Skip to content

 

Information overload affecting productivity

60% of professionals feel that their productivity is being affected due to the increased amount of information they are required to process, according to the 2010 International Workplace Productivity Survey by LexisNexis.

Of 1,700 white collar employees polled in the United States, China, South Africa, United Kingdom and Australia, 6 in ten are burdened with information overload.

The professionals surveyed in these five markets are at “breaking point” as they can’t sort through the information they need fast enough and has resulted in a decline in the quality of their work.

Further facts discovered from the survey:

  • One in two professionals are demoralised because they are spending slightly more than half their work day receiving and managing information, rather than actually using information to do their jobs.

  • At least one third to half of all the information they receive is not useful in helping get the work done.

  • Even though respondents preferred to receive important information via email:
    • 85% of respondents in Australia,
    • 60% in US,
    • 62% in UK,
    • 57% in China, found the constant flow of email and other information distracting.
  • As a strategy to cope with this:
    • 91% of American professionals,
    • 84% of Chinese,
    • 83% of Australians, admitted to deleting work information without fully reading it.


As a solution, companies are investing in technology, offering training and creating “email free” times, according to more than eight in ten workers.

For example, 62% of Chinese workers indicated that their company has provided information management technologies designed specifically for their industry versus just a quarter of workers in the US.

While 26% of Chinese professionals have established email-free days or times at work, only 6% in the US reported the same help.

Overall, there was a strong desire for companies to do more to assist workers to better handle information - an average of nine in 10 professionals in all five markets. Solutions requested included investments in faster computers and up-to-date information management tools, and training.


Source: www.humanresourcesonline.net 

 

Current Features