79 pc European workers fear a poor decision can cost them their job

MUMBAI, INDIA: A new survey commissioned by Epicor Software has found that the pressure to make blind business decisions at work is leaving many European office workers stressed and worried that they are unable to do what is asked of them, according to new research.

The research conducted by ICM said that over three quarters of European office workers (79 percent) have had to make un-informed decisions at some point in their career. Yet, the need to make these decisions could be inadvertently putting employees’ health and wellbeing at risk, with 40 percent of office workers suggesting that making decisions without sufficient information leads to higher than necessary stress levels.

According to the research, this stress is likely to be caused by concerns over the ramifications of un-informed decisions. Workers feel it could damage their personal reputation (36 percent) or lead to poor personal performance (29 percent), while some even fear that they may lose their job as a result of making wrong decisions (17 percent).

The impact of un-informed decisions doesn’t just affect employees’ performance, but the organizations too. Consequences to business include poor organizational performance at 27 percent, loss of revenue at 22 percent and absenteeism at 7 percent which is often quoted as a result of stress placed on employees.

Despite these risks, many workers are frequently asked to make un-informed decisions with just under a third (33 percent) doing so on a weekly basis and 14 percent on a daily basis. The findings reaffirm the results from the PwC 2014 Big Decisions survey Gut & gigabytes in which less than a third of employees (32 percent) described decision making within their organization as highly data driven.

A data-driven approach could provide a simple solution to the problem. The majority of employees believe that if organizations could put better systems in place, it will help to combat these issues – with over half 52 percent of the respondents suggesting that the solution can be found with technology.

“With the company’s reputation, revenue and staff welfare at stake, it’s vital that organizations put the technology and systems in place to enable employees to make confident decisions, particularly in high-pressure, fast moving industries such as manufacturing and distribution where there is little room for error, ” said Keith Deane, EVP and General Manager, International, Epicor Software.

“The fact that people get stressed when having to make decisions without the right information at their fingertips, and that they are concerned that it may cost them their job, is something that organizations need to take seriously,” added Deane.