The recent economic downturn has American workers overworked and anxious, and many are turning to collaboration technology for solutions. Is technology helping employers and employees cope with their workload, or causing more stress?

As the economy struggles to recover, approximately 48 percent of employees who use technology in their jobs said they are required to do more work now than in previous years due to the current economic climate, according to a recent survey by conferencing vendor InterCall. Two in five said they’ve been doing the job of two people because of the recession’s impact on their company.

Among the findings, nearly 30 percent of the 2,500 knowledge workers polled said they feel the need to stay connected to work 24/7, including weekends, breaks or holidays. A quarter of respondents reported feeling that their job security partially depends on their supervisor seeing them connected to work past their normal hours.

Is technology helping workers cope, or causing more stress?

InterCall’s research indicates that technology is, in fact, “a great ally” in tough economic times. “Despite this pressure, Americans view technology as an important resource and value the role it plays in the workplace,” according to the report.

The majority of American workers surveyed (72 percent) said that advanced technology, such as collaboration and conferencing tools, helps them do their job better and faster, and that job morale improves when their employers provide them with supporting technology. Moreover, 81 percent said that technology helps them be more efficient and productive at work.

Employers providing workers with the right resources and tools to “do more with less” was the reason for improvement, according to InterCall’s findings.

“Despite the incredible pressure facing American workers, they value technology and the tools that keep them easily connected as an important resource to ease their anxiety about their job,” Kathleen Finato, senior vice president of marketing and product management at InterCall, said in a statement. “Companies can really impact overall morale and enhance employees’ job performance simply by providing their employees with the appropriate devices and services that will make them feel empowered.”

A recent Frost & Sullivan report, sponsored by Verizon and Cisco, found that 44 percent of organizations have deployed collaborative tools (VoIP, document sharing, videoconferencing and Instant Messenger) in the workplace. Based on a survey of 3,662 decision-makers in organizations in 10 countries, Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration revealed that as businesses invest more in these technologies, their return gets proportionally greater.

Businesses and government agencies implementing more sophisticated collaboration tools saw a corresponding improvement in business results relative to the amount invested, especially in the areas of sales, marketing, and research and development. Frost & Sullivan’s study showed that organizations received an average return of four times their investment in terms of improvement across business-critical areas due to collaboration technologies.

For employers, the research appears to confirm that investing in collaborative tech is good for business. And the question of whether it’s good for employees also seems to have been answered.

What do you think? Do all these tech tools on the job make workers’ lives better or do they only create more work? Let us know in the comments section below.

Resources

Technology In the Workplace – April 2010
InterCall, April 20, 2010

Always Connected: One Third of U.S. Workforce Feels Need to Stay Connected 24/7
InterCall, April 20, 2010

Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration
Frost & Sullivan, Verizon and Cisco, Oct. 14, 2009

Study … First to Quantify Improved Performance From Advanced Collaboration
Frost & Sullivan, Verizon and Cisco, Oct. 14, 2009