The workplace today is no longer confined to an office space. Several businesses have been implementing a digital workplace strategy to improve efficiency. Ever since remote work has been normalized, technology has taken over corporate life. Employees today, have gotten used to working in a connected environment where everything they need is a click away. As the lines between a physical workplace and physical lives get blurred, there are several ways it affects employees. Dealing with an app overload at work can be taxing for your workers.

In this blog, we take a look at the impact of the over usage of applications on employees, and whether there needs to be a way to cope with app overload sooner.

The Influx of Applications

The pandemic led employers to adopt new work strategies such as virtual teamwork. This forced the workers to work with new social structures implemented through technology.  With the employees having to switch between several apps, there are increased cases of burnout. It not only requires more effort but also brings up the screen time usage of the workers. It has been concluded that this overload may lead your workforce towards what’s termed app fatigue. Switching between different apps may interrupt their flow and leave them feeling irritable.

Employees have come across several new factors such as unfamiliar technology, work pressure, information overload, and constant availability to stay connected with work. Research suggests that if a user receives a lot of information from different sources, it would lead to stress.

Addressing Employee Well-Being

Studies revealed that around 62% of calls and chats at work are unstructured and unplanned. Over one year, the response time hasn’t decreased which implies the intense pressure employees feel. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the overload of technology has brought about a negative impact on the lives of the workers. Some of these include:

1. Lower Productivity

It has been established by now that employees find it almost impossible to have a work-life balance as they work from home. Employees report that they feel exhausted and overworked. Switching back and forth between different tasks at hand, employees don’t always find the time to slow down. They have limited space to be innovative with their tasks.

2. Professional Development

Freshers and recent graduates who have only started working remotely, find it difficult to keep up with work. Some report that obtaining information from different applications is time-consuming and brings down the efficiency of their work. The sharing of knowledge and resources takes hours of work. Learning and improving becomes a longer process and is often ignored or skipped by professionals.

3. Shrunken Networks

Employees noted that sometimes they need to constantly get in touch with their colleagues to obtain information and interrupt them often. This leads to more calls and text messages exchanged between them. Searching through multiple channels for updates becomes tiring and it leads to people avoiding networking with colleagues they would otherwise spend time within a physical workspace.

4. Stress and Burnouts

When their schedules are always packed with urgent work projects and meetings, it leaves the employees feeling overwhelmed. Barely getting any time to disconnect from their devices for professional and personal use, people have been experiencing burnouts. They may not find enough time for self-care and constantly feel workplace fatigue. This also makes employees feel disengaged from work and leads to a loss in employee retention.

How to Work Around with Technology Overload

• Platform singularity: According to Nadir Ali, CEO of digital intelligence company Inpixon, platform singularity, that is, the usage of a single application for all functions could help improve the situation. Businesses can also prioritize tasks and reduce the number of apps used.

• Employee App: An employee app provides employees with personalized, important, and urgent work notifications on their mobile devices. It collects accurate metrics and makes it easier for employees to communicate as they work remotely.

• Hybrid Workspace: A hybrid work model allows companies to be more democratic in their hiring, as they can now recruit talent from underrepresented areas. Remote work led to an increase in hiring through LinkedIn during the pandemic.

• Employee Experience: Employers may need to rethink how they treat employee experience. They have to be more empathetic towards the individual needs of their teams. A more flexible work approach may also be needed.

In Conclusion

The pandemic has led to several changes in the way businesses handled their work. It has now become necessary for them to find a more human approach when it comes to remote work. Digital exhaustion and information overload have become real problems that employers need to combat soon. Virtual workspace has given leaders a glimpse into the different methods of working collaboratively. It also emphasized the importance of a culture where breaks are encouraged. As discussed above, digital overload can turn out to be more problematic in the future than expected.

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