutions.
