After the COVID-19 pandemic, we see a drastic change in the learning and working culture of the employees and the organizations respectively. As the organizations have switched to online mode of training, the learning has become more easier and engaging for the employees. It has also helped in creating a productive force that is driven by high dedication and motivation levels.
But changes are not smooth. As they come, they bring with them new challenges, complications, and problems. No doubt that the work-from-home or remote work culture is very beneficial for both employers and employees, it has come at a huge price. As employees have started spending more and more time online, a new problem called “Digital fatigue” has arisen.
Today, organizations are enforcing a variety of eLearning courses for reskilling and upskilling employees, that it is leading to digital fatigueness.
What is digital fatigueness?
Digital fatigueness is a state where one experiences a sense of stress, exhaustion, or anxiety due to the use of digital tools or applications for a prolonged period of time.
What are the causes of digital fatigueness?
The following are the reasons for digital fatigueness among employees:
- Training pressure-
As the competition in the market is escalating, organizations are constantly aligning and realigning their training programs to survive in the competition. Thus, they are also pushing employees to continuously upskill or reskill themselves with changing times. This puts pressure on employees to complete their training on time.
- Workload-
In the new WFH paradigm, most remote employees find it difficult to maintain a work-life balance. Due to this, they end up taking on more responsibilities and tasks. This forces them to work for long hours.
- Distractions-
There can be many distractions that can frustrate employees. For instance, poor internet connection, the sudden arrival of guests at home, background noise during online meetings, and so on.
- Focus on compliance over substance-
Often, a lot of compliance-based training is piled onto employees. They complete training merely for the sake of getting training certificates. The race to complete mandated eLearning courses within a stipulated time, causes fatigue.
- The inability of new hires to learn-
The high-spirited new hires often end up crying in between when despite spending their time on training, they are unable to learn properly. The inability to understand new tools, technology, software, or the eLearning content makes them feel exhausted.
How to overcome digital fatigueness?
Here are some tips that can help both employees and employers to overcome digital fatigue.
- Tips for employers-
- Be a little flexible in your approach. Instead of evaluating the performance of employees based on the number of hours they work, evaluate them based on targets achieved.
- Use a microlearning approach to provide eLearning content to employees. By compressing the lengthy training modules into bite-sized modules, you can help employees learn faster. Also, the shorter the content, the less will be time spent on the screen.
You can use an LMS like Docebo to effectively train employees.
- Keep taking regular feedback from employees to find out the irregularities and voids in your training programs. Asking for feedback from employees can make them feel more valued
Tips for employees-
- Make sure you take short breaks during your online training. Sitting for long hours and exposure to a computer screen can affect one’s mental and physical health. For instance, it can strain your eyes, cause backaches and make you feel anxious.
- To solve a problem, you should be able to recognize the problem. If you feel any symptoms of digital fatigue creeping in, you must come into action and make some readjustments.
- Fix some breakout sessions with your colleagues or seniors where you can interact with them. Some informal conversations in between work can reduce your stress and anxiety.
Conclusion-
Due to work from home culture, me-time or social time of employees is shrinking day by day. Continuous exposure to computers, laptops, or mobile screens has caused mental and physical retardation in employees that can affect their productivity. Hence, you can follow the aforementioned tips to reduce digital fatigueness in employees easily.
