A Brief Reflection on the Silent Impact of Digital Tools on Teams' Daily Work

Stress That Doesn't Come from Work... But from the Tool 🤷‍♂️

Have you ever experienced work-related stress directly linked to one of your digital tools?

Through this post, I wanted to share a hypothesis drawn from scenes I witnessed at my clients' organizations when I was a consultant for an IT services company.

I saw the mental health of some consultant colleagues and "internal" employees (client's employees) being impacted by IT tools.

These tools regularly crashed, weren't maintained, and had been developed far from the field realities of users.

A Hypothesis From the Field

The hypothesis I'm formulating is therefore as follows: IT tools can weaken employees' mental health.

If I speak of a hypothesis, it's because I haven't applied the scientific method to affirm or refute this idea.

However, I found some articles reporting rather evocative statistics:

- 32% of employees report leaving their jobs due to poor quality technology used by their company

- Companies offering an excellent digital experience to employees see a 59% reduction in turnover

- The engagement rate of satisfied employees with access to digital tools improving productivity is 91% higher

Digital tools therefore occupy a central place in employee retention strategy.

When the Tool Becomes a Daily Constraint

What struck me at the time wasn't just the loss of operational efficiency.

It was also the way these tools influenced teams' daily work:

simple tasks became lengthy, routine operations required support assistance, and some employees developed workarounds (Excel, notes, personal files) to manage to work properly.

The tool was no longer perceived as a support, but as an additional constraint.

What About Intellectual Services Buyers?

What's the connection with Kevrat, you might ask.

Since I've been talking with intellectual services procurement professionals, I notice certain patterns identical to the situations I was reporting:

- use of tools not dedicated to intellectual services (you don't buy intellectual services the same way you buy bolts!!)

- tools poorly or barely maintained, with repeated bugs

- dependence on the tools' support for frequent actions (like adding a supplier or collaborator 🫠)

- the appearance of "side" files to compensate for the main tool's limitations

New Metrics to Measure a Tool's Quality?

We often talk about performance, management, and optimization (including on this site!). But we talk less about the impact an unsuitable tool can have on the mental load of those who use it daily.

Perhaps a tool's quality shouldn't only be measured in features, but also in the serenity it brings to its users.

That would have made a nice transition to talk about one of our product values: RE-LI-A-BI-LI-TY.

But that'll be for another post 😉

Sources

- https://www.lakesidesoftware.com/news/poor-tech-experiences-drive-over-30-of-employees-to-consider-quitting-lakeside-digital-workplace-productivity-report-confirms/

- https://www.deloittedigital.com/us/en/insights/perspective/workforce-experience-by-design.html

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378720625001156