Fruitless Searching, Irrelevant Information, Inefficient Tools Contribute To Great Resignation

Coveo Solutions Inc, (TSX:CVO), a leader in AI-powered relevance platforms that transform search, recommendations, and personalization within digital experiences, today announced the second annual Workplace Relevance Report, which found that difficulty accessing relevant information makes 1 in 6 employees want to quit.

In a remote-first world, many organizations are hyper-focused on employee productivity. But employee proficiency, or the ability to do more independently, is equally important. A proficient workforce provides higher quality results with better customer satisfaction and less escalation—thereby increasing efficiency. A survey of 4000 employees found that workers spend an average of 3.6 hours every day searching for information at their jobs. That’s an hour per day increase from last year’s Relevance Report, indicating the problem has only gotten bigger two years into widespread remote work. Those who identified as IT employees have it even worse, spending half their day (4.2 hours) looking for relevant information. 

Inability to find accurate information is having a significant impact on employees. Over 31% of those surveyed said the frustration of being unable to find information made them feel burned out and 16% said it made them want to leave their company. As the Great Resignation continues, providing the right tools and technology to make information easily accessible is key to retention. 

“Burnout is a crisis affecting employees at all levels, across all industries. People are calling out for a simplified workflow and tools that make their jobs easier,” said Sawan Deshpande, VP & GM of Service and Workplace at Coveo. “One tool that can help people cut through corporate clutter is AI. It can consolidate information into one centralized location and easy-to-use format, giving employees a clear path to proficiency.”

2022 Relevance Report: Workplace key findings include:

TMI: Too Much Information

• Ironically, more information is not always better. Many organizations have adopted new applications to support productivity, but 58% of people blamed excessive search time on having too many knowledge sources to sift through
• Employees specifically cited the number of applications as a problem. 60% of employees have to search within four or more data sources every day, while 18% stumble between seven or more

Buried Under Irrelevant Information

• Even when the correct information is available, employees are too buried in irrelevant information to find it. Employees said 44% of the information they’re given at work is irrelevant to their role

Lack of Relevance Has a Cost

• Inability to find information has the potential to impact a client or customer relationship if employees are not able to deliver what’s necessary. 81% reported not being able to find info in critical moments and 27% of those same employees said this happens weekly.
• Time is also of the essence. 30% of working hours are wasted looking for the right information

As part of Coveo’s 2022 Relevance Report: Workplace, Arlington Research was commissioned to undertake a study across the UK and USA to discover trends relating to Ecommerce, Customer Services, and the Digital Workplace. The survey comprised a nationally representative sample of the working population across both the UK and USA, with 4,000 adults aged 18+ taking part, evenly distributed between each country. All respondents were people who use a computer for work, as a part of companies which contain more than 250 employees. This third installment focused on trends relating to digital workplaces.

Download the full report here.