Smartsheet’s Inaugural Future of Work Management Report Uncovers Resource Recession Across Global Organizations, Need for Support and Technology to Initiate Resource Revolution
Data reveals over four in five workers say projects are run by colleagues who do not have a project manager title or role, with over half of those workers being junior staff and a majority having no formal project management training
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Smartsheet’s inaugural Future of Work Management Report reveals new insights about global resource recession. (Graphic: Business Wire)
In a slowly reopening world under macroeconomic pressure, Smartsheet’s survey shows that many organizations—regardless of industry or geographic location—are functioning with limited personnel, technology and support, requiring employees to take on additional work without proper training or experience. Nearly one-fourth (24%) of respondents manage projects despite the function not being within the scope of their job title or description. These “citizen project managers” tend to skew more junior than their titled counterparts, with 50% of citizen project managers being frontline, support or admin staff. Alternatively, over half of titled project managers are mid to upper-level management (60%).
“We are in a global resource recession, but the good news is that we have the tools to shift it into a resource revolution,” said Praerit Garg, CPO and EVP of Engineering,
In order to shift from a resource recession to a resource revolution, the report found three key takeaways:
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Support is sacred, and teams need more of it
Although the people doing the work recognize—and actively push for—support, the report found that company leaders are far more likely than others in their organizations to say that they are already investing in the tools and processes needed to solve project complications (60%). Leaders are also far less likely to admit that project teams are understaffed (20% versus 42% of non-C-level employees saying that their teams are understaffed). With so many doing project-based work today, there’s a greater need for foundational project support, with regards to both resources and tools, and senior leaders must recognize that, too.
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The “middle work” is most critical to a project’s success and to avoiding employee burnout
The middle work, or the tasks and processes that make up a project, is where the project moves forward, but it can also be where it breaks down. Nearly three-quarters of employees expect their company to ask project teams to accomplish even more with less in the near future (72%), and half of project professionals expect deadlines to stay the same moving forward (51%). This shows that things aren’t slowing down, regardless of whether teams have the resources or tools to be successful. In order to overcome these challenges, teams need to focus less on deadlines and more on the middle work that will take the project from start to finish. Report data shows that irrespective of deadlines, there is a clear connection between effectively managed projects and job satisfaction, with over half (54%) of employees reporting that when projects run smoothly stress is lower and satisfaction is higher (56%).
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Repeated work is wasted work
Projects are only as good as the processes they’re built on. Since the middle work is so critical, the best way to ensure the success of projects is to take learnings and turn those lessons into scalable, repeatable processes. The report showed that when projects have an experienced project manager, respondents felt that work quality was higher (57%), more efficient (49%), within budget (42%) and that there was greater collaboration between teams (40%).
“With deadlines becoming tighter, expectations higher, and resources becoming more constrained, we’re going to continue to see more project-based work,” said
To read the full Future of Work Management 2023 report and insights for you and your company, click here.
About
Report Methodology
The Smartsheet Future of Work Management Report survey was conducted in
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