Rushing to make uninformed decisions leads to increased stress levels

A latest research conducted by ICM on behalf of Epicor Software Corporation has revealed that making decisions without sufficient information leads to higher than necessary stress levels among office workers.

The study claims that pressure to make blind business decisions at work is leaving many European office workers stressed and worried that they are unable to do what is asked of them.

The research reveals that over three quarters of European office workers (79 percent) have had to make un-informed decisions at some point in their career and the need to make these decisions could be

inadvertently putting employees' health and wellbeing at risk.

According to the research, this stress is likely to be caused by concerns over the ramifications of un-informed decisions. Workers feel it could damage their personal reputation (36 percent) or lead to poor

personal performance (29 percent), while some even fear that they may lose their job as a result of making wrong decisions (17 percent).

The impact of un-informed decisions not only affects employees' performance, but the organisations too. Consequences to business include poor organisational performance (27 percent), loss of revenue

(22 percent) and absenteeism (7 percent) which is often quoted as a result of stress placed on employees.

Despite these risks, many workers are frequently asked to make un-informed decisions with just 33 percent doing so on a weekly basis and 14 percent on a daily basis.

EVP and General Manager International for Epicor Software, Keith Deane, said that it is essential for companies to put the technology and systems in place to enable employees to make confident decisions.

"With the company's reputation, revenue and staff welfare at stake, it's vital that organisations put the technology and systems in place to enable employees to make confident decisions, particularly in

high-pressure, fast moving industries such as manufacturing and distribution where there is little room for error," he said.

"The fact that people get stressed when having to make decisions without the right information at their fingertips, and that they are concerned that it may cost them their job, is something that organisations need to take seriously," he added.

To help organisations make better decisions Epicor has developed a suite of end-to-end enterprise software solutions that enables companies to pull together data from across the enterprise to provide

tactical information and strategic insight.

Epicor ERP gives companies a technology platform that can inspire them as they conduct business on any device, anytime, anywhere in the world.