September 23, 2005

Office workers confused by IT words

by brian_turner

A survey by Computer People, the recruitment company, found that most office workers find computer jargon as difficult to understand as a foreign language. Three quarters of workers waste more than an hour a week deciphering technical terms such as jpeg, javascript and cookies.

Computer people, which questioned 1,500 workers, says effective technology professionals “understand the need to tailor their levels of jargon”.

The survey found that younger workers found computer language as difficult to understand as older workers.

The survey also highlighted other common computer-related problems. Just under two thirds of the workers surveyed had sent e-mails with large attachments which had blocked clients’ systems. Over one in four people did not understand the purpose of a firewall, and were tempted to turn it off. A quarter of those surveyed had to ask for technical help to download information.

Mr Fletcher, managing director of Computer People, said: “We’re finding that many clients are increasingly requiring professionals who have concise communication expertise as they recognise this improves company productivity in the long run.”

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Story link: Office workers confused by IT words

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