Specifically, an increasing number of people are experiencing “technostress”: An inability to deal effectively with ICTs. The phenomenon is driven “by an individual’s attempts to deal with constantly evolving ICTs and the changing physical, social, and cognitive responses demanded by their use”. Consequently, the use of ICTs creates a perpetual sense of urgency and expectation to work harder and faster. Yet paradoxically, many people feel addicted to ICTs, which has been exacerbated (in part) by the growth of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives.
Some symptoms of technostress include:
- Employees’ personal life is invaded by organisational ICT
- Employees’ face endless IT changes and upgrades
- Employees spend significant amounts of time learning how to use ICT
- Employees find it mentally draining to use ICT systems
- Employees feel compelled to constantly communicate with colleagues outside of work
- Employees often have to adapt their workflows and practices to accommodate new ICT
When these symptoms prevail, individual productivity and work-life balance suffer, which in turn has a negative impact on organisational and team level outcomes.
Sources: Ragu-Nathan, T. S., Tarafdar, M., Ragu-Nathan, B. S., Tu, Q. (2008) The Consequences of Technostress for End Users in Organizations: Conceptual Development and Empirical Validation, Information Systems Research, 19(4), 417-433; Ayyagari, R. (2012) Impact of Information Overload and Task-Technology Fit on Technostress, Proceedings of the Southern Association for Information Systems Conference, Atlanta, GA, Mar 23-24.
Action Point
Action points: (1) Use this month’s checklist tool to assess whether employees are experiencing technostress (2) Review your IT and HR policies to identify any potential drivers of technostress. Next, decide how to adjust these policies and develop strategies for modifying employees’ counterproductive behaviours concerning ICTs, e.g. technostress awareness training, staff wellbeing programmes, incentives and rewards.