Emerging digital friction is increasingly impacting employee satisfaction, organisational security, and operational costs, prompting calls for holistic solutions that integrate technology, processes, and leadership.
Digital friction is emerging as a quieter but costly drag on workplace performance, as employees contend with slow systems, incompatible tools, repeated logins and constant app-switching. Omnissa defines the term as the unnecessary effort people must exert to get technology to do basic work, while Workgrid says the problem is often compounded by sprawling app estates and repeated context switching that fractures attention and lengthens routine tasks. In practice, the result is not just inconvenience, but a direct hit to productivity.
TeamViewer’s research, as reported by HCMag, suggests the human cost is also substantial. The study found that 47% of employees feel frustrated and less satisfied at work because of digital friction, 43% say it reduces their motivation to produce high-quality work and 42% link it to burnout. It also found that 69% believe the problem has contributed to turnover in their organisation, underscoring how badly poor digital experiences can affect retention.
Industry commentary is increasingly warning that the issue can spill beyond efficiency into security. Omnissa says employees often resort to shadow IT, using unsanctioned apps or personal devices to get round broken workflows, which can expose data and weaken control over intellectual property. TechRadar Pro has made a similar case on shadow AI, arguing that workers turn to unauthorised AI tools when official systems create too much friction, leaving organisations with less visibility over how information is handled.
The operational cost can also be material. TeamViewer says workers lose an average of 1.3 working days a month to technology problems, while TechRadar Pro reported that nearly half of UK companies have seen direct revenue loss and more than half have suffered project delays because of digital friction. The broader argument from these reports is that software alone will not solve the problem; organisations need to align people, processes and tools, and treat AI as part of that redesign rather than as a bolt-on fix.
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