Report: Employees spend 3.6 hours each day searching for info, increasing burnout

A new study from Coveo has found that poor search quality in workplaces is causing employee burnout — and in some cases, contributing to the Great Resignation. 

Employee productivity tends to be the top focus for employers in a world of remote work. But employee proficiency, or the ability to do more independently, is equally important. A proficient workforce provides higher quality results with better customer satisfaction and less escalation — thereby increasing efficiency.

Unfortunately, Coveo found that the average employee spends 3.6 hours daily searching for information — an increase of one hour more from last year’s report. IT employees spend half their day (4.2 hours) looking for relevant information. 

The stress and hassle of locating the right information impacts employee retention. Over 31% of those surveyed said the frustration of being unable to find information made them feel burned out and 16% said it made them want to leave their company. In an already tight labor market, it’s imperative that employers address the issue of search to improve the employee experience. 

The solution to this relevant crisis is providing the proper tools and technology to make information easily accessible. However, identifying the proper tools can be difficult as well. Many organizations have adopted new applications to support productivity, but 58% of people blamed excessive search time on having too many knowledge sources to sift through. 

Employees specifically cited the number of applications as a problem. Sixty percent of employees have to search within four or more data sources every day, while 18% stumble between seven or more. 

As part of Coveo’s report, Arlington Research was commissioned to undertake a study across the U.K. and U.S. to discover trends relating to ecommerce, customer services, and the digital workplace. The survey comprised a nationally representative sample of the working population across both the U.K. and U.S., with 4,000 adults ages 18 and older taking part, evenly distributed between each country. All respondents were people who use a computer for work, as a part of companies which contain more than 250 employees. This third installment focused on trends relating to digital workplaces.

Read the full report by Coveo.