Last year’s Global Human Capital Trends chapter on “the overwhelmed employee” became one of the most popular articles Deloitte has ever published — a sign that the phenomenon was hitting organisations even faster and harder than we thought. The capability gaps we observed with regard to the simplification of work reinforce the importance of the issue of the overwhelmed employee. In this year’s research, we explored if organisations were doing anything to address this concern.

Consider some data: In one day more than 100 billion e-mails are exchanged, yet only one in seven is critically important. The average employee now spends over one-quarter of the workday reading and answering e-mails.

People now check their mobile phones more than 150 times a day. And a new study by the National Journal found that 40 per cent of workers believe it is not possible to succeed at work, make a good living, and have enough time to contribute to family and community.

There are many reasons for work overload: always-on technology, global 24/7 demands, and the proliferation of messaging and social tools we have at our fingertips. But another important driver is complexity in work practices, business processes, and jobs. In this year’s survey, 74 per cent of all respondents (including those at small companies) rated their work environment as either “complex” or “highly complex”.

We see five primary drivers for this trend:

• Pervasive technology and connectivity: Life, family, and work are all blending together as our mobile devices deliver constant access to work information. While filtering and sorting tools are coming, most employees are flooded with too much random information. By nature, people become addicted to this stimulus, feeding a vicious cycle of “always feeling like we’re at work.”

• Complexity in technology: New technology features arrive faster than most people can learn to use them. The ever-increasing focus on technology for the sake of technology has come to an end: The simplest products are the ones now most widely used. HR software buyers today want systems with fewer features and less complexity, not more. Yet simplification for users at the front end usually adds complexity at the back end when multiple systems are combined.

• Globalisation: Most companies, even small businesses, have clients, partners, and suppliers around the world. Projects, conference calls, meetings, and e-mails happen at all hours of the day and night.

• Increased administrative and compliance demands: Workers worldwide face increasing administrative and compliance headaches that demand time and engagement. Deloitte Australia found that 1 out of 11 people in Australia now works in compliance — more than are employed in the country’s entire mining industry.

• Overly complex business processes and systems: Business and HR processes have become too complex. Adobe found that its performance management process was so complex it took almost 1.8 million personhours per year to complete. Happily, change is coming. From transformations brought about by Uber, AirBnB, and Open Table, whole industries are being rocked by dynamic technological and design innovations aimed at simplifying the way we live. To think that this trend will not happen in the workplace is likely wrong.

So for many businesses, it’s time to rethink the underlying model of how work gets done—before competitors do. How can work be simplified, making systems easy to use?

Some work will — and should simply go away, like the plethora of unread, unnecessary e-mails. More broadly, HR should be the catalyst for the entire organisation to declutter, advising the business on how to save time and reduce the number of e-mails and meetings.

HR’s role should not simply be to implement talent management practices, but to make people more productive and enhance their level of engagement with the firm. Some steps are already being taken. Some companies are now waking up to the need to simplify the work environment, reduce workload, eliminate steps, and engineer simpler applications that do not require a great deal of training or time to use.

Our survey found that 10 per cent of companies have programmes to simplify work practices and 44 per cent are planning to build such programmes — indicating that just over five in ten organisations are directly trying to address this challenge.

Recognising that we can’t slow the proliferation of technology, companies are now embracing practices to stop e-mails on weekends, implement simpler tools, and even penalise people for sending e-mails while on vacation.

Company leaders are asked to model behaviours that help people slow down and think. Google, for example, has published a manifesto on “nine rules for e-mail” to help internal teams stay productive. Some companies are starting to treat “time capital” with the same seriousness as financial capital.

One approach is to cut back on the seemingly endless rounds of meetings and conference calls. This serves the dual purpose of increasing efficiency and creating a calmer, more relaxed environment where employees can actually think. Recent psychological research suggests that multitasking could be changing the structure of our brains by wearing away the grey matter, which is the part of the brain that processes information. Flexible working conditions and extended benefit policies also reduce worker stress, as can open work environments that promote more relaxed person-to-person interactions.

Research suggests that people are more productive, more relaxed, and more engaged when they personally interact with their peers. Simplification may be one of the most important and underutilised tools in an organisation’s arsenal. The opportunity can lie both in simplifying the work environment and in simplifying the work itself.

In 2015, companies should continue to take steps to streamline work, reduce administrative burdens, and simplify complex processes. Companies can “simplify” without being “simplistic”—and the entire organisation can benefit as a result.

Where companies can start:

• Make simplification a business and HR priority. Start by creating a team focused on simplifying the work environment. Acknowledge the problem and agree on the need to simplify work. Ask employees about time-wasting and complex processes, and develop a business case to justify redesign. Ensure that HR is involved in any discussions about simplifying work.

• Get e-mail and unproductive meetings under control. Reducing the number of e-mails, meetings, and conference calls gives people a calmer, more relaxed environment in which to work and think. Research also indicates that people who use their phones for e-mail at night are less productive during the day.

• Invest in more integrated, simpler technology: Major technology vendors now have programmes to simplify their applications and tools. Both SAP and Oracle, for instance, go to market promoting the value of simplifying IT. Rather than looking for more features, companies should evaluate software based in part on its ease of use.

• Implement design thinking and process simplification within HR: Design thinking is a new process that brings user interface designers, process experts, and graphics people together to make work systems more functional and easier to use. HR teams should serve as an organisational role model by removing steps and using design thinking to implement “just enough” process and technology to help people get the job done.

The bottom line

Technology, globalisation, and compliance needs continuously add complexity to work. Left unaddressed, this can lead to an organisational environment that damages employee engagement, lowers quality, and reduces innovation and customer service. At the same time, technology and design thinking are converging in a way that offers significant opportunities to get ahead of the curve.

Business and HR leaders should put “simplification” on the agenda for 2015 and focus on individual, organisational, and work-specific programs that reduce complexity and help people focus on what really matters.

For more information about Human Capital Services at Deloitte, contact Jessica Mello, Director of Consulting at Deloitte, on 295-1500 or at jessica.mello@deloitte.bm