FOUNT Global Funding

WASHINGTON, Nov. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - FOUNT, a platform that helps companies identify and reduce work friction, today released research from its 2023 Work Friction Survey. The findings reveal a massive gap between how business leaders and employees perceive work friction. When asked how work friction has changed over time, nearly half of employees said it’s gotten worse. This is in stark contrast to business leaders, three-quarters of whom thought work friction had not changed or had even improved.

Work friction is perceived by employees as energy they shouldn’t have to expend at work. It can range from faulty systems to unavailable managers and erratic work schedules. Because work friction can only be seen by employees as their daily workflow is disrupted, it is often overlooked leading to frustration, burnout and misdirected investment on the wrong solutions. According to Gartner, employees waste two hours per day trying to work around work friction. For a Fortune 1000 company with 10,000 employees, that amounts to 3.1 million wasted hours per year and an annual $78.4 million lost.

“While most leaders believe they are well-informed about the work friction their employees experience, this research clearly indicates a stark divide,” said Christophe Martel, Cofounder and CEO of FOUNT. “Despite record investment in learning and development, staffing, and technology to make work better, employee quit rates have more than doubled in the last decade – costing Fortune 500 companies hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The only way to understand what employees experience is either to play undercover boss or get work friction data. Absent this, it’s guesswork.”

FOUNT’s research also found that:

1. Work friction is a likely contributor to absenteeism and attrition
95% of employees said work friction makes them feel bad about their job, with 37% of employees saying work friction makes them feel so bad they want to quit or take days off. In short, work friction likely plays a significant role in absenteeism and attrition.

2. Work friction is perceived to stifle personal productivity and quality customer service
68% of employees reported work friction has a negative impact on their personal productivity and their ability to provide strong customer service.

3. Work friction overwhelmingly occurs in employee experiences owned by business leaders
80% of work friction occurs in employees’ day-to-day work vs HR managed services (e.g. career advancement, training, taking leave).

“Work friction symptoms are usually apparent, like absenteeism and low productivity. A business leader might first try to address those symptoms with a cash bonus for high performers or strict time-off rules,” added Martel. “But like allergy sufferers, treating a stuffy nose with medication isn’t the same as addressing the root cause, such as pet dander. Treating only the symptoms means problems will persist or could even get more complicated.”

FOUNT’s 2023 Work Friction survey suggests the problem is likely getting worse at most companies. Although 91% of leader respondents said work friction reduction is a priority for their organizations, only 42% have so far taken action to reduce it, and less than 20% are tackling work friction in employees’ day-to-day work, where it most often occurs.

To learn more about work friction and why it matters, download FOUNT’s Work Friction whitepaper.

About 2023 Work Friction Survey
FOUNT Global Inc.’s 2023 Work Friction Surveys were fielded in August 2023 in collaboration with our panel survey partner, RepData. A total of 706 panelists were sourced from across North America, Europe, and ANZ using multimodal collection: 506 employees completed an 11-question survey online; 200 HR, business, and C-suite leaders completed a 4-question survey in telephone interviews. Both surveys included closed- and open-ended questions; the latter were coded to generate quantifiable results for comparison with closed-ended responses.

About FOUNT
FOUNT believes work should be frictionless for employees and employers. The company offers software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions that identify what’s at the root of productivity and attrition challenges. By helping HR, IT and business leaders prioritize and fix causes of friction in employees’ work environment, organizations can measurably improve performance and employee experiences. FOUNT’s customer base represents some of the world’s leading organizations including adidas, Siemens, Baloise, Northwell Health and TEKsystems. Founded in 2022 as a spinout of the employee experience consultancy, TI People, FOUNT is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in London and Hamburg. Visit https://getfount.com for more information.

Media Contact: Jack McHugh, jack@propllr.com

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More and more these days, AI is the undisputed future of HR.

Just as it has in other critical business areas, however, AI has brought to HR not only the promise of increased productivity and efficiency, but a fair amount of disruption as well. That’s to be expected with transformative technology. But what does it mean going forward?

For HR leaders, the goal should be to deliver more value for internal customers at lower cost while leveraging the full potential of AI. And that means reducing friction in three key areas:

• HR's internal Customers Workflows
• Employees Workflows
• People Leaders and Business Leaders Workflows

Use AI to remove the barriers that keep people from doing their work efficiently and effectively, and you’ll unlock new value and opportunity. But you can’t reduce friction if you can’t see it. That’s why reliable friction data is such a key piece of the AI puzzle for HR leaders.

The bottom line: AI’s impact on HR can be immense. For example, research from FOUNT Global, Inc. partner TI People found the potential for 29% average efficiency across all HR roles using AI. For some organizations, it could be much higher.

If you’d like to learn how to thoroughly examine the impact of AI on your HR role in just 48 hours, TI People’s AI Impact Assessment can help.

Number of the Month: Confronting Tech Friction

Thinking about AI? Then you’d better be thinking about friction, too.

Article of the month:

Reducing friction and giving time back to people leaders ($$$)

Stephanie Denino is bringing numbers to a question HR and People Experience leaders often wrestle with: How do you prove the business value of a better employee experience?

She shows that even modest friction improvements can translate into staggering returns. In one modeled enterprise, simply cutting wasted time in people leader workflows by 15% freed up nearly $16 million worth of hours for leaders to spend on higher-value activities. That’s the kind of data-backed story every HR leader can take to their CFO - clear evidence that fighting friction isn’t just about employee satisfaction, it’s about unlocking measurable business value.

