Survey Uncovers Over 90% of Young Workforce Having Difficulty Working Remote

All generations of workers are feeling less connected to their teams, with younger generations feeling productivity pressures of distanced working

SYDNEY, April 28, 2020 – Smartsheet (NYSE: SMAR), the platform for enterprise achievement, today announced that young Australian workers including 93% of Generation Z and 90% of Millennials are reporting difficulty working remotely as a result of COVID-19, according to a survey of professionals conducted by ENGINE INSIGHTS and commissioned by Smartsheet.

Key findings include:

• Over three-quarters of the Australian workforce feels less connected; young workers especially so with 76% of Generation Z and 78% of Millennials reporting this issue.
• Nearly two-thirds of Australian workers feel less informed about what is going on within their company since they started working from home. This is echoed by Generation Z and Millennials (69% each) compared with only 47% of Baby Boomers that feel less informed.
• Additionally, half of all workers not only find it hard to get status updates, but also hard to give status updates (56% and 50%, respectively). 

“This research shows that the key to helping remote workers cope with the current circumstance, and thriving in the longer-term, goes far beyond simply connecting people and teams through video-based technology,” said Smartsheet CEO Mark Mader. “To be effective, people need to stay deeply connected to their work and the work of their teams. They also need context, structure, tracking, and visibility into their work. Providing those things is more important now than ever.”

The survey revealed several additional gaps in how younger and older workers approached productivity and workplace technology, including:

Australian workers, with an emphasis on Generation Z and Millennials, are finding it hard to communicate and gather information.

• Over 60% of workers, including 79% of Generation Z and 68% of Millennials, say the amount of time spent on video calls each day is making it hard to get work done.
• Half of Generation Z and Millennials noted that communicating with colleagues has been difficult (45% and 55%, respectively). Similarly, half of young workers are also finding it difficult to ensure their contributions are visible (45% of Generation Z and 55% of Millennials, respectively).
• 55% percent of Generation Z and sixty-three percent of Millennials report they are having difficulty staying organized and prioritizing the most important work, versus 38% of Generation X and 34% of Baby Boomers.
• 50% of young workers said that understanding the status of projects they’re involved in and how they can best move them forward has been difficult since they began working from home (41% of Generation Z and 51% of Millennials, respectively).

When it comes to how Generation Z and Millennials are most often getting updates on projects, there is a skew towards more traditional methods like emails (31% and 32%, respectively) and phone/video calls (34% and 30%, respectively) versus newer communication technologies such as messaging software (10% and 18%, respectively) and interactive dashboards and documents updated in real-time (24% and 20%, respectively). 

Forty-six percent of older generations use emails to get updates on projects (42% of Generation X and 57% of Baby Boomers) while under ten percent use interactive dashboards and documents updated in real-time (9% and 8%, respectively).     

The UK and US versions of the survey uncovered similar challenges, such as:

• Fifty-two percent of UK respondents feel the amount of time spent on video calls makes it hard to get their work done, including 64% of Generation Z and 61% of Millennials. Only forty-four percent of US workers agree, but this jumps for the younger generation with 61% of Generation Z and 57% of Millennials citing this difficulty.
• At least three in five workers in the UK and US (68% and 60%, respectively) feel less informed about what is happening within their company since they started working from home.
• Only 50% of Generation Z in the UK use email to track and/or measure output, vs higher rates for Millennials (67%), Generation X (66%), and Boomers (70%). In the US, 73% of Gen Z is using email to track and/or measure output.
• Fifty-eight percent of UK workers say it is harder to get status updates, while only 9% say it is easier. Nearly half (45%) of American workers say it is harder to get status updates, while 15% say it is easier.

*Survey methodology

The survey was conducted by ENGINE INSIGHTS among a sample of 502 adults in Australia ages 18+ who are currently employed, previously worked in an office setting but are now working from home due to COVID-19, and work for companies with 1,000+ employees. This survey was live on April 8-15, 2020.

The survey was conducted by ENGINE INSIGHTS among a sample of 1,004 U.S. adults ages 18+ who are currently employed, previously worked in an office setting but are now working from home due to COVID-19, and work for companies with 1,000+ employees. This survey was live on April 8-15, 2020.

The survey was conducted by ENGINE INSIGHTS among a sample of 1,004 adults in the UK ages 18+ who are currently employed, previously worked in an office setting but are now working from home due to COVID-19, and work for companies with 1,000+ employees. This survey was live on April 8-15, 2020.

About Smartsheet

Smartsheet (NYSE: SMAR) is the platform for enterprise achievement. By aligning people and technology so organizations can move faster and drive innovation, Smartsheet enables its 84,000 customers and millions of users to achieve more. Visit www.smartsheet.com to learn more.

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