Study: IT Leaders Invest in Employee Listening as Remote Work Continues

A new study from Qualtrics and PwC finds that IT executives and technology leaders are playing a critical role in how organizations are dealing with COVID-19 and they are investing in technologies that help future-proof the workforce.

Released Thursday, the survey of more than 200 U.S. IT executives tells a story of how U.S. companies are shifting their technology investments to meet the needs of their workforce and customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that over 65% of IT executives said at least a quarter of their workforce will work remotely permanently.

The study also found that listening to and being empathetic with employees will be paramount as IT departments try to keep a dispersed workforce connected, as 95% of IT leaders said they have increase their investment in employee listening since the pandemic began.

IT departments will need to immediately know when systems aren’t working or if they aren’t being used efficiently, the study found.

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“Having an employee experience impacts innovation,” said Jay Choi, executive vice president and general manager of EmployeeXM at Qualtrics.

“Having an employee experience impacts your frontline employees and things like selling and service. Having employee experience allows you to project expertise into the market. It allows you to showcase your expertise with customers.”

Other findings in the survey include:

• 82% of IT leaders said they invested in security and privacy
• 78% said they invested in cloud infrastructure
• 71% said they brought on additional IT support staff
• 76% said they gathered employee feedback to understand their needs and requirements when purchasing new software or services
• 73% said they knew which initiatives would make the most impact on employee experience

This study affirms what we already know: the IT department has been the single-most important entity supporting this rapid digital transformation that was forced upon us – whether we liked it or not.

As we transition to a hybrid workforce, the critical role that IT professionals play will only grow.