How to create more 'technojoy' in your organisation
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How to create more 'technojoy' in your organisation
Danny Coleman
Published on 8 January 2026
10 min read
Danny Coleman
Published on 8 January 2026
10 min read
Learn to turn technostress and 'quiet cracking' into 'technojoy' with a supportive culture, clear leadership, better training, healthy digital boundaries, smart AI use, and jargon-free communication.
Quiet cracking is real. Individuals are developing overwhelming and persistent feelings of unhappiness at work, which is leading to burnout, health-related absences, and ultimately resignation. One of the leading contributions is technostress, which we explored in this blog post.
But what about the antidote?
The term 'technojoy' might conjure up images of a futuristic digital utopian convention, full of teenagers wearing VR headsets. In reality, it's the antithesis of technostress. It's a positive experience individuals have when technology is effectively implemented, adopted, and supported. Sounds lovely, right?
In this blog post, we explain how you can create more technojoy in your organisation, specifically by focusing on clear drivers of team member happiness, and providing leaders with a roadmap to transform 'technostress' into 'technojoy'.
What leads to technojoy?
Understanding what causes technostress is half the battle. The other is creating a culture and environment where technojoy can really flourish. Here are a few key considerations to make technojoy achievable:
1. Build a culture where you can ask for help
In a new Adaptavist research report, 'From Technostress to Technojoy: Understanding the Human Cost of Digital Transformation', we asked 4,000 knowledge workers from the UK, US, Canada, and Germany in August 2025 what actions their organisations should take to ensure they are enabled and empowered by workplace technologies.
Almost half the respondents (48%) listed 'a culture where people are comfortable asking for help' as a top-three priority.
When individuals feel safe admitting they don't know something and can ask for support, technology becomes less intimidating. With adequate peer support and mentoring, learning can become a shared experience rather than a source of embarrassment. This helps reduce tech anxiety and builds confidence within your teams. Essential when introducing new tools and technology.
2. Connect and transparent leadership
Understanding the 'why' behind technology adoption helps build trust and aligns your teams with the organisation's goals. Our research revealed that one key differentiator between individuals who experience technostress and those who don't is their understanding of the purpose behind the tasks they've been assigned.
When leadership is visibly engaged with tools, and effective change management practices are in place, your teams will see new tech as part of the organisational fabric, rather than something being imposed on them. Communication is key here – make sure to seek out feedback from the people who use these tools daily. You want your teams to be part of the 64% of respondents who said they had input into technology decisions that affect their work. What's more, technology and ways of working that connect organisational strategy with team-level tasks are essential to helping your valuable knowledge workers understand the 'why', making them happier and more productive.
3. Provide adequate training, resources, and ongoing support
People don't necessarily mind having to use multiple tools if the support is available to get them up to speed and reduce frustration.
Nearly half of our survey respondents (43%) chose 'more training', 'technical support' or 'training resources' as a top-three priority for their employers (rather than a reduction in tools).
Structured training ensures your teams feel competent from the start, while ongoing technical support prevents small issues from ballooning into big problems. Training resources aside, you need to ensure there's an adequate amount of time and bandwidth for people to learn rather than piling it on as extra work.
4. Encourage healthy digital boundaries
If you've ever felt like you're receiving too many notifications across multiple platforms, then you might be among the 44% of knowledge workers in our research who said this has caused them stress or anxiety, or the 19% who have felt pressure to be connected outside of working hours. Asynchronous working practices, where employees are on different schedules or in different time zones, can exacerbate this issue.
Technojoy is more likely when technology doesn't feel intrusive. You should establish clear norms regarding availability and expectations for when work will be conducted. That might mean no need to respond to late-night emails (or not even sending them outside of working hours) or scheduling Slack messages to arrive at specific times, being mindful of when people are on holiday or off sick.
5. Embrace the joy of joined-up tech
For those feeling energised and motivated by their work environment, in other words, the individuals filled with technojoy, 93% said they and/or their colleagues effectively interact. And 60% said it had 'significantly' helped their career advancement. There's clearly great value in well-implemented, well-connected technology, which enables increased collaboration across teams and departments, improves work relationships, and reduces technostress.
That means user-centred, intuitive tools that fit naturally into your workflows and integrate with your existing toolchain. Tools that reduce friction or automate repetitive tasks allow your teams to focus on what they find most enjoyable. Technology decisions should be clearly tied to organisation goals—and their purpose communicated clearly—to encourage and inspire your teams as they learn new skills. If done correctly, technology can help align tasks with goals and objectives.
6. Understand the difference between AI awesomeness and AI overload
With AI capabilities built into many tools, from summaries and note-takers to suggestions for post-meeting actions, there's clearly a balance to be struck between embracing efficiency and tackling the job fears, meeting chaos, and knowledge hoarding that AI is causing.
