COVID-19 has forced companies and millions of their employees to drastically switch and accelerate to remote work in such a short time. This has many leaders asking themselves if this will become the new normal, and will this be permanent.
Now that work and home life have blended, more than half of the workforce now states they prefer to work remotely, even after the pandemic passes and restrictions are lifted. Working from home is presenting many advantages for employees like adopting more flexible work arrangements, which leads to a better work-life balance, increased productivity, and improved performance.
But why then, are many employers hesitant to make a more permanent shift to a work from home strategy? Many employers fear that their workforce will face distraction as they juggle managing both work and home life at the same time. Furthermore, it comes down to organizations’ culture and whether or not they can put in place processes that enable technology to support employees and help them stay connected and collaborate.
Now more than ever, leaders must realize that a hybrid workplace strategy doesn’t hinder performance, it enables it. People can focus on the work that needs to be done in the environment that best suits its creation!
In this next normal, leaders must consider the positive value and benefit of incorporating more virtual and digital experiences into their strategy during and post COVID-19, such as employee-driven engagement platforms that give them a sounding board to stay connected, collaborate, and continue to see their success across the organization through a digital lens.
Although, it is important for organizations to understand the clear distinction between a digital employee experience and digital tools. While daily Zoom check-ins may be “digital,” they do not transform the employee experience for the digital world. Current tools are simply a comfort blanket for organizations – a virtual way to walk by someone’s desk to make sure work is getting done.
By offering a true virtual employee experiences, organizations can:
Understand the employee experience through each employee’s eyes:
Tools that allow employees to own their own worklife journeys and goal plans during uncertain times creates stewardship and team collaboration by directly tying them to organization strategies and outcomes.
Identify what type of workplace they want:
While many employees are adapting to working from home, others are thriving and finding a balance that may have been missing. Organizations must be able to listen to how their organization structure is being re-shaped from COVID-19 and understand how their workforce might have different needs.
Promote work-life balance:
As organizations are looking at strategic plans for the rest of the year, how employees adapt to the new work-life balance should be a part of that plan. Providing employees with a digital platform that offers them opportunities to collaborate, connect, and share experiences is a great sounding board for employees to feel valued and heard.
There is a growing trend in the world and in our nation towards work-from-anywhere, anytime, and the current pandemic serves as a testing ground for how leaders meet the ever-increasing needs and demands of their workforce and their business. Leaders can work hard to ignore this new terrain or relax and understand it is actually a leverage point from which to leapfrog forward past the laggards with their heads stuck in the sand, longing for a day that is not coming back.
Are you looking for ways to keep your workforce engaged, are you searching for software infrastructure to keep your team aligned on goals up, down and across the organization in real-time? Do you want to make your manager’s work easier by understanding the changing demands of your employees as you navigate the new norm of work from anywhere anytime? Learn more about digital employee engagement platforms and their benefits on keeping your workforce connected.
TeamOnUP is an employee experience platform that recaptures value for companies by enabling access to growth on purpose for each employee.
