Your Employees May Be Suffering in Silence with Technology Problems
True Story Tuesday — Issue 004
When something completely breaks in a business, everybody knows about it.
The computer won’t turn on.
The printer stops printing.
The internet goes down.
A critical program refuses to open.
Those problems get reported.
But some of the most frustrating technology problems I encounter aren’t the ones that completely stop someone from working.
They’re the ones employees have learned to live with.
The computer is slow.
The printer works… most of the time.
Wi-Fi drops occasionally.
An error appears every morning.
A program takes three attempts to open.
There’s a strange workaround everyone knows about.
And nobody reports any of it.
That’s a bigger problem than many business owners realize.
“It’s Always Been Like That.”
I’ve walked into businesses to fix one problem and discovered several others simply by talking to the people who use the technology every day.
I’ll hear things like:
“Oh yeah, that computer has always been slow.”
“Just restart it when that happens.”
“You have to click it twice.”
“That printer does that sometimes.”
“Don’t use that Wi-Fi network from this side of the building.”
“If that error comes up, just close it.”
To the employee, these aren’t necessarily IT problems anymore.
They’re part of the job.
They’ve developed a workaround and moved on.
Meanwhile, the owner or manager may have absolutely no idea it’s happening.
Why Don’t Employees Report Technology Problems?
Usually, they’re not deliberately hiding anything.
If something technically still works, an employee may not think it’s important enough to report.
Maybe they assume everyone already knows about it.
Maybe it’s been happening for so long that they think it’s normal.
Maybe they don’t want to bother their manager.
Or maybe they’ve figured out a workaround.
That’s why asking:
“Is everything working?”
isn’t always a very useful question.
If employees can eventually accomplish what they’re trying to do, they’ll probably say yes.
A much better question is:
“What technology frustrates you or slows you down every day?”
That question can produce a very different answer.
Five Minutes Doesn’t Sound Like Much
Suppose an employee loses five minutes every morning waiting for a slow computer.
That’s annoying, but it doesn’t sound catastrophic.
Five minutes a day.
Five days a week.
52 weeks a year.
That’s more than 21 hours a year spent waiting—and that’s for one employee experiencing one problem.
Make it 10 minutes per day and you’re over 43 hours.
Now imagine several employees dealing with slow computers, unreliable printers, software problems, network issues, unnecessary steps, or recurring errors.
You’re paying people to fight with technology instead of doing the work you hired them to do.
And unlike a major outage, this lost productivity can continue quietly for months or even years.
Some Annoyances Are Actually Warning Signs
Lost productivity isn’t the only concern.
Sometimes the annoying little problem someone has learned to ignore is trying to tell you something.
Storage warnings
A computer that’s constantly running out of storage may become increasingly slow or unstable.
Eventually, there may not be enough space for software updates, temporary files, or other normal operations.
Recurring errors
If the same application error appears every morning, clicking OK doesn’t actually solve the problem.
It just dismisses the warning.
Backup problems
This one particularly concerns me.
Seeing OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, backup software, or another cloud icon on a computer doesn’t automatically mean everything important is being backed up correctly.
A failed or incomplete backup can go unnoticed until someone actually needs the missing files.
That’s a terrible time to discover the problem.
Unreliable Wi-Fi or network connections
Employees may get accustomed to disconnecting and reconnecting Wi-Fi, moving to another room, restarting equipment, or trying something again.
But intermittent network problems can be symptoms of configuration issues, failing equipment, interference, cabling problems, or poor network design.
Today’s annoyance can become tomorrow’s failure.
Don’t Wait for a Small Problem to Become a Big One
This is one reason I believe small businesses don’t necessarily need a giant internal IT department.
They need a technology plan and someone paying attention.
Good IT support shouldn’t only mean calling someone when everything is already broken.
A proactive approach can identify the little problems that employees have quietly accepted and determine which ones are simply annoying—and which ones could turn into something much more expensive.
That can mean:
Fewer interruptions
More reliable computers and networks
Better backups
Less employee frustration
Better use of the technology you’ve already purchased
Fewer emergency IT calls
Most importantly, your employees can spend their time doing their jobs instead of troubleshooting technology.
Ask Your Employees This Question
If you own or manage a small business, try something this week.
Don’t ask:
“Is all the technology working?”
Instead, ask every employee:
“What technology problem frustrates you or slows you down every day?”
Don’t be surprised if you get answers you weren’t expecting.
Some problems may take hours to solve.
Others might take only a few minutes.
Either way, you can’t fix a problem you don’t know exists.
Need Another Set of Eyes on Your Business Technology?
Digital Junkie Technology Services & Consulting helps small businesses with computer repair, troubleshooting, Wi-Fi and networking, backups, technology consulting, and ongoing IT support.
Whether you’re dealing with a major technology problem or simply want someone to look for the smaller issues your employees have learned to tolerate, I can help you figure out what actually needs attention.
Digital Junkie Technology Services & Consulting
Connecting Life to Technology
www.digitaljunkie.tech
eherring@digitaljunkie.tech
737-400-6482
Serving businesses and homes throughout Pflugerville, Round Rock, Austin, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Leander, Hutto, Taylor, and surrounding Central Texas communities.
Next Week on True Story Tuesday
They Thought They Needed a New Computer. They Didn’t.
Before replacing a slow or problematic computer, it’s worth finding out what’s actually wrong with it. Sometimes the better answer isn’t buying another computer at all.
We’ll talk about that next Tuesday.
