54% of office professionals report wasting time searching for urgent files in cluttered online filing systems, according to a new report from marketing research firm Wakefield Research and data analytics company Elastic.
The report for the US found that time wasted searching impacts companies and company cultures as employees waste energy that could better be spent on planning, strategy, and overall company growth.
Nearly one in five US office professionals cited “searching for the files you need” as the number one problem facing the future of teleworking. Another 58% of respondents said that the need to search for files and documents quickly was among the top three issues.
Workers, especially those challenged by multitasking, are less likely to create an easy-to-search folder or adhere to a more organized system.
That's why the Wakefield report warns tech pros: The search for job content is killing time. Constantly searching for documents throughout the working day is a waste of time and reduces worker productivity.
The world of work-from-home
It's still a relatively new one for managers, so companies must figure out how to manage content and fast if they want to keep employees productive and win in the world of work-from-home.
It's scientifically proven that time loss directly impacts productivity, especially if you're teleworking.
Sytems Needs to be Streamlined
IT teams need functional solutions to address this critical loss of time. Organizations need to ensure that their employees have access to the tools they need to get the job done quickly and efficiently, so they don't get lost in the organizational shuffle.
According to the study, 81% of office workers can't find important documents when they should be immediately presented to a boss or client. Almost one in three office professionals often struggle to find what they need in a tense moment at work.
The survey also included data for different generations of workers (Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers). It also looked at what companies can do to distribute tools that can help address these growing organizational problems causing loss.
Generation gap
Millennials are more likely to struggle to find essential documents than Generation X and four times more likely to get lost looking for documents than boomers.
Corporate executives are not immune to the frustration of searching for files, and they are even more frustrated when they have to manage an email account that receives more than 300 emails a day.
These numbers show that office professionals need to be moving quickly through all of their files when the pressure is on.