Read full article here

What we are reading:

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📖Beyond the Buzz: Why a “Careful Pace” on AI Adoption Can Scale HR’s Impact

Most conversations about AI tend to focus on job disruption and operational efficiency. But HR’s role in this rollout should be both more expansive and more careful – namely, to champion AI’s potential to transform business and workforce outcomes positively and sustainably.

Get the full story

📖 Employees Are Avoiding AI – HR Can Help Them Embrace It

Looking to boost AI enthusiasm in your organization? HR can help by providing not only education, but also clarity and transparency around how the technology fits into the company’s strategy.

Get the full story

📖Report: Most AI Business Investments Fail

New research from MIT shows that 95% of enterprise AI investments aren't ROI-positive. One bright spot? Back-office projects (like HR), which tend to be among the best-performing use cases.

Get the full story

📖 Which Missing Skills are Holding Back AI Adoption?

Deficits in areas such as cognitive skills, AI responsibility, self-management skills, and communication may be hindering the adoption of AI tools in the workplace according to researchers.

Get the full story

Until next time,

The FOUNT Team

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It’s easy to think the transformation led by your Shared Services team is on track. SLAs are met, NPS is green, and all your outstanding tickets are closed. Mission accomplished, right?

Not necessarily. What if your supposedly tried-and-true metrics are only telling you part of the story?

As one presenter shared during our recent SSON webinar: “We measure what’s easy to measure, not what’s right to measure. And we realize very soon that we really don’t have a clue what is going on for the employee.”

The rest of the story is in the friction your workers experience - and most companies don’t see it. Why? Because today’s traditional feedback tools (siloed surveys, usage data etc.) are missing the big picture:

• They focus on transactions instead of journeys.

• They measure just sentiment rather than friction.

• They show tool usage, not workflow breakdowns.

It all adds up to a lot of useful, but ultimately deficient, information. And it leads to misdiagnosed problems and wasted investments.

Don’t gamble the success of your transformation initiatives on incomplete insights. Friction data from FOUNT eliminates your blind spots and connects experience in their workflow by quantifying the obstacles that prevent your employees from working productively and efficiently.

It’s the missing half of the story to get your GBS transformation across the finish line.

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Stephanie Denino on seeing the bigger picture. Clip from the SSON Webinar

FOUNT in Action: From Tool Performance to Employee Experience

As part of a digitization initiative to wholly transform its IT, HR, and finance services, a US-based company rolled out a new employee portal and a virtual agent to support across all core employee workflows. However, as employees began using these new features, one thing became clear – the tools were working, but the experience was failing.

Case in point: Vanessa, a longtime accounting admin, was working through the multi-step journey of requesting medical leave using the new tools, as well as old standbys like her manager, the employee contact center, and her doctor’s office. And while the request was ultimately processed and approved, not everything went smoothly – in fact, some of it was downright maddening.

In measuring success by SLA and CSAT, however, the company saw feedback that mostly looked great. The systems were in place, the portals worked, and the tickets were tracked. But this was only a partial picture. While many of the back-end services and processes underlying her journey worked well, others left Vanessa feeling frustrated and confused.

The company partnered with FOUNT to find out which specific aspects of the medical leave request and approval process, such as unclear policies and complex paperwork, were causing employees like Vanessa friction.

Curious how this case was developed? Watch our recent SSON webinar.

This is just one example.

View More Use Cases → How Customers Use FOUNT: Accelerate AI Adoption, Reduce Waste, and Measure ROI Sooner  - FOUNT

Number of the Month: The Growing Role of Gen AI in Global Business Services

In 2024, 42% of GBS organizations piloted Gen AI. How are things working out? 63% reported measurable gains in productivity, cost savings, and service quality. – The Hackett Group

The Latest Guest Post:

📖3 Signs Your GBS Is Creating Friction Instead of Flow (And How to Fix It)

By Isabella Kosch, freelance business consultant, ex-Head of GBS Service Management at SWAROVSKI, regular contributor to SSON.

Discover hidden friction points in your GBS operations that quietly undermine employee trust and efficiency. Plus: get actionable advice on how to fix them. Get the full story

What we are Reading:

📖 Understanding AI ≠ Using It

The relationship between AI literacy and receptivity may surprise you. Research shows that people with lower AI literacy are more likely to embrace it, while those with higher AI literacy tend to lose interest quickly. Get the full story

📖 Agile Leadership in GBS: Leading Through Uncertainty and Change

GBS is evolving from a cost-saving function to a strategic enabler. To keep pace, GBS leaders must shift their focus from operational (or basic) efficiency to driving value. Get the full story

📖 Breaking the False Tradeoff in GBS: Efficiency vs. Experience

Ever wonder why modern leaders are measuring friction and using experience data to drive productivity, reduce costs, and transform service quality? Find out here. Get the full story

📖 The Data Race: Global Business Services’ Advantageous Positioning with Gen AI

How can Gen AI help GBS leaders forge a strategic path forward? Start with a shift in focus, from basic processing to enhanced data-driven insights. Get the full story

Come Out and Meet FOUNT:

Engage 2025, organized by Everest Group

Where: Dallas, TX

When: September 8 – 10

Engage — Dallas 2025 - Everest Group

Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Conference, organized by SSON

Where: Houston, TX

When: September 15 – 18

Shared Services & Outsourcing Week 2025

Want to learn how FOUNT can reduce friction in your transformation? Let’s talk.

Until next time,

The FOUNT Team

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