How Americans are coping with outdated technology

Two in three (67%) office workers would be willing to take a pay cut to have software and technology that's twice as good as what they're currently using, new research revealed.A survey of 1,000 American office workers (many now working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic) has shed light on the annoyances affecting those working away from the office.One of the biggest culprits is outdated technology, with three out of four respondents reporting frustrations with it.

The survey, commissioned by Paycom and conducted by OnePoll, found that the need for employees to have up-to-date technology is critical otherwise they lose precious time on key tasks.

Respondents reported that they could save three hours of productivity a week if they didn't have to resolve tech and software-related work problems. It's those wasted hours that have caused 68% to feel like their company doesn't prioritize updating its technology enough.Furthermore, 79% agreed they could get more work done with up-to-date software and technology and even after months spent working from home, 80% said technology and access to information have continued to be an issue."Today's workers are used to tech in their personal lives and expect the same at work," said Jennifer Kraszewski, Paycom's vice president of human resources.

"Yet our study found that only 18% were able to enroll in benefits this year using software.

That means 82% of them had to use paper forms, email or some other outdated, manual method, resulting in duplicated work and a higher risk for data errors.

That not only slows employees down but company productivity as a whole." Half (51%) of working Americans say their company has HR/payroll technology, yet 77% of those companies' employees say the platform isn't being utilized to provide information during the pandemic.OnePoll found that employees' No.

1 reason for not using their company's software is too many logins.

Having to remember more than one password and getting familiar with multiple user interfaces is unnecessary and cumbersome.

"Regardless of where employees are located for work, having multiple logins, passwords and user experiences adds to the frustrations around the employee experience," Kraszewski said.

"It's more important than ever to provide employees with technology that is easy to use and streamlines outdated processes."Other than preferring to utilize one software, the top three things employees say their HR tech must allow them to do are access PTO accruals and requests off, manage approvals for the workers they supervise and see details of their paycheck.