Dive Brief:

• Common workplace gripes about outdated technology are more than baseless employee complaints, as a recent survey found that U.S. employers may be losing up to $1.8 trillion in wasted productivity due to aging infrastructure and outdated technology.
• Survey findings from Samanage, a SaaS Enterprise Service Management company, reveal that technology in the workplace does not fit today’s modern organization needs and is largely hindering productivity, costing U.S. businesses.
• The Samanage State of Workplace Survey, which polled nearly 3,000 U.S. working adults in late January, found that workers spend an average of 520 hours a year — more than one full day’s work each week — on repetitive services and tasks that could be easily automated, such as, password reset requests, new employee onboarding, contract review and approval, and office supply requests, to name a few.

Dive Insight:

Based on a average national hourly wage of $25.39, Samanage found the current situation translates to businesses losing $13,202.80 a year per employee on unproductive tasks. With a U.S. labor force of more than 140 million, this totals a collective loss of $1.8 trillion annually.

More than one in three employees (36.8%) believe their company’s technology is outdated and voiced a desire for automating non-essential tasks (20.2%), having access to a more mobile-friendly device (12.2%) and using cloud-based apps to access work documents (9.5%).

While IT is outside the scope of HR, productivity and engagement are not. The Samanage survey may serve as part of a strong business case for HR leaders looking for new solutions in those areas.