Digital tools at work
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A third of Irish employees don’t want to work for digitally inept companies

12 Oct 2016

60pc of Irish workers believe they would find greater career opportunities at more digitally led organisations.

82pc of Irish workers believe access to the latest digital tools is crucial to their work, according to a new study from Sungard Availability Services Ireland.

The study showed that over one-third of Irish workers would be embarrassed to work in an organisation that didn’t provide up-to-date digital tools, and over one-fifth of employees admitted to leaving a job due to a lack of such equipment.

However, where companies had implemented the latest digital tools, the study found that many employees feel the training they receive to use them is inefficient and, in some cases, non-existent.

Over half of Irish employees interviewed felt they were not given the right training to use the digital mechanisms their companies had provided, while 30pc believe they didn’t have enough time to make a success of them.

This causes problems for employees who believe they are necessary, as a quarter of the workers surveyed feel new digital tools make their job more stressful. This isn’t surprising when 24pc say they don’t understand how to use the new equipment provided by their employer.

Carmel Owens, general manager of Sungard Availability Services Ireland, believes that Ireland’s rush to embrace the latest technologies can leave employees behind when it comes to training.

“Ireland has long been viewed as a hub for technology […] it is therefore great to see that digital transformation is a priority for an overwhelming majority of Irish businesses,” she said.

“However, in the rush to embrace digital tools, the IT department is running the risk of leaving staff disaffected; either due to a lack of proper training, or time to fully adopt these new working practices.”

The study found that not having the right training, a lack of technical skills and not having enough time were the three main challenges facing Irish employees working with new digital tools.

Jenny Darmody
By Jenny Darmody

Jenny Darmody became the editor of Silicon Republic in 2023, having worked as the deputy editor since February 2020. When she’s not writing about the science and tech industry, she’s writing short stories and attempting novels. She continuously buys more books than she can read in a lifetime and pretty stationery is her kryptonite. She also believes seagulls to be the root of all evil and her baking is the stuff of legends.

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