Simplification Of Work: The Coming Revolution

In one day more than 100 billion emails are exchanged, yet only one is seven is critically important.

This fact alone highlights how technology is adding unnecessary complexity to work. Employees are becoming overwhelmed by the escalation of organisational complexity, growing information overload, and a 24/7 work environment. Pervasive technology has resulted in employees being constantly “switched on”, which cultivates the amalgamation of family, personal and professional life. It is time for organisations to “simplify”, without being “simplistic”.

Pertinent contributors to workplace intricacy are time consuming tasks such as reading and answering emails, listening to voicemails, and attending lengthy, unproductive meetings. Some companies, including Coca-Cola and Google, have taken proactive steps, such as shutting down voicemail, to reduce the amount of time employees devote to such futile tasks. These organisations shrewdly consider “time capital” as valuable as financial capital.

Investing in more integrated, straightforward technology, prioritising the simplification of business and HR, and implementing design thinking and process simplification are additional ways in which organisations can begin to tackle the issue of work complexity. If this growing problem is left un-addressed, employee engagement, innovation, and customer service are likely to diminish.

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