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White Paper

Too Much Tech: How Cognitive Overload Harms Employee Engagement

Read how multiple systems and a clunky user experience puts productivity in jeopardy.

Download our white paper to learn how to overcome tech disengagement

  • 54.5% of employees get frustrated by their workplace tech.
  • Over half (57%) of employers don’t believe the tech they’ve purchased is fully used by employees.
  • We experience cognitive overload when the strain placed on our working memory exceeds its capacity, like with hard-to-use or overwhelming HR tech.
  • Paycom’s single HR software simplifies work for employees and HR pros, empowering everyone in the organization to focus on work that matters.

Whether at work or home, today’s technology is ready to simplify our experience.

Consider the smartphone: Talking and texting represent the bare minimum of what it allows us to do. Combined, Google Play and Apple’s App Store host nearly 6 million apps to help us accomplish everything from learning a new language to reminding us to drink more water.

In the working world, tech seems to pay off. According to a July 2023 OnePoll survey commissioned by Paycom, 87% of office workers agree they could get more work done faster if they had up-to-date tech.

But what about when tech doesn’t make things easier?

What is tech disengagement and how does it harm business?

Tech disengagement happens when tools that should make our work easier turn against us. It compounds what we do, forcing us to find workarounds or abandon the tech outright. Cognitive overload causes this pain, but tech disengagement is the consequence.

And the phenomenon impacts employees across the country. A staggering 54.5% of employees get frustrated by tech at work, according to a February 2025 survey commissioned by Paycom.

It doesn’t matter how comprehensive and capable software supposedly is. If it works against us, we reject it. In fact, more than half (57%) of employers don’t believe the tech and software their company purchases is fully used by employees.

In other words, workers quickly become disengaged by what was supposed to help them. Seemingly minor inconveniences fester from merely annoying to far larger issues that poke holes in your employee experience and bottom line.

For a business, bad tech’s best-case scenario is a wasted investment. After all, no executive would intentionally buy self-service software for their people to not use it. Unfortunately, when struggling with a broken tool is the only option employees have, bad tech becomes inseparable from the organization that implemented it.

Simply accepting bad tech isn’t a forgone conclusion. To understand how the right software can truly help us and our organizations, however, we need to consider how our brains respond to overstimulation.

To learn more, download the Too Much Tech: How Cognitive Overload Harms Employee Engagement white paper.

Download our white paper to learn how to overcome tech disengagement

  • 54.5% of employees get frustrated by their workplace tech.
  • Over half (57%) of employers don’t believe the tech they’ve purchased is fully used by employees.
  • We experience cognitive overload when the strain placed on our working memory exceeds its capacity, like with hard-to-use or overwhelming HR tech.
  • Paycom’s single HR software simplifies work for employees and HR pros, empowering everyone in the organization to focus on work that matters.