Computeractive survey finds office workers lack basic IT skills
Source: Computeractive
British office workers struggle with computers and other office equipment because they have a lack of basic IT know-how.
A survey of 2,000 office workers commissioned by Computeractive found that instead of making working life easier, technology can make it more difficult and a very large proportion of people blamed faulty IT devices for many of their woes.
A quarter blamed basic office technology if they were unable to meet deadlines (25 per cent), while nearly three in ten (28 per cent) became so frustrated with equipment not working properly they placed calls with their IT department up to three times a week.
Not surprisingly well over half of those surveyed (52 per cent) get extremely irate if their computer crashed, while a slow internet connection frustrated a quarter of them.
Yet many of the ongoing technology bottlenecks that frustrate people so much, such as paper jams, transferring a call or losing work are often caused by often the simplest of faults; some of which are human error, others which with a little know how would stop this over reliance on IT departments to sort the problem out.
However the study does suggest that whilst technology can cause a great deal of stress in the workplace, it can also prove hugely beneficial. For example 42 per cent of Brits find it easier to broach sensitive issues with their colleagues electronically with 39 per cent preferring to cancel a meeting via email, over a third (34 per cent) requesting holiday leave and over a quarter (26 per cent) emailing in sick rather than telephoning.
