Workers struggle with 'irrelevant' information provided by employers, firm says

Dive Brief:

Despite employers' efforts to improve ease of access of information for workers, 41% of the information companies provide to employees is "irrelevant" to their jobs, according to a recent online survey conducted by Researchscape International for software firm Coveo.
The survey estimated that workers spent 2.5 hours per day on average searching for information needed to do their jobs. Information-seeking challenges caused 42% of respondents to feel less engaged in their work and 47% to feel less confident in their work, Coveo said.
A majority, 85%, of respondents were "not completely confident" in the information they shared externally, with commonly cited concerns including relevancy and accuracy.

Dive Insight:

Access to information has long been a concern for HR departments in an increasingly digitalized world. Survey results published in February 2020 by software platform Starmind found, similar to Researchscape and Coveo, that 60% of U.S. and U.K. employee respondents said they had difficulty accessing information they needed to do their jobs.

The topic is arguably even more relevant given the digital transformation that has occurred since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of academic papers published last year by the Advance Workplace Institute found virtual workflows that some organizations adopted during the pandemic could damage information sharing between co-workers, among other team dynamics. Despite the challenges posed by remote work, most organizations plan to move forward with permitting remote work beyond the pandemic, according to a 2020 Gartner survey.

HR may be able to take a stronger approach to solving information-related challenges by forging a closer relationship with information technology departments, sources previously told HR Dive. IT teams can help HR take advantage of technologies, such as cloud-based software, that allow for enhanced collaboration even while remote. An even bigger challenge may be working with IT to prevent the digital employee experience from becoming too fragmented.

Simply involving IT may not be enough to truly bring this vision into reality, however. A January report by IT services company 1E found evidence of a disconnect between IT managers and remote employees in terms of satisfaction with organizational processes. Employers may need to ensure that internal feedback on tech solutions makes its way to IT amid an environment of accelerated tech adoption; 1E found that IT managers said updates from technology partners were more likely to drive their technology roadmap than feedback from internal stakeholders.