How Much Time Do You Waste Helping Co-Workers With IT Issues?

pcmag.com:

Did you ever tell someone at work that you definitely know how to use Excel when you know little to nothing about using Excel? Same. Don’t feel bad though because a) lots of other people lie about their tech proficiency at work and b) no one knows how to use Excel.

The latter is self-explanatory but as for the former, OSlash conducted a study to see how much co-workers depend on each other for tech help(Opens in a new window). Nearly half (48%) say they turn to a co-worker for help at least once per day, and one out of five say they’re the ones approaching others for assistance. The most common things they need help with are software malfunctions (37%), hardware issues (34%), scanner or printer issues (30%), searching for computer files (29%), and frozen computers (29%). 

There’s a generational divide when it comes to who asks and who answers technical questions. Baby boomers (55%) and Gen Xers (53%) owned up to needing the most assistance. Gen Z claims that just helping co-workers find files costs them up to eight hours per week.

But sometimes new tech gets introduced to an office and everyone is confused. Employees reported companies making major mistakes during tech rollouts, namely inadequate training (36%), no support (35%), rolling out tech too often (34%), not providing learning opportunities (31%), and a poor learning environment (30%).

Employees would prefer to have multiple learning opportunities (45%), weekly training (39%), annual skill evaluations (37%), hands-on Q&As (35%), and external or guest trainers (35%). 

One thing to keep in mind about all this: Google exists!

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