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28 May 2019

Tech blips cost companies £3.4 billion per year in lost productivity according to new research that reveals the average British worker spends over one working day a month fixing their own IT issues.

A survey of 1,137 UK workers in full or part-time employment, carried out by technology services provider Probrand.co.uk also says 33% of UK workers think their workplace IT systems are hindering their productivity.

The surveyed workers, who all use IT systems in their workplace, said they waste an average of 5% of their working day due to connection or technology related issues.

The calculation

Losing 5% of a working day to tech issues equates to 21 minutes of lost productivity per day, 1.75 hours a week or 7 hours (one working day) per month. This comes in at a cost of £3.4 billion to UK employers annually.

The latest statistics from Gov.uk show that 29,943,000 Brits were in employment during 2017, while latest ONS figures show that they earn a median weekly wage of £569 - £113.80 per day.

Top five tech troubles

The top five workplace IT issues reported by UK workers were slow running equipment (34%), internet connectivity issues (27%), cyber breaches (19%), additional equipment such as printers and scanners not working (11%) and outdated hardware (9%).

Under resourced

27% of UK workers said that their workplace IT systems are hindering their productivity, with this number rising to 33% in larger companies with in-house IT departments.

Those surveyed who have an in-house IT department said their colleagues within that department often appear to be under resourced when resolving technical issues, with problems taking an average of over six hours to be resolved after being reported.

Knowing that they will have to wait for assistance, many workers are attempting to resolve the IT issue themselves but by doing so, are detracting themselves from their own work - and often making the problem worse.

Training

Matt Royle at Probrand said: “A productive workforce is integral to the success of a business, as is ICT in enabling that. It’s clear from our findings that businesses are not helping themselves when it comes to resolving IT related issues.

“Naturally, issues arise from the IT itself as well as end user error.  Employee training can help here on basic use of IT systems, processes and company policies – particularly when it comes to cyber and data security. 

“With companies wasting an eye watering £3.4 billion in lost productivity each year, it’s clearly time for those with and without internal IT teams to take a new look at how to tackle end user issues.”

Picture: The average British worker spends over one working day a month fixing their own tech blips.

Probrand provides IT products and managed IT services.

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 28 May 2019

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