Are inefficient tech tools causing your employees to 'sleepwork'?

In an increasingly virtual world, it's hard to believe that companies are still missing the mark when it comes to technology that can keep employees productive. But a recent survey shows that many organizations are missing the mark — and that comes with a cost. 

Turnover rates can reach 71% in places where workers feel they need more and better tech tools to be productive, according to research by cloud software company Domo, and over half of workers said access to tech tools would better prepare their company to weather an economic downturn. Instead, companies without the proper resources are sacrificing a total $6.5 billion in weekly productivity. 

"The barriers to digital transformation and growth are becoming less about technology and more about the human's ability to use that technology in the context of their job," says John Mellor, CEO of Domo. "Legacy tech can't keep up. Modern technology is more personalized, flexible, and works the way that people do. [New] solutions support millions of unique workflows and specific jobs — from nurses at a vaccination clinic, right down to a scrap manager at an aluminum plant and a stockroom employee at a retail store."

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A lack  of reliable tech has affected deskless workers — such as blue collar or healthcare professionals — for years, 28% of whom are feeling held back at work because of inferior tools and information, according to Domo's survey. This kind of impediment puts workers in what Mellor refers to as a sort of "sleepworking" — when employees are not performing at their full potential because they aren't equipped with what they need to be more efficient and effective. 

Better tools don't just keep 62% of employees happier, but three in five workers said they could get more work done if they had more resources available. More than half of workers reported that their access to technology has not kept pace with their need for better tools.  

"This means employees are not delivering as much impact for the business that they could," Mellor says. "Sleepworking also presents an expensive morale issue. Of those surveyed, workers who felt like they needed to be better equipped by their company said they were almost three times as likely to leave their jobs compared to those who felt like they had enough tech tools."

And yet, in the wake of the pandemic, companies have been boldly  boasting about their new-tech rollouts. So where's the disconnect?

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"Digital transformation has reached only a small fraction of workers inside organizations," Mellor says. "There are millions of processes that individuals do as part of their jobs that are slow and not efficient, or more simply stated, costing employers money."

Employers, Mellor says, should be ensuring that they're investing in tech that leverages employees' needs and incentivizes them to produce results faster.  For example, a manager at a restaurant could keep morale high and turnover low across its restaurant chain's locations by using tools to speed up  daily tip deposits into employee bank accounts.  

"Employers need to remember, especially when it comes to creating a productive workforce, that it isn't just about the tech — it's also about the people," Mellor says. " To make tech work, employers must think about human-first data experiences that exist in a way that people will use it."