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Recent research from Scalable finds that the digital experience of knowledge workers is getting worse, with digital friction adding an extra 3.1 weeks per year to their workload due to new hybrid work models and tools. On a smaller scale, this translates to 5.5 hours lost per employee per week due to poor digital employee experiences (DEX).
This not only detrimental to the employee experience but also for companies' bottom lines. We explore the findings — and what companies can do about it.
The Truth About Digital Friction
Going by Gartner's definition, digital friction refers to any unnecessary effort an employee must exert to use data or technology to complete a task.
According to Scalable's 2024 Digital Employee Experience (DEX) report, that digital friction is intensifying due to the rapid rise of hybrid work models which, when implemented, necessitated the deployment of digital tools and new applications.
“Today’s technology estates are complex and poorly integrated, with workflows that span multiple applications and domains," the report reads. “Employees are burdened with too many apps, and to make matters worse, most don’t even know how or why to use what they’ve been given.”
The digital friction knowledge workers are experiencing is further aggravated by a lack of visibility into digital experiences, Scalable wrote. In practical terms, this means workplace managers are unable to identify how apps are performing, whether they are crashing regularly, whether they are integrated into workflows as they should and how much time workers spend trying to overcome these problems.
But according to the researchers, reality is not that cut and dry. The report identifies four reasons why this so-called digital friction is difficult for companies to measure:
- Digital friction is subjective: Some workers overcome these problems with workarounds, others end up blocked. The degree to which friction is experienced therefore varies — though either way, employees end up accepting inadequate IT services as normal.
- Manual observation: IT often produces insights into these problems through manual, case-by-case observation, a process that does not always offer an authentic or widespread view of the situation.
- Oversight over adoption: The IT discovery process does not typically provide insight into how applications and platforms interact with each other.
- Interconnected workflows: Identifying precise points of digital friction is difficult due to the complexity of workplace technology and human interactions.
Digital friction is frustrating for workers, and companies must understand that, in turn, this frustration affects productivity and engagement. According to Scalable, almost a third (29%) of workers blame poor digital experiences for wanting to leave their job, making it clear that inefficiencies in workflows have serious effects on worker satisfaction and wellbeing, as well as retention.
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Are Tools to Blame?
Cordoniq co-founder and CTO Allen Drennan attributes the decline of digital experiences for knowledge workers to the fact that in many cases, the tools in use were not originally designed for a hybrid or dispersed work environment.
In the case of remote conferencing, for example, Drennan said many companies are still using today generic or legacy conferencing products, when in reality, they need immersive solutions that integrate into their workflow and have the elements and touch-points that allow their distributed workforce to interact in a way that is the same as being in the office.
Obviously, Drennan is speaking from the perspective of the co-founder of a video collaboration company, but the fact remains that virtual conferencing is a problem for many remote workers.
Ultimately, whether it's video conferencing or something else, companies should aim to minimize the friction created by the use of legacy technology by looking into newer solutions that engage their employees and remove the remote barriers.
An article published by Reworked in the aftermath of the pandemic talked about the need to rethink virtual collaboration in an increasingly dispersed workplace. At the time, enterprises were beginning to turn to AI to enhance productivity, do away with menial tasks and boost the user experience.
So, how is it that two years later, many organizations remain bogged down by technology they had in place prior to 2000?
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The Problem With Productivity
At its core, workplace technology is a tool that helps bring people together to build meaningful, connected experiences and drive outcomes. When the primary purpose is optimizing productivity or the endless escalator of ROI, you end up building silos that separate team members from each other, Ryan Ansley, senior IT director at Cisco Meraki, said.
The goal should be to provide tools that connect people, make it easy for them to collaborate and provide a simple, straightforward platform where work happens.
The productivity gain, Ansley said, comes from enabling a distributed experience that mimics what we would have in person a decade ago but at a scale that allows organizations to hire and enable top talent regardless of where they are located worldwide.
Several issues contribute to poor digital employee experiences, but there are also several solutions to this problem. Here are three of the most common:
- Stop chasing optimization: There is no silver bullet to success in today's environment, Ansley said, not even GenAI. The key to success is scaling human interaction, not replacing it. AI and other tools are great for making the lives of staff easier and simplifying complex tasks, but they cannot replicate the complex level of care that a human provides. Use technology to augment the efforts of your team, not replace it.
- Don't let technology lead: Set your intentions and goals for the deployment of a new tool before you invest in it, Ansley said. Take time to understand your staff, their frustrations and what will help them work better together before you go searching for a tool to address those challenges.
- Remember the big picture: Think about your workplace holistically, Ansley advised. When leadership is focused on productivity, reporting or micro-managing, it is easy to forget that your employees are the ones who make the organization run. The goal should always be to make them more successful.
“In the boardroom, you always need to remember that the decisions you make balance the market's demands and opportunities with the makeup and engagement of your workforce,” he said. “When you get that balance right, you'll find productivity gains and a smooth road to wherever you want to steer the ship.”
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Workers' Needs
All of this highlights one important takeaway: technology should be placed in the wider context of workers' needs.
Paul Lee, co-founder and CEO of Patlytics.ai, said organizations should conduct thorough audits of their digital tools to assess their impact on employee productivity and satisfaction. This involves not just cataloging the tools but also understanding how they are used in daily workflows and where redundancies or gaps exist.
Even better: try to avoid these gaps in the first place. To do so, organizations should avoid imposing top-down decisions on technology adoption. Instead, involve employees in the selection process.
Organizations should also set up pilot programs where a cross-section of employees tests new tools and provides feedback on their utility and user experience, Lee said. An innovative approach could be akin to a tech hackathon, where employees are invited to create or suggest customizations to existing tools, making them more aligned with their actual needs and workflows. This not only ensures the tools are more closely aligned with user needs but also fosters a sense of ownership among employees over their digital environment.
Finally, Lee advises organizations encourage and facilitate ongoing feedback on the digital experience from all levels within the organization. This could be through regular surveys, digital suggestion boxes or dedicated forums for discussing digital tools and workflows.
“Recognizing that digital tools evolve rapidly, continuous learning should be embedded into the organizational culture,” he said. “However, instead of generic training programs, offer targeted upskilling opportunities that are directly relevant to the tools and technologies employees use.”