ABBYY Survey Shows Young Executives Have Higher Expectations for Process Insight and Smart Technology to Balance Work-from-Home Demands

Surprising survey results showing the use of technology and workforce productivity revealed that senior level executives aged 55+ have fared better than their digital native counterparts aged under 35 during the global pandemic.

The ABBYY COVID-19 Technology and Business Process survey investigated work-from-home (WFH) challenges, how employees worldwide felt about the way company processes work, and how smart technologies, including digital assistants, data analysis and insights, and productivity tools, will continue to play a major role this year and beyond.

The challenges facing executives of all ages highlight the need to better align investments in people, processes, and technology for companies to be resilient and thrive in the future. The following results surmise the generational divide among senior-level executives, ranging from managers to board-level directors.

• Different generations evaluate business processes differently. 61% of the digital natives said processes made their job more challenging, whereas only 36% of the 55+ generation found challenges when working during the pandemic. Young executives were also more exasperated with business processes, saying they wasted their time (85% versus 20% of those 55+). Leaders must rethink key processes that may not be intuitive to digital natives and thereby negatively impacting their mental health, motivation, trust, and loyalty.
• There is a huge gap in process expectations between digital natives and baby boomers. Two-thirds of young executives said there is not enough information provided on business processes, while only 26% of those over 55 agreed with this. And two-thirds of young executives said there is not enough visibility of the progress of processes, while only 25% of older executives complained about this. Access to process visibility may be attributed to hierarchy levels among management; organizations should foster a culture of transparency and democratize process understanding among all workers interacting with systems and applications.
• Younger executives’ biggest challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic was motivation to work (39%), compared to older colleagues at only 19%. Difference in life stages may be a factor in motivation, such as having younger children at home versus away at college. Leaders should consider benefits that can be used towards childcare or home schooling to alleviate stresses at home.
• Another big challenge for people between the ages 18-34 and 35-54 was “feeling isolated working from home” (28% and 27% respectively), suggesting business leaders need to pay more attention to fostering a community among a remote workforce, and offering access to wellness services for self-care or to talk to about stress and anxiety, for example.

Figure 1: “What have you found challenging at work since the start of the pandemic?”

Executives 55+ find digital workers more useful

• Young executives use digital workers 19% more than their senior counterparts, however, the latter are finding that digital workers are more useful. Perception among executives under 35 indicates there may be other factors hindering usefulness.
• Of those not yet using the technologies, 79% of younger respondents think they would have more of an impact on their productivity, compared to 66% of respondents over 55 and 71% of 35-54-year-olds. This further infers that the more senior workforce is skeptical about digital workers or new tech that they have never used before and are less likely to turn to technology for support. Leaders should focus on upskilling older workers to use the digital technology and clearly explain their benefits.
• As expected, most executives under 35 use more smart technologies, such as digital assistants, monitoring software, data analysis and insights, and mobile productivity apps, more than other age groups. Middle aged executives were relatively split on their use of advanced technology, while seniors used them the least.

Figure 2: “Does your company use any of the following technologies?”