A new survey from Adobe confirms the latest federal government report on jobs in the United States: companies still have many vacancies and employees are still leaving for new jobs. In February, there were 11.3 million jobs open and 4.4 million people left their jobs, with both statistics virtually unchanged from January.
Adobe’s Future of Time report found that 40% of CEOs and 25% of SMB leaders have seen their resignations increase over the past six months. Workers in small and medium-sized companies were more likely to apply for a new job than people working in large companies. The survey found that people who quit their jobs were more likely to change industries, start their own business or become a freelancer. More than half of SME managers left to create their own business. The survey included 1,400 people from large and small businesses as well as executives and workers.
There is always a desire for change among people who have not left their job in the last six months. The survey found that one in three managers and workers in this group plan to look for something new in the next year. Half of all Gen Z respondents are considering this, and 25% plan to move within the next six months.
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According to the survey, one of the reasons people are unhappy is the time spent troubleshooting technology. Managers devote about seven hours a week to this task while workers devote five hours to it.
Todd Gerber, vice president of Adobe Document Cloud, said the hardest part is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for companies deciding the path forward for in-person and remote work.
“In our research, nearly 70% of employees cited technology as one of the biggest challenges in transitioning to hybrid working, including issues such as spotty WiFi in the office or at home and even up programs in general,” he said.
Enterprises and SMBs should focus on selecting tools that are easy to use and integrate with their current infrastructure, Gerber said.
“Understanding the most time-consuming manual tasks for employees can help companies adopt the right tools to meet their needs,” he said.
Managers also need training on digital tools
Adobe’s survey also asked respondents how a manager’s mastery of technology impacts their day-to-day work. Half of all employees in large and small companies said their managers were only tech-savvy, which hurts productivity. A third of employees said they were slowed down by managers not knowing how to use or using outdated hardware and software and not knowing how to edit or collaborate with a file.
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These were the top two issues, but a third of respondents also listed these technology challenges that some managers face:
- Not using or understanding cloud computing software
- Not knowing how to host or join a virtual meeting
- Using outdated language to describe hardware and software
The survey also asked about the impact of a tech-savvy manager. Gerber said the results to this question were somewhat surprising.
“Employees with tech-savvy managers reported having more difficulty concentrating when working from home, which may be due to more frequent interactions with their managers via communication platforms,” a- he declared. “It is clear that there is still work to be done to optimize the use of technology and collaboration tools so that everyone can thrive in their work environment.
Returning to the office is another pain point
There’s also the familiar divide over attitudes towards returning to the office: 30% of managers are excited about the prospect, but only 15% of employees feel that way. The survey also asked about time spent during work hours in person. The results did not argue for requiring people to return to the office:
- 66% of managers have spent hours in person working alone or independently
- 55% of workers have spent in-person hours working alone or independently
- 31% of managers have spent time in person collaborating with colleagues, clients or partners
- 42% of workers spent in person socializing or collaborating with colleagues
The two groups agreed on what would solve some of the current issues with digital tools and frustrations in the workplace:
- Flexible working hours
- Flexible PTO and sick leave
- Upgrading existing technologies
How to Understand and Cultivate Company Culture
Just as hybrid work strategies require regular evaluation and adjustment, building a company culture requires the same ongoing effort. Deloitte recently released a report on enterprise transformation to understand what it takes to effectively design transformation programs. The survey revealed that 38% of executives indicated that a simple and compelling “north star” narrative is critical to success. At the same time, half of survey respondents indicated that their organizations invest between 1% and 5% of their annual revenue in transformation programs such as building a corporate culture and adapting to change.
Alyson Daichendt, managing director of the human capital consulting practice, organizational transformation at Deloitte, said that culture is a shared set of values, principles, assumptions, mental models, decision-making and behaviors that show how work is done in an organization. This means that the corporate culture is specific to each company.
“Deloitte’s view is that when organizational culture is aligned with business strategy, the workforce will act and behave in ways that support the achievement of business goals,” she said.
SEE: Report: Leadership buy-in and financial investment are key to successful digital transformations
Daichendt said business leaders need to understand the core culture of the organization, which includes who they are, what they stand for, and what employees think of the organization that drives the specific culture. This baseline can guide culture building efforts over time. Executives and managers should do this through meetings, opinion polls and focus groups.
“A good way to do this is to measure baseline culture with a diagnostic or product that accurately captures [the] sense of the current state,” she said. “With these learnings, managers can define ways to support the culture they seek to achieve and actively work on potential derailers in the culture.”
Building and maintaining the desired corporate culture is an ongoing task that requires regular care and nurturing, Daichendt said.
“When we see mistakes being made in cultural efforts, it usually comes from not understanding organizational feedback and/or putting cultural ‘interventions’ in place that might not work,” she said.
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Senior leaders are collectively responsible for building culture and should regularly share with employees the progress of culture efforts, what matters to the organization, and what organizational members need to do to take ownership. culture, she said.
“Companies should not attempt to ‘boil an ocean’ with culture transformation efforts, as myriad cultural interventions can confuse an organization and miss truly transforming what is mission critical” , she said.
Edelman Data & Intelligence conducted a 20-minute survey of managers and employees of large companies and small and medium-sized companies from December 2021 to early January 2022. The survey included 200 managers from both types of companies and 500 employees of both groups, for a total of 1,400 people.
