Slingshot, the work management platform from software company Infragistics that brings data to the center of everything teams work on, has officially released the second part of findings from its Digital Work Trends Report.
Going by the available details, these findings reveal that most employees are unaware of how their individual contributions at work support larger company goals and growth. You see, no more than 23% of employees were found to feel educated on company goals. The stated data challenges a contingent of 84% leaders who say they’re effectively communicating business goals, objectives and key results to employees.
Making this gap all the more critical is how more than half of employees (51%) say that having increased transparency into these goals would help them better manage their workload and drive productivity.
“When employees don’t have insight into their company’s goals, they’re largely unaware of how their daily work fits into the bigger picture of the company, which can cause them to feel unmotivated, confused on priorities and unproductive,” said Dean Guida, Founder of Slingshot. “Leaders need to regularly communicate these goals across the organization so employees continuously feel connected to their roles and the larger company.”
Talk about the given report’s findings on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how one in every three workers is currently facing digital fatigue, something which has now started to impact their productivity at work.
You see, as teams are having to spend an average of 8 hours a day on screens (i.e. computer, television, phone) for both work and recreational activities, nearly 34% are already at a stage where they they’re overwhelmed by the amount of time they spend on digital devices. This means an estimated 41% of teams are currently burnt out due to digital fatigue, with 18% saying they’re not giving tasks their full attention, thus decreasing the quality of deliverables.
Next up, Slingshot’s report discovered that too many apps are taking too much of employees’ attention. In a more concrete sense, an estimated half (42%) of employees and leaders use five or more workplace applications per day, with 12% saying they use seven or more.
A direct by-product of this time-hogging has been a downturn in productivity. You see, nearly sixteen percent (16%) of teams feel that using too many applications contributes most to their digital exhaustion, whereas on the other hand, nearly one-fourth (24%) say that app notifications are distracting to their daily tasks.
Another detail worth a mention here is rooted in how older employees don’t quite feel overloaded with work to the extent that other generations do. In essence, while most employees (70%) have felt overloaded at work, Boomer employees feel the least amount of pressure when it comes to workload. This is relayed well by the fact that more workers aged 60+ say they aren’t overloaded with work (52%) than cite any one situation when they feel overloaded.
In comparison to that, only 16% of Gen Z workers (ages 18-27) , 21% of Millennials (ages 28-43) and 31% of Gen X + Y workers (ages 44-59) were found to feel the same.
Interestingly enough, boomer employees also said they feel less digital fatigue than younger employers, considering 53% of Gen Z-ers felt digitally exhausted against 18% of Boomers.
Among other things, Slingshot found a good chunk of employees wanting their leaders to set expectations for after-hours availability. This shows up in how more than one-third (38%) of employees and leaders feel pressure to respond to work-related correspondence outside of work hours.
To address the same, employees want employers to encourage them in terms of unplugging at the end of workday (67%), not expecting employees to be available after hours (55%) and not asking employees for deliverables after work hours (45%).
“Productivity within a company is a critical measure of business success and growth, which is why it’s such a focus for employers. The key to boost productivity within any organization is to connect employees to their work and the business, support and guide employees with everything they do and foster an environment for them to continuously innovate,” said Guida.
