A quarter (26%) of Singapore workers with office-based jobs do not feel equipped with the digital tools to effectively shift their work to a remote environment, highlighting the productivity challenge faced by office workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to OpenText.
The new data – from a survey of 1,000 respondents in Singapore done last April and May – reveals that a lack of suitable digital tools combined with “information overload” is impacting employee productivity and stress levels during the coronavirus crisis in Singapore.
Among respondents, 23% are stressed by information overload across devices, 13% feel they can’t unplug and are dealing with information 24/7, and another 13% feel overwhelmed with too many data sources and apps to check each day.
Almost half (47%) of Singapore respondents agree that the number of information sources – email, news feeds, diaries, social media sites, company drive, shared drive etc. – they check each day has increased in the last five years.
On average, nearly one in five (17%) Singapore respondents now use more than ten accounts, tools and apps every day.
The data suggests this information overload is having a significant impact on both personal life and work. Nearly two-fifths (38%) of respondents are able to limit the number of tools, apps and resources they access to complete a work project to three or fewer.
Further, over two-fifths (41%) of Singapore workers typically spend more than a minute searching for a specific file or piece of information for work purposes. Only a fifth (20%) can usually find the file they require in less than 10 seconds.
While 29% of Singapore respondents admit remaining motivated would be their biggest challenge if working from home long-term, 22% say access issues would be the main problem – from accessing work emails to accessing corporate file systems and content.
Collaboration is also a concern, with 26% say collaborating and sharing information and files with colleagues would be their biggest challenge. Despite the prevalence of work applications and tools to check and use each day, over two-fifths (43%) of respondents admit to having shared work-related files on a personal file sharing system, such as DropBox.
