Four out of five Brazilians suffer the effects of information overload

Larger volumes of data, an increasing number of information sources and not having the right digital tools are among the factors that affect workers' stress levels and performance in hybrid work.

Four out of five (79%) surveyed in Brazil feel that information overload is contributing to daily stress, according to a global survey commissioned by OpenText and performed by 3Gem in March this year. The result points to factors that triggered this feeling, such as the need to search for constant information, widespread use of social media and the wide variety of applications to be checked every day. 

According to the survey, as our professional lives continue to blend into our personal lives with hybrid work, surprisingly just over half of Brazil’s employees (52%) feel they are equipped with the right digital tools to work. at home. Even more surprising is that this figure is down from the 58% who indicated, in a similar OpenText survey conducted in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, that they felt equipped with the right digital tools to work from home.

These results offer market insights, trend data and forecasts, especially for organizations concerned with combating the effects of information overload. One of the key points of the research is to understand how information is accessed, managed and leveraged across the organization, so that everyone in the process can obtain data advantages existing. This, according to the survey, is a differential for organizations to operate in their markets always guided by growth.

An endless supply of information everywhere 

The vast majority (88%) of Brazilian respondents agree that the number of information sources – email, news feeds, social media, company drive, shared drive, etc. – who consult each day has increased in the last two years. On average, one in four (23%) Brazilians say they have to use eleven or more accounts, resources, tools and apps daily. This compares with just 7% in the 2020 survey, which shows that the information people need access to resides in a growing number of data repositories and applications. 

In fact, due to the isolated nature in which information resides in organizations, 37% of employees in Brazil say they typically spend, on average, one or more hours a day searching company networks or shared information systems, just to make their job. 

“For companies and their employees, the prospect of trying to manage the volume and complexity of information – structured and unstructured data that is pervasive and growing exponentially – can be daunting. What we realize is that information alone is not the answer,” says Roberto Regente Jr., OpenText's vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

For him, the answer comes when you break down silos and centralize information. “When you continually manage and gather all your information, it is transformed. Patterns and trends emerge, insights are collected and better decisions are made. This is the advantage of information”, he says. 

Not just a question of what and where 

Information scattered across multiple locations is another difficulty workers face: 17% finds that their colleagues have not saved the latest version of documents on shared systems, which also undermines their ability to get the job done. And 30% indicate that they don't know where to find the current/most up-to-date information, which also makes their job difficult. 

Unfortunately, mismanagement of information and these types of challenges lead to a negative effect on employees, which is confirmed when research reveals that more than two in five (42%) feel it has impacted their mental well-being and in stress levels. In addition, 38% indicate that this reality negatively affects their work performance, 23% feel negatively impacted their overall job satisfaction, and 34% say it has a direct impact on their work-life balance. 

This time it's personal 

The lack of effective information management tools in many companies is starting to affect the actions employees feel they need to take. Regardless of whether they are told they can use them or not, more than half of Brazil's employees (56%) currently use personal file-sharing systems (such as OneDrive, Google Drive, WhatsApp or Dropbox). More interestingly, nearly three-quarters of them (73%) do so because they believe their company does not have a policy against it, despite the heightened security risks associated with it. 

The overall picture is also surprising, as more than two-thirds (63%) of employees indicate they use personal file-sharing systems to share work files. And 71% of them do this because they believe there is no policy against this action. 

Unfortunately, the problems don't stop there. Hybrid workers feel they face a wide range of other challenges, with 25% saying they can't collaborate or share files with colleagues as easily when they're working from home. Another data shows that 39% indicates that they cannot access file systems and content as easily when working remotely, while 18% struggle to migrate – from the office to their home – the technology and tools they need, on a daily basis, just to do their job. job. 

“As data from office workers, vendors and customers continues to grow across organizations, as the number of systems and applications they use continues to increase, so do the risks,” highlights Regente Jr. “Right now, there is an urgent need for companies to automate information management and governance. In order for content to be captured and classified, retention policies must be applied automatically so employees can easily, accurately and up-to-date access to all data without having to dig through multiple applications.” 

Methodology

This research was carried out by 3Gem as of March 2022. Commissioned by OpenText, 27,000 consumers were surveyed anonymously worldwide, in Brazil, UK, US, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, Canada, Singapore, India and Japan. The Brazil survey surveyed 2,000 people to find out about employees’ experiences with “information overload” during the pandemic and how their interaction with data has changed. 

THE 2020 survey mentioned in this press release was carried out in 2020 through Google Surveys and included two thousand Brazilian respondents. Commissioned by OpenText, 12,000 people were interviewed anonymously in Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Australia and Singapore from April to May 2020 and another 12,000 were interviewed anonymously in Brazil, India, Japan and Italy in November 2020 . 

For an in-depth analysis of the global results of this survey, visit our post on the blog here