It’s interesting when you start exploring how technology is changing the experience of people, be it employees or just people in general. While there’s a lot that has been written on the subject, its application has really hit home in the recent past. Whether it’s the new hybrid work approach, the blended family-work-school everyone-on-the-zoom-link drain on technology or the plethora of new technologies that seem to appear from nowhere — technology has changed the way we work, and experience work every day, for the rest of our lives going forward.
Technology Distraction At Work
Whether you’re aware or not, there are departments that now focus solely on the employee experience at work. Beyond the HR tools and the learning management systems or the collaboration tools and communications applications, employees are bombarded with technology and the distractions they bring every minute of their day. There’s a real issue brewing with all this technology goodness that has been unleashed for our use — technology distraction, fatigue, and an overwhelming need to be on.
Ben Whitter, a leading employee experience expert, suggests that the pressure to grow and compete in today’s business environment is forcing businesses to evaluate how technology can make their employees more productive and less stressed. How technology can reduce the workload of employees while leaving them more satisfied. Funny, then, how we continue to be distracted by things that are supposed to help us be less — well, distracted.
Gartner recently released an article that covers the new work environment. It showed that distractions come at employees every day, all day long but topping the list are work distractions. The need to feel ever-present and available because of the use of technology and the hybrid work environment is impacting the way employees concentrate while at work.
Alexia Cambon, director at Gartner shared a quote in that article that is a great parallel to the ultimate remote worker — deskless workers. She said, “Imagine driving a car and a squirrel jumps in front of your car every 40 seconds. That’s your digital distraction. Now add a passenger next to you who won’t stop talking. That’s your virtual overload. Finally, put this car on a highway with no exit signs. That’s your always-on mindset. So you’re in a car that’s start-stopping every 40 seconds, with a passenger who won’t stop talking and there’s no way to take it off the road. Wouldn’t that make you tired?”
Transforming The Workplace
Deskless workers have become frontline workers in recent months. They are the delivery drivers. They are field workers. They are public safety and medical personnel. Their work environments can be in the vehicle, in the work zone, or on-premise. Their use of technology focuses on mobile devices and applications with distractions coming from the draw to use their mobile device to stay connected.
Connectedness and immediate response are key drivers in technology at work today. Workers need to respond to emails, accept or decline meeting requests, attend online meetings, submit work tickets, answer company-related text updates — the list goes on and on. While it seems we’re still in the growth phase of deploying technology to help employees, technology is taking us so quickly into an environment that changes the way we work, forever.
TRUCE helps businesses make the most of their mobile technology through its Contextual Mobility Management software. It limits the number of squirrel-moments for workers who use mobile devices for work. Giving access to the right apps, at the right time, and suppressing those that aren’t needed until they are. See how TRUCE can help your employees make the most of technology — well, mobile technology, anyway — here.