Productivity & Knowledge Leak
Image: Microsoft 365
According to the Panopto Workplace Knowledge and Productivity Report, inefficient knowledge sharing leads to an average loss of £36 million in productivity each year for large US businesses. The report, which examines over 1,000 U.S. workers, reveals that 5.3 hours are wasted each week by U.S. knowledge workers either waiting for essential information from colleagues or working to reproduce existing institutional knowledge. These delays culminate in deferred projects, missed opportunities, and a significant impact on profitability.
The report further highlights that 42% of institutional knowledge is unique to the individual. When employees who hold this unique knowledge leave or are otherwise unavailable, their co-workers are incapable of performing the individual's role fully, leading to potential productivity issues.
Key findings of the report:
60% of respondents reported it being difficult to extremely difficult to secure job-essential information from colleagues.
58% of respondents stated that silos exist across teams and departments.
The average employee spends 5.3 hours weekly waiting for assistance or insights from co-workers, often leading to project delays or task deferment.
A total of 66% of all such delays due to unshared knowledge can last up to a week, while 12% can extend for a month or longer.
Eight in ten employees feel frustrated when they can't secure the information required for their job.
85% of employees view preserving and sharing unique workplace knowledge as crucial to enhancing productivity.
The data strongly suggests that in an era of increasing job specialisation and remote working, business leaders must prioritise knowledge sharing to mitigate productivity losses and improve their bottom line. This necessitates not only technological solutions but also a cultural shift within the organisation.
Eric Burns, co-founder and CEO of Panopto, stated: "Every employee in every company contributes to institutional knowledge. However, this knowledge is ephemeral when it's only disseminated through conversation. Businesses must, therefore, provide the tools to capture institutional knowledge and instil a culture of teaching among employees."
One such tool to aid this transition is the concept of digital maturity. Digital maturity refers to an organisation's readiness to respond to digital transformation, including aspects such as company culture, leadership, technology, and overall strategy. Fostering digital maturity can help businesses better handle the challenges associated with knowledge sharing, leading to enhanced productivity and improved outcomes.
In a digitally mature organisation, a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing is cultivated, ensuring the organisation's institutional knowledge is captured and made accessible to all. Additionally, a digitally mature organisation will have strong leadership that encourages knowledge sharing and utilises technology effectively to facilitate this. They will also have strategies in place to manage knowledge transfer, reducing the risk of knowledge loss when employees leave.