Is your remote team suffering from app fatigue?

Having too many productivity tools can ruin a great remote working experience.

It’s one of the pitfalls identified in Igloo Software’s “State of the Digital Workplace” report, which captures a snapshot of how workers today are transitioning into the era of telecommuting.

Remote workers report experiencing app fatigue: 55% are finding the need to switch between two or more company-approved apps or platforms just to accomplish their daily tasks.

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On the other hand, 51% say they get inundated by messages from co-workers that are unrelated to work. Having a multitude of team communication apps gives the illusion that employees are always online, ready to chat or jump on the next call.

“Communication and collaboration tools have broadened the boundaries of the modern workplace, leading to increased peer-to-peer communication, rapid knowledge sharing and collaboration, and more accessible ways for today’s workers to safely and effectively share their thoughts,” analysts from Igloo Software said.

“But this influx of communication and collaboration options has also introduced major productivity issues. Teams lose focus when there are too many channels of communication, and rapidly switching between platforms can waste more time than the platforms are designed to save,” they said.

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Team messaging apps are useful when arranging communication channels by topic, category or project. Employees can track conversation threads and – to some degree – enjoy freedom of expression “in a safe way,” the analysts said.

But the traditional “one-to-one mode of communication,” they said, has now evolved into a “source of rapid-fire knowledge-sharing”.

In the end, workers are “forced to change focus from one platform, app or project to the next when a new notification comes through, threatening productivity and collaboration,” the study showed.