Better Functioning Tech Is Critical For Reducing Work From Home Stress

When it comes to electronic gadgets like phones, laptops and computers, the latest is most definitely the greatest -- and you don¡¯t need to be a genius to figure that out. But as our tech devices get older, they not only become slower in terms of performance, they have a direct impact on our stress levels. No kidding.

And a recent research actually tried to quantify this negative effect of bad tech (for lack of a better term) on its users in a compelling way.

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¡°Having challenging technology was more than twice as stressful as using good tech to achieve an equivalent task,¡± according to Cile Montgomery. ¡°The increased stress level was even higher than an unwilling person being asked to sing an unfamiliar song in public,¡± Montgomery added, giving the stress overload a perspective that everyone could relate to and better understand.

An IT industry veteran having spent over 20 years at the company, Cile Montgomery leads customer experience and customer journey initiatives for Dell Technologies Unified Workspace portfolio. Her role explores helping IT managers make smart tech decisions to modernize end user technology that ultimately helps transform entire businesses.

She knows the difference good tech can have on employees, and by extension their businesses, compared to bad tech¡¯s catastrophic impact on driving down employee well-being not just in the long run but within almost seconds. Nothing gets the sweat beads flowing like the feeling of losing some work because of technology issues like Wi-Fi snags, password mishits, permanently losing an important file on your PC.

¡°Employees that suffered a loss of spreadsheet data experienced a 17 percent increase in stress levels in just 8 seconds,¡± Cile told me, based on a research study that Dell and EMOTIV jointly conducted in 2020. Far from a survey, subjects in this study had to wear a digital brain cap (built by EMOTIV) to gauge participants¡¯ brain activity and map it accurately in real-time.

The joint research was conducted to find out exactly how good or bad tech usage scenarios mentally affected users, and this was done using EMOTIV¡¯s EPOC+ wireless Brainwear headsets to collect participants¡¯ brain data -- it tracked stuff like levels of stress, focus, excitement and frustration in real-time using EMOTIV¡¯s proprietary machine learning algorithms.

EMOTIV brain sensing cap

They developed a custom experiment to measure the reactions of users of various ages and computer literacy levels as they completed cognitively challenging tasks with set time limits -- simulating different phases of a typical work day -- under both good and bad PC technology scenarios. Some of the revelations from their research study¡¯s quite telling.

Two conditions were tested in a block design using similar task loads. In the ¡°Bad Computer¡± experimental condition, users were provided with an unreliable laptop with planted bugs, while during condition ¡°Good Computer,¡± users were provided with high-performing computers and screens which streamlined the user experience.

The loss of spreadsheet is something that can happen to anyone, mentioned Cile Montgomery. ¡°It's stuff we go through everyday, issues people face with technology and we're designing tools, technology and services to make sure that people don't have to experience that as part of work,¡± she said, in order to ¡°minimise those interruptions and really help keep people in their flow and have them feel good about work which ultimately makes them more effective and productive.¡±

Navigating the new normal

After COVID-19 pandemic broke and the world went into a shell, work-from-home suddenly became everyone¡¯s new normal to some extent. Even as 2021 goes in global inoculation drives, work-from-home will endure and remain with us, something that more businesses are coming to terms with, according to Cile Montgomery.

¡°In our new era, PCs are often the only physical connection an employee has to a company,¡± she rightly said, and how challenging technology can make today¡¯s new work-life dynamic more stressful for millennials and Gen Zs. Younger Millennials and Gen Zs under the age of 26, were most impacted by a bad tech experience, performing twice as poorly as older participants in the neuroscientific research study.

For every hour worked, good tech saved employees up to 23 minutes per hour or fifteen hours in a 40-hour work week, whereas a bad technology experience held back employee performance by more than 30 percent on average, regardless of a user¡¯s perceived computer literacy.

¡°Our research showed that well-functioning technology can positively impact feelings and relieve stress for employees, creating both emotional benefits as well a lasting impact on retention,¡± emphasized Cile.

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Businesses need to refine their processes and really help make it all seamless, at the end of the day, she mentioned. More and more of them are asking questions like how can all these systems work together to benefit employees to help unlock their full potential and ultimately positively impact the end user. Irrespective of the fact whether they¡¯re working remotely or going back into the office? ¡°Or maybe they're doing some of both, because I think we've learned one thing from all of this, and that the future of work has truly been reimagined,¡± Cile said.

Despite all the benefits of latest and greatest technology solutions, CEOs and CIOs may not be too eager to spend on new IT tools without factoring in the cost and return on investment, obviously. As the saying goes, who will bell the proverbial cat?

¡°I think we could do a whole different article on just this topic,¡± Cile said with a laugh, seeing how quantifying an intangible benefit is one thing, surpassing overwhelming business realities to make an impact is a whole different ballgame. ¡°People do understand how important it is to deliver good experiences to their end users, so they should make IT a big part of their employee recruitment and retention strategy, and this is where HR can create a lot of value within companies and businesses,¡± Cile concluded.