Increasingly we’re hearing that people just don’t know where to start. So Sequel Group’s The Modern Employee Experience Report 2020 considers how Internal Communication, HR and IT can work together to avoid information overload.
“When we hear this feedback in focus groups,” says Sequel’s Head of Insight Paul Jones, “we’ll ask people to put their hand up if they’ve ever deleted a corporate communications email without opening it. Nearly every time, every hand in the room is in the air. Scary.”
Rather than keeping employees informed, sending too many messages can mean they’re more likely to miss things because they don’t have the capacity or time to engage with them. Or they could decide it’s too taxing to try, and switch off entirely.
On top of that, some researchers say the stress of not being able to process information as fast as it arrives can deplete and demoralise you.
Information overload costs the U.S. economy $900 billion a year.
Harvard Business Review
Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist and expert on attention-deficit disorders, goes as far to say that trends like this in the modern workplace induce what he calls ‘attention deficit trait’, with characteristics similar to those of the genetically based disorder.
And there’s the fact that when people are looking for information, there are many avenues to choose from, and a mountain of content to wade through to get to what they need.
This is having a real business impact, particularly when it comes to productivity. Research from Teleware suggests that more than a third of employees have wasted significant portions of the day because of difficulties retrieving valuable information.
Our 2020 trends report pulls together the seven common issues that we’ve identified from our strategic work with clients in the last 18 months. From communications audits, shaping strategies and tracking measurement we share what we’ve heard the most, plus practical insight that helps you to create a better employee experience in your own organisation.
To request your copy, email hello@sequelgroup.co.uk, or book now to attend our Sequel Presents breakfast seminar on 19 March 2020 on “The 2020 employee: How can we help them be their best?”