3 Future-Oriented Actions to Help Your Digital Office Excel

Creating a cohesive digital workplace is a lot like putting together a puzzle. It takes many moving pieces to get your on- and off-site teams aligned. Keeping them happy and productive is an entirely different layer.

“The need to support new working patterns in reaction to the pandemic enabled leaders to massively accelerate the pace of digital workplace adoption,” explains Michael Woodbridge, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner. “In the next phase, employees want to enjoy their work more, get it done faster and, at the same time, find new ways to improve the quality of their work.”

To harness and embrace this wave of change, see where work is headed so you can take action accordingly.

The Future of Work

By now, most workplaces have had plenty of opportunities to see how remote teams can benefit their organization. Even in cases where the work from home shift was unexpected, the overall success rate has resulted in large-scale, long-term adoption of hybrid setups.

Zippia, a job and career site, put together the following stats to showcase why hybrid models are likely to be a permanent feature in most workplaces:

• On average, companies see a 12% reduction in turnover when they allow their employees to do at least some remote work.
• 83% of companies say collaboration on new projects has been as good or better than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was in the office full-time, according to a study by Statista.
• 74% of U.S. companies either are currently using or plan to implement a permanent hybrid work model.
• Companies save $11,000 per year per part-time remote worker, on average.

Actions to Take

The workplace we left behind when COVID-19 hit is gone. What we’re returning to is a mostly hybrid space that offers the best of at-home and in-office environments.

Want to make yours as productive, efficient, and fulfilling as possible? Prioritize the following moves:

1. Empower employees to choose when and where they work. The more agency and flexibility you give your staff, the higher their job satisfaction is likely to be. The inverse is also true. Gallup warns that, “Failing to offer flexible work arrangements is a significant risk to an organization’s hiring, employee engagement, performance, wellbeing and retention strategies.”

2. Streamline digital notifications and communication processes. Gartner advises organizations to reduce “digital friction”, a term it defines as the “unnecessary effort an employee has to exert to use data or technology for work.” Some best practices could include establishing a protocol for communicating across different platforms. By giving some direction on when which channels are most appropriate for certain activities, you’re more likely to ensure no important communications fall through the cracks. Be sure you also differentiate which events need to be discussed in writing and when a quick meeting is most appropriate.

3. Use smart technology wisely. When in doubt, invest in the three A’s: AI, automation, and analytics. But keep in mind that even the most advanced tech won’t do much for your team if they aren’t fully instructed on how to use it. Focus on low-code options that more of your staff can utilize, easy-to-read data that can be pulled and viewed at a glance, and ensure you have AI “translators” that can help their teammates get more comfortable and familiar with high tech tools. In general, the more accessible the technology, the more utilization it’s likely to get.

Pre-pandemic, the option to work remotely could be brushed off as a nice but unnecessary job perk. Going forward, it will continue to be the expectation rather than the exception. But if you want it to be exceptional, your hybrid workplace will need to be pieced together with intention.

Think of these prescribed actions as the edges of your puzzle. The more carefully you put them together, the more structure your hybrid team will have to fill in the gaps in meaningful ways.

Content created and provided by ONEAFFINITI.