While AI may be able to alleviate some technostress by combating information overload, our latest research highlights an alarming paradox.
60% of workers worry that critical knowledge will disappear when colleagues leave or retire, and over a third (35%) admit they are reluctant to share ideas and information for fear of being replaced by AI.
Individuals continue to use traditional methods and new technology in tandem, perhaps due in part to digital overwhelm or simply because these methods are tried and tested, even shunning tools that might be able to help. For example, 81% of our respondents said they still frequently or sometimes wrote handwritten notes, compared to 54% using an AI notetaker. In others, these tools are being embraced without clear guidelines or etiquette.
Let's take meetings. One in 10 workers now spends a full day each week in meetings, so it's no wonder 46% of knowledge workers say they've been in a meeting where a colleague has sent an AI assistant to attend, rather than attend themselves. At the same time, 40% of respondents thought doing this was 'somewhat rude' or 'very rude'.
It's vital that organisations can find a comfortable balance that harnesses the power of AI to reduce technostress, without elevating anxiety or adding new problems to the mix.
Are corporate buzzwords killing the buzz?
Lastly, it's worth spending some time thinking about how the language used could be sapping the technojoy out of your organisation. Words, such as 'teamwork', 'achievement', and 'progress', are seen as 'inspiring', but jargon and corporate buzzwords have the opposite effect, causing 74% of knowledge workers to disengage mentally or become less productive, according to our research. For some (39%), this happened as often as every day or several times a week (cringe).
Generative AI models, such as ChatGPT, are likely exacerbating the proliferation of jargon, or at least contributing to an ongoing problem. Why? Because they are built on a statistical model of historical language use. And so much historical business writing is saturated with words like "leverage," "optimise," "transform," and "facilitate". AI inserts these vastly overused terms because they appear so frequently in similar contexts.
Leaders need to step in and help to stop this. The overuse of Jargon hints at feelings of insecurity and uncertainty, and this is where it can be addressed. Declining workplace engagement is a key symptom of quiet cracking, so it's increasingly important for leaders to cut the jargon, articulate purpose, and use empowering language that helps employees feel connected to what they're doing, their colleagues, and the wider business.
Jump for technojoy!
Building a path to ‘technojoy’ starts with resisting the urge to deploy technology for its own sake. Organisations should first understand the real needs of their teams, then match solutions to those needs. That means involving team members in decisions, choosing intuitive cloud‑native tools, properly onboarding and training teams, and fostering a culture where questions and feedback are welcomed. Ongoing evaluation is just as important, with leaders continually checking whether tools are making employees feel more supported—not less.
Read the full report, Understanding the 'human' cost of digital transformation, to understand the wider issues around quiet cracking, including what leads to technojoy and the transformative impact of organisational culture.
Common challenges when introducing AI-enabled technology
Our team is struggling with AI tools—some love them, others are anxious. How do we find the right balance?
You're not alone. The research reveals a complex paradox: while AI can reduce information overload, 60% of workers worry that critical knowledge will disappear when colleagues leave, and 35% are reluctant to share information for fear of being replaced by AI. Additionally, 46% of knowledge workers have been in meetings where a colleague sent an AI assistant instead of attending themselves, and 40% found this rude. The key is establishing clear guidelines and etiquette for the use of AI. Focus on using AI to reduce technostress (like managing information overload) while addressing legitimate concerns through transparent communication about job security, knowledge management practices, and respectful meeting norms. Don't impose AI tools without explaining the 'why' and providing proper training.
We've invested in training, but people still seem stressed by our tech. What are we missing?
Training is important—43% of survey respondents listed it as a top-three priority—but it's only part of the solution. Our research shows that 48% of knowledge workers prioritise "a culture where people are comfortable asking for help" above all else. This suggests that psychological safety matters as much as technical training. Additionally, check these often-overlooked factors: Are you giving people adequate time to learn, or piling training on top of regular work? Are you setting healthy digital boundaries (44% report stress from too many notifications; 19% feel pressure to be connected after hours)? Is leadership transparently explaining why you're adopting new tools? Are employees involved in tech decisions? (According to our research, only 64% currently have input.) Finally, cut the corporate jargon—74% of workers disengage when confronted with buzzwords. Clear, plain language helps people feel connected to their work and reduces the stress that undermines technojoy.
Written by
Director, Strategic Services and Operations
Danny leads Adaptavist's monday.com Professional Services globally, directing teams that deliver complex system migrations and enterprise work management transformations. He focuses on strategic leadership and clarity, helping global organisations navigate complexity and scale confidently.