Job: Employees feel burdened by digital technology
Created: 12/27/2022, 5:00 p.m
By: Carina Blumenroth
Digital solutions at work are usually intended to simplify processes.
The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) asked employees about this, 40 percent feel burdened.
The world of work is changing - the shortage of skilled workers, the corona pandemic, the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine are factors that influence how people work.
Yasmin Fahimi, chairwoman of the DGB, says that this increases the pressure towards digital automation.
With the “Good Work 2022” index, the DGB found out how employees feel about digitization in the workplace.
Almost 6,700 employees were surveyed for the representative study - more than 80 percent of those surveyed work with digital means.
Burden from digitization: The larger the company, the more likely it is to work digitally
Video conferences, e-mail communication - for many, digital means are an integral part of their work.
Around 40 percent feel burdened by it.
© Cavan Images/Imago
The ability to access data remotely is an example of digitization.
However, the DGB has found that the size of the company and the level of requirements of the job also play a role in whether and to what extent digital means are used.
In a company with 2,000 or more employees, 84 percent carry out a highly digitized activity, as the DGB reports in its report.
The experts of the DGB also found that the training of people is related to whether and to what extent they work together with digital means.
The higher the level of education, the more likely they come into contact with it.
Digital means at work - from e-mail to artificial intelligence
task | 2016 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
Electronic communication (e-mail, smartphone, social networks) | 68 percent | 79 percent |
Software-controlled workflows (route planning, scheduling) | 50 percent | 60 percent |
Working with scanners, data glasses, diagnostic devices | 53 percent | 59 percent |
video conferencing | / | 56 percent |
Joint, location-independent work on the project | 33 percent | 65 percent |
Working with computer controlled machines or robots | 23 percent | 27 percent |
Working with artificial intelligence | / | 21 percent |
Source: DGB, as of December 27, 2022
As early as 2016, employees were asked what tools they use – compared to the current survey, you can see that digital tools are being increasingly integrated into employees’ everyday work.
The restrictions caused by the corona pandemic in particular were a driver of digital work.
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Digitization in the job - 40 percent of those surveyed feel burdened by it
Digital means do not simultaneously and involuntarily simplify work – sometimes the opposite is the case, with around 40 percent of the employees surveyed feeling burdened.
Around ten percent feel that the digital means actually relieve them at work.
The remaining 50 percent of those surveyed stated that the workload remained the same with and without digital work tools.
One reason for a possible burden from the digital means could be the heteronomy that goes with it.
For example, the pace of work can be specified, as the DGB describes in the report.
Around 44 percent of employees state that the pace of work is influenced to a very high or high degree by digital means.
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More multitasking through digital tools
Processing several tasks at the same time and supervising different processes, so-called multitasking, through the use of digital work equipment occurs among those surveyed.
46 percent of those surveyed describe that they often have to process more tasks at the same time.
This is around ten percent less than in the 2016 survey.
Digitization at work – employees must be able to have more say
Yasmin Fahimi, Chairwoman of the DGB, says that it is important for employees to be able to better deal with the digitization of the workplace so that they can have a greater say and a say in decision-making.
This must be developed and strengthened in a sustainable manner so that a democratic organization of the working world can succeed.