Aussie worker frustration: slow internet

Over one-third of Australia's workers get faster internet at home than at work, according to new research.

The research, performed by Deloitte and paid for by Google (pdf), found 38 percent of workers — or 190 of the 500 surveyed — get faster internet speeds at home than at work.

Slow internet is actually the number one "frustration" with employer-provided digital technologies, the research found, with almost 60 percent of Australian workers annoyed by the slow internet speeds at work.

A close second on the "frustration" list was having a slow computer. Employees' third-biggest gripe is the quality of "assistance from the IT department".

Many frustrations seem to be the result of control or lockdown of systems at work, which might explain why many workers say they'd prefer to BYOD than use work computers any longer. "Restricted browsing" and "authorisation to download programs" ranked 4th and 6th respectively in the frustrations list.

However, online collaboration was a particular bugbear of Australian workers, suggesting an area for potential improvement.

The research tried to correlate technology freedom at work with "employee satisfaction and retention". The figures prove the first point but were decidedly more shaky on the second.

"Access to [the] latest technologies" is a long way down the list of "considerations when changing employment", the research showed.

Employees consider pay, management, workplace culture, working hours, leave entitlements, flexibility, career and training opportunities and having an assigned desk ahead of technology issues when considering a job change.

Deloitte suggested its research was proof that "flexible IT policies affect the likelihood of whether employees plan to leave their current employer", but the figures were small.

"In short, 9 percent of those without access to flexible IT policies are dissatisfied and plan to leave their current employer within the next twelve months. By contrast, only 6 percent of those with flexible IT policies (such as telework and access to social media) say the same thing."