Why most workplace tech tools still aren’t cutting it

Two years into the pandemic, and we’re all tech, all the time. So why are these daily tools still causing employees so many headaches? 

Despite companies choosing to increase their technology spending during the pandemic — global businesses spent the equivalent of $15 billion extra a week on technology to enable remote working, according to accounting firm KPMG  — a recent pulse survey from software provider Freshworks shows that nine out 10 employees are still frustrated with their company’s tech offering.

“COVID has obviously really changed the landscape for employees, and it was kicked off by everybody working from home,” says Stacey Epstein, chief marketing officer at Freshworks, which develops easy-to-use workplace technology. “A lot of the luxuries you had in the office, like easy access to IT staff,  vanished and we were all siloed at home trying to do our jobs.”  

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That added stress is no secret to employers. Seventy-one percent of business leaders acknowledge that employees will consider looking for a new job if they can’t get access to the tools or tech they need to do their work well, according to Freshworks. And yet, 61% of business leaders still predict their technology will not be “fit for purpose” or able to meet the demands of the business in the next 12 months.

“Technology is really central to our jobs and [remote work] shined a light on how hard to use some of these workplace technologies are,” Epstein says. “As consumer technology continued to get easier and easier and easier, workplace technology just never followed that same paradigm. Even cloud software that was supposed to make it easy for employees and for companies never delivered on that promise.” 

Clunky legacy tools like outdated payroll, scheduling, document management and collaboration systems are causing 49% of employees to feel stressed at work, according to the Freshworks report, with 38% of business leaders saying that their failure to deliver adequate workplace tech is also causing stress. 

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Rather than continuing to invest in add-ons to existing tech tools, Epstein encourages business leaders to seek out new tools that may create more seamless solutions for workforces. She points to Zoom as an example of a tool that became the go-to across industries because it fit the demand of global teams. As Freshworks develops its own software and system, it’s aiming for the same easy adoption. 

“It's clear that the world wants this and is demanding it and it's only accelerated as people have gotten more frustrated in their jobs,” Epstein says. “Employees are sort of held hostage to whatever their company has decided to purchase and deploy. So it’s all about making that part easier and more accessible.”