You work hard to keep your employees happy. From break room renovations to white noise machines and new chairs – you try to do everything you possibly can to give your users the work environment that they want. Why? You know that happy employees are productive employees. But beyond company outings and casual Fridays, have you looked at how your technology is impacting their happiness? If you aren’t focused on refreshing and innovating your company technology, there’s a good chance that your users are frustrated. Here are a few signs that your employees hate your outdated technology.
They complain about “slowness”
A slow computer, a slow server, a slow network – all of these things can be very frustrating for would-be efficient employees. Your most productive, efficient users are literally handicapped by their technology and it’s important to listen to their complaints. Why? Didn’t you pay a premium in recruiting them to begin with? What’s the point in paying that additional percentage of salary over and beyond an applicant just to handicap their productivity to a slower level? By upgrading your workstations, server and connectivity on a regular basis, you can foster increased productivity and happiness from your best workers.
Complaints about IT support
While this is more related to your IT services, every moment that your employees wait for your IT department and support team to fix an issue is lost productivity, frustration on their part and is costing you big time. Some managed services providers work hard to provide efficient support services, so much so that they’ve guaranteed certain response and resolution times to their customers. Technology issues that your employees are experiencing shouldn’t take days to resolve. Remember that the quality of your support staff matters. Your support staff should be able to identify with your users, have knowledge of your processes and applications and create documentation that allows them to easily identify and understand issues that your users are experiencing. Hold your IT department or Managed Services provider accountable to eliminate complaints regarding the quality of your support.
They don’t have access to the right technology
Whether there is an important application that they’re missing, or a scanner that they need personal access to – don’t allow your employee’s happiness to dwindle over a single piece of equipment that could significantly enhance their productivity. Employees shouldn’t have to beg for technology that will ultimately help your business. Reward proactive employees who seek to make their work more efficient and you’ll reap the rewards in happier, more productive employees and increased sales and deliverability.
They hate your application
Just because you invested money into an application doesn’t mean that application should stick around after it goes out of date. Make sure that you’re researching the best applications in your industry to avoid user frustration over outdated applications that don’t work in our modern world. Cloud hosted applications that allow for remote access and increased mobility are actually much more affordable than they have been previously. Have your IT department or provider look into the application that could best serve your users to eliminate complaints about outdated applications.
They’ve stopped complaining
Perhaps the worst and most dire sign of employees that hate your outdated technology is when they have stopped complaining. If things seem a little quiet from the peanut gallery who once readily offered feedback on their workstations and your technology, things have likely gone from bad to worse. For an employee to finally come to terms with outdated technology means that they have stopped caring about their efficiency and your organization. Don’t allow your business to suffer because you haven’t been listening to important feedback from your employees. Provide regular surveys that will help you understand where the technology deficiencies lie in your organization to regain some of their lost productivity and happiness.
When it comes to your employees, don’t forget that your business relies on their happiness. While this might be difficult to swallow in an age of increasingly needy Millennials, take heart. An improvement in your technology ultimately stands to benefit everyone involved. Refreshing workstations or bringing on a new application might seem like additional work, training and expenses, but it will yield dividends for everyone involved in the long term. Pay attention to your employees to gain the ultimate insight into a more productive business.
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