Digital technology is part of our daily lives. Computers, smartphones and connected objects challenge us on a daily basis. Between emails, alerts, notifications, digital content, your employees are confronted with permanent messages. Digital technology remains the most powerful tool at the service of your performance and your communication... provided you avoid the pitfalls of excessive demand that is harmful to concentration and productivity!
Hypersollicitation is increasingly present in companies
We live in an attention economy, and brands understand that. In a society where the supply is abundant, and where consumers are constantly solicited by digital content, attention and time become rare resources that must be captured before competitors.
The attention of your employees is also becoming a coveted resource within the professional environment. Supporting them in better managing the digital requests received on a daily basis is becoming an issue of well-being at work as well as efficiency.
Digital hyper-solicitation in business
Employees exposed to an endless flow of information, of communications and digital requests, mainly through information and communication technologies (ICT), can quickly suffer from digital hypersollicitation.
These requests are directly related to professional activity. Phone calls, emails, messages posted on company-specific instant messengers, notifications, reminders of deadlines, meetings and videoconferences add up to quickly become invasive.
In addition to these professional requests, personal requests are sometimes added. An employee can be affected by calls from those around them, private instant messages, mobile notifications issued by applications, social networks, etc.
A constant flow of communications at the expense of productivity
Digital tools have facilitated communication between team members, but also between employees and company customers. Your employees are literally overwhelmed by a large number of messages, requests and notifications, with direct consequences on their work performance.
However, each new request Can interrupt a task in progress. It results A loss of concentration that directly harms the productivity And at the quality of work. A mission normally completed in two hours can then quickly require one or two additional hours in the event of repeated interruptions.
Time management is also affected by digital hypersollicitation. Frequent requests shake up the schedule of your employees, and can disrupt their priority management. Tasks that are actually not very urgent delay the delivery of missions that have been planned for a long time and are more important.
The multiplication of channels may also result in loss of information. Messages intersect, and document versions or requests intertwine, with direct consequences on quality and productivity.
Hypersollicitation is a source of stress and discomfort
Digital hypersollicitation impairs well-being of your employees.
This information overload can be a source of stress and anxiety. Your employees feel overwhelmed by requests, and perceive them as inconveniences. They are no longer able to sort out the really important requests from those that can be dealt with later or even ignored.
Because of the constant accessibility of digital devices and applications, some managers expect employees to be available and responsive at all times, including outside of work hours. It becomes difficult to disconnect from work, which can result in a imbalance between professional and personal life.
The challenges of digital solicitation in the age of teleworking
Teleworking is changing the way businesses are organized, and the hybrid management is being adopted by a growing number of businesses.
However, remote work can worsen digital hypersollicitation. Unable to demonstrate their involvement through their presence on company premises, some teleworking employees may be required to show increased reactivity to requests from colleagues, managers or customers. The consequence? Increased stress, and a border between private and professional life that is completely dissolving.
Addressing the challenges of digital hyper-demand in business
Digital overdemand in business is not inevitable. A proactive approach that combines organizational policies, management practices, and team awareness allows you to create a positive dynamic around digital tools.
Promoting the right to disconnect
Since January 1, 2017, The right to disconnect has made its way into labor law (article 55 of law no. 2016-1088 of 8 August 2016). Collective bargaining should be the preferred lever for establishing rules of good conduct corresponding to the needs of employees, and adapted to your company. In the absence of agreement, the employer must implement this right by drawing up a charter that lists the best practices, awareness-raising and training actions undertaken.
Do you apply a right to disconnect within your company? For example, you can specify that your employees are not required to respond to emails outside of office hours, including your employees working remotely. You can also schedule days or periods of the day without email, or deploy technical measures such as deactivating notifications outside of working hours.
Limiting and prioritizing information channels
Digital hypersollicitation has its origin in part in The multiplication of channels. You can limit information channels in order to avoid requests from all directions, and assign a role to each tool. Here are some examples of measures that are simple and easy to adopt:
- Mission requests always pass by a project management tool like Monday, Trello, Jira, or Asana
- A deadline is always associated with a project, in order to facilitate the prioritization of missions and the management of everyone's time;
- Emails are meant mainly to exchanges with customers, suppliers and partners;
- The more informal exchanges, as a request for advice, go through instant messaging;
- Stakeholders only to a project are added as a copy of an email, in order to avoid overloading inboxes;
- Resources and documents are centralized in the company's intranet or cloud, ideally with access and the right to modify remotely, to avoid constant back and forth;
- etc.
You can organize a consultation with managers or the entire workforce to gather everyone's opinions and ideas.
Train and raise awareness with the right communication tools
You can mobilize internal communication tools at your disposal to make your employees aware of digital hyper-solicitation, and to disseminate best practices:
- Communicate about the right to disconnect and on measures adopted at the enterprise level;
- Explain information channels, processes and usage policies within the company;
- Facilitate feedback teams and managers, in order to adjust strategies to combat digital hypersollicitation.
Adopt digital signage to communicate with your teams
With digital signage, you can broadcast digital content on one or more screens : videos, PowerPoint presentations, charts with real-time data, static images, etc. Content management is done from a single interface, and the content on each screen can be customized. The content can also be viewed on the screens of remote employees.
Digital signage in business offers an effective solution to communicate around the challenges of digital hyper-solicitation in business, with a non-intrusive and impacting approach. You can exploit Cenareo technology to bring visibility to key measures or to good practices: “an email after 18:00? I am waiting until the next day to respond!”. You can also broadcast awareness-raising or informational messages about upcoming time management training sessions. Are you interested in digital signage to boost your internal communication, and do you want to discover all the advantages of the Cenareo solution? Let's make a point together!
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