Outdated Administration Methods Among Most Frustrating Office Problems

TOPdesk Hungary conducted a national, representative survey to determine what problems typically annoy Hungarian office workers the most. Rather than modern, fully digital solutions, many Hungarian companies still use paper-based or face-to-face solutions for their employees, although very few workers say they are currently satisfied with everyday administration and task management. The results show that approximately four-fifths of Hungarians are dissatisfied with day-to-day workplace administration, paperwork and other internal processes.

The most annoying factor, according to respondents, is that existing systems are too slow to provide answers to their questions: some 75% of respondents consider this to be one of the most frustrating factors in their job. In addition, nearly half of employees say that not being given enough information by management also makes their daily lives more difficult.

Printers are the most troublesome equipment for office workers, with more than a third putting them at the top of the list of problematic IT tools and services. The second and third places in the survey went to installing new programs and disruptions to the mail system.

When confronted with a problem that interferes with their work, less than a quarter of those who completed the survey said they could remain calm. Most are quietly annoyed or vent their frustration by swearing. Around 10% of respondents deal with matters by going outside for a few minutes or even smoking a cigarette; fortunately, only 5% of respondents said their method of coping is to give their desk a beating.

About 70% of respondents reported going directly to an IT professional or administrator when encountering a computer or other technology problem. Only four in 10 workers receive a reassuring response to their IT queries within 24 hours, but it is also true that only 14% of problem cases are delayed beyond three days.

Managing Internal Processes

The survey also looked at the channels employees use to manage internal processes. The results show that even today, paper-based or face-to-face administration is still as common as digital solutions. For example, a quarter of respondents make reservations for company premises and equipment such as meeting rooms, projectors and cars in person. New employees are still provided with a paper-based information pack in more than 25% of cases.

“The results of our survey highlight the typical problems with office IT and services that hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of employees face every day,” says Anita Zakrzewski, sales manager of the TOPdesk service management platform.

“What we see is that even in workplaces where most of the processes are done on computers, many times the administration is done on the phone or in person. With such informal methods, the larger the size of an organization, the more complex and the less efficient the problem-handling becomes. It is not surprising, therefore, that the vast majority of respondents are dissatisfied with the internal management of their company,” she notes.

Zakrzewski says that many business leaders are unaware that even a simple service management system can significantly streamline internal processes.

“The results of our survey show that just over 10% of Hungarian office workers use some kind of digital task or service management system, which not only makes IT support more efficient but also increases employee satisfaction, as they experience less disruption and smoother problem-solving in their daily work,” Zakrzewski adds.

This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of January 26, 2024.