Ricoh’s recently commissioned research – which surveyed 3,600 employees across Europe, including 250 in Ireland – found that 36% of workers feel their company will fail within five years if the right investments in technology aren’t made. Almost three quarters (72%) of employees surveyed across Ireland believe that their senior management will only introduce new technology if it helps to cut costs, as opposed to empowering their workforce.

Therefore, the mistake employers across Ireland are making is not investing in digital workplaces for their staff.
Concerns amongst Irish employees go beyond the stability of their current place of work, highlighting fears of a growing generational gap, with 70% believing that younger colleagues are better suited to working with new types of technology. What’s more, almost half (46%) feel that their competitors already have a technological edge.

Empowering digital workplaces

Empowering digital workplaces for employees is more than making technological investments, it’s about providing staff with the necessary digital skills training. Ireland’s confidence in this area is particularly troubling as it falls behind that of European respondents. Almost half of Irish workers (49%) feel they lack the skills to effectively use new technology, compared to 40% of European workers.

Commenting on the above findings, Chas Moloney, marketing director, Ricoh Ireland and the UK, said: “The fact that almost half of Irish workers feel they lack the necessary skills to fully utilise new technologies is quite worrying. It points to a serious lack of investment in digital skills training. The findings show that we’re lagging behind our European counterparts in this area. To ensure that Ireland retains its competitive edge, this issue needs to be addressed and resolved as soon as possible.”

Employees in Ireland, however, are certain of the value of technological capabilities, with 98% feeling positive about the ability of new technology to enable them to work in smarter ways. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed believe automation technology will help them to be more productive, while 52% are of the opinion that artificial intelligence will have a positive impact on their role. Furthermore, over half of Irish workers (51%) trust that new technology will reduce the number of repetitive tasks to be performed, which is more than European employees (41%).
It comes as no surprise, then, that the demand for digitally-empowered workplaces is evident. In fact, over two-thirds of Irish workers (67%) want employers to put emphasis on digital skills training so they can do the best job possible with the new tools and services being introduced. Europe’s response is the same, with 62% saying they too would like digital skills training.

So what does this all mean for the employer? According to the employers surveyed in Ireland, empowering workers digitally leads to more immediate access to data (44%), the ability to work from home more frequently (42%), and the reduction of repetitive tasks (41%). This means improved processes, resulting in increased time for workers to undertake more interesting work.

A flexible working environment promotes collaboration, stimulates interaction and recent studies have found that this type of environment can improve employee engagement, productivity, and output.

Bizquip can enable mobile workstyles in your organisation. Want to find out more about how you can empower your employees with digital solutions and technologies? Look no further than Bizquip, contact a Bizquip specialist.