More than half of workers in Australia had to go on a day off at least once a month because they felt their workload has been unmanageable, according to a new study from Asana.

The work management platform released its State of Work Innovation: Australia 2024 Report, where the company examined the behaviours and attitudes of workers in the country. The results offered valuable insights into how employees deal with modern workplace challenges such as high workload, lack of clarity, and digital exhaustion.

Of the more than 2,000 professionals surveyed, 52% said they struggled with their workload so much that they needed to take a break, even for only a day, at least once in a month. Meanwhile, 55% believed that their company’s leaders did not do enough to reduce the impacts of digital exhaustion on their employees.

When asked what they wanted their organisation’s to work on to help alleviate these pressures, the majority (95%) said their companies needed to do a better job at innovating how members communicate and collaborate with each other.

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Obstacles to communication and collaboration

The Asana study identified where exactly workers are struggling when executing their daily tasks. Nearly half (46%) of respondents said they were not too fond of meetings. Many cited a ‘lack of clear purpose’ as one of the main reasons why they think such meetings are ineffective. Employees also grappled with a lack of clarity in roles, responsibilities, or task ownership. This reportedly made team collaboration difficult.

As far as using collaboration tools go, more than two in three (68%) workers think everyone in their organisation should use the same technology at work to improve efficiency and prevent overloading tools.

Jo Gaines, Asana’s General Manager for APAC, explained how workers and employers are dealing with the challenges of the modern workplace.

“Professionals across Australia struggle with increasing workloads and a lack of effective tools and processes to thrive in an environment where hybrid and asynchronous work is the gold standard,” Gaines said. “At the same time, business leaders are challenged to improve productivity while continuing to innovate with transformative technologies like AI.”

For Gaines, the solution is not about adding more tools into the mix but rather identifying what exactly do their workers need.

“Organisations don’t need more tools – they need the right tools that are the connective glue which helps teams get clarity around priorities, show impact against company goals, and scale AI to improve business outcomes,” Gaines said.

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Opening the door to AI tools

The report also revealed how business leaders are addressing issues in the workplace such as adopting artificial intelligence. Of the company executives asked, 63% said they are enthusiastic about using generative AI in their company’s day-to-day work. An additional 66% of respondents believed the technology will have a positive or even a very positive impact at work.

Despite their enthusiasm about using AI tools, leaders agree that they need to have proper guidelines and policies about implementing the technology at work. This information should also be clearly communicated with every member of their company. Half of the executives surveyed claimed that they have an existing AI policy. However, only 17% of workers seem to be aware of it.

Meanwhile, 70% of leaders said their company has already set aside a budget for AI training and development. However, only 30% of employees know about it.

Gaines stressed the importance of having AI guidelines, especially as companies rapidly adopt the technology. It should be made clear how the technology can and should be used in the workplace.

Gaines also expressed her optimism about the potential of AI in improving how people approach work.

“With so many Australian workers struggling with work overload and digital exhaustion, there is infinite potential to use AI to maximise resources, increase efficiency, and improve cross-functional collaboration,” the Asana leader said. “I’m excited as we continue to improve our AI capabilities to help more organisations across Australia work smarter.”