Tech Support Snafus Cost Companies Almost $5K Per Employee Each Year

pcmag.com:

Three years since the pandemic started, the top IT-related search term is still, "How do I join a Zoom meeting?" That's according to a new study(Opens in a new window) from Electric, an IT support company.

Workers report that they're spending three hours per week on average dealing with tech problems, ranging from internet-connection issues to disappearing files and staring at Apple's infamous spinning pinwheel of death.

Remote workers are struggling the most: 73% say they waste time on a weekly basis dealing with tech issues, compared with hybrid workers (41%) and those who commute to an office (22%). Remote workers also have a greater number of issues each week, at an average of 4.1 compared the 3.7 for hybrid and 3.0 for in-person.

These problems are burning a hole through corporate wallets. The study found people are spending an average of 2.7 hours per week troubleshooting. This equates to about $4,072 per year in labor costs, calculated using the average hourly wage of $29.

The cost is even higher for remote employees, at $4,524 per year. This may be one reason many companies are asking their employees to swap their pajama pants for dress pants and come back(Opens in a new window) to the office, reversing pandemic-era policies.

The top three most time-intensive issues are: the computer constantly freezing (54%), data loss or corruption (35%), and network connectivity issues (29%). Looking at the full list of issues, almost all revolve around hardware. Others include slow or unresponsive computers (18%), keyboard issues (21%), files not opening up properly (25%), and so on. Even printers made the list, with 19% reporting problems.

So, what do you do when you have a tech problem? Almost half of respondents say they