Increasing digital sources, difficulty finding data and lack of proper tech tools are increasing ‘information overload’ for 80% of UK workers.

New research from OpenText has revealed the extent to which the daily overload of information is having an impact, and how this has changed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the data, four in five UK respondents now feel that information overload – driven by factors including constant information, pervasive social media and access to a multitude of different apps each day – is contributing to their daily stress.

This compares with the 44% who indicated in a survey conducted by OpenText in March 2020 that information overload contributed to their daily stress.

Just under a quarter (24%) of respondents said they must use eleven or more accounts, resources, tools, and apps daily. This compares with 14% who said this was the case two years ago.

Due to the siloed nature of where information sits within organisations, 41% of respondents said that they normally spend on average, one or more hours a day searching on company networks or shared systems for specific work files or pieces of information to carry out their job.

Additionally, even after more than two years of hybrid working, less than half of UK employees (46%) feel they are equipped with the right digital tools to work at home. This number has dropped from 66% at the onset of the pandemic.

Sandy Ono, Executive Vice President, and Chief Marketing Officer at OpenText, commented: “For businesses and their employees, the proposition of trying to manage the volume and complexity of information – structured and unstructured data that is pervasive and growing exponentially – can be a daunting one. What we’ve come to realise is that information on its own is not the answer.

“The answer comes when you break down siloes and centralise information. When you continuously manage and bring all your information together, it is transformed. Patterns and trends emerge, insights are gleaned, and better decisions are made. That is the information advantage.”

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Information being spread across multiple locations is another stressor, with 42% reporting it’s hampering their ability to find the information they need to do their job.

Poor information management is affecting almost half (44%) of UK workers asked, who said it is having mental well-being and stress level impact. Two in five also indicated it is having a detrimental effect on their performance at work, with a third (33%) saying it is negatively impacting their overall job satisfaction and four in ten (39%) said that it is having a direct impact on their work-life balance.

Discussing the findings, Sean Durkin, Regional Vice President, Europe at OpenText said: “As data from office workers, suppliers and customers continues to boom across every organisation, and as the number of systems and applications they use continues to rise, so too do the risks.

“Right now, there is an urgent need for businesses to automate information management and governance, so that content can be captured and classified, so that retention policies can be applied automatically and so that employees can easily access accurate, up-to-date information without having to trawl multiple applications.

“Only by taking these steps can organisations succeed in reducing complexity and enable employees to easily collaborate with their colleagues no matter what device or application they use or where and how they choose to work.”

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