Should I require my employees to use certain apps?

In the small office I run, I want employees to commit to specific computer apps to get their work done (in this case, the messaging app Slack), but some resist. Should I need it?

I hear you. This can be a problem in businesses, in our personal lives, and even in the church office.

According to a Gartner survey, the average number of applications a desk worker uses has nearly doubled from six in 2019 to 11 in 2023. People are expected to become familiar with new technological tools relatively quickly.

There are many factors to consider in your question: the size of the company, the amount of file sharing between employees, the need for training to keep employees up to date, and the cost of purchasing or subscribing to additional and different programs.

However, sometimes these factors hinder the recognition that different people work in different ways. And what should we be most worried about? The results. For example, could there be people in your group who are far more effective on the phone than typing in an online chat? Does it matter if they feel more comfortable using Google Sheets than Microsoft Excel when doing their work? You might feel better knowing that each of your remote workers has Slack open at all times, but for some, could the constant chatter be a distraction that keeps them from doing their most important work?

As the portability of files from one application to another increases and people’s ability to adapt to new methods increases, some of our previous rules about everyone using the same tool will need to be relaxed. And maybe talk to each other more about what works best and why it’s better than “laying down the law.”

Scam update: In the October issue, I outlined some ways to avoid falling victim to scammers. I should have followed my own advice last week when I received a call from my sister telling me that our nephew had been in an accident. Apparently he wasn’t at fault, but because it involved a pregnant mother who was in critical condition, he ended up in prison. His mouth was closed by the accident and he needed bail immediately. Without a second thought – our emotions completely took over – we quickly figured out how to transfer the money. Luckily, my sisters took a breath and asked each other a few more questions. What initially seemed completely believable began to fail. A quick call to a perfectly healthy and accident-free nephew confirmed that we had been scammed. I’m not proud of it, but I add it to remind you to be more skeptical than we are.