Page 5 - Digital fatigue

FACTS AND FIGURES
DIGITAL FATIGUE
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FACTS AND FIGURES 5
For hybrid workers, having the right technology is not a nice-to- have. It's a necessity. But people who can't step away from their tech, often suffer from digital fatigue. The solution is not to ban or limit the use of technology, but to promote wisdom in its use.
There’s a reason why hybrid working is so popular right now. It’s a great way for both people and organisations to enjoy the best of both worlds. It combines the flexibility to work from home with the structure and support of the office. But it relies on having the right technological infrastructure and so there are some challenges and problems that we must recognise and address.
Over the past three years in particular we have started to inhabit this part-digital world more and more, and consequently form new personal and professional routines and habits within it.
Recently, many organisations have been obliged to experiment with remote working for the first time. Some reverted to mostly or totally in-office work at the first opportunity, before settling on some variant of hybrid working as a better solution. Whatever road they have chosen, firms and employees alike have experienced something of a rollercoaster of emotions and reactions as they adjust to their new workflows and schedules.
What became clear from the growing body of research1, was that transforming offices into digital workplaces requires more than managing a set of ever-evolving technologies. It needs to create a new combination of the physical, cultural, and digital elements that shape human interactions with each other and machines. And, increasingly, machines with machines. It demands that we change the way we work. Even before the pandemic, the majority of office workers in Europe had already welcomed the advent of better technology that allowed them to work away from conventional offices for at least some of the time, especially as an opportunity to enhance their work-life balance2. Most appreciated the benefits in terms of autonomy, competence, and connection3.
In a hybrid working culture, the right digital technology becomes an absolute necessity. So too does the business of deciding which
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Communication in a hyperconnected workplace Source: original by PACO Design Collaborative, 2022.