The days of purely office-bound work five days a week are long gone for modern remote and hybrid workforces. Yet today, employers and their employees are not only separated by physical distance, but by other factors as well.
Apogee recently conducted research among CIOs, HR directors, and office workers across SMEs and public sector organisations - the full findings of which can be read here. We found a deep disconnect between the expectations of employers and the needs of their employees to thrive in this new world of work. The extent of the gap is such that almost three-quarters (73%) of employees fail to strongly agree that their employer is meeting their current workplace requirements.
There are several factors fuelling this divide – but technology is at the heart of both the cause and the solution. To realise the true impact of digital workplace tools on employee performance, collaboration, and overall happiness across hybrid work settings, let’s explore a few key findings from our research:
An overwhelming 94% of employees agree that they are less productive when working from home compared to working in the office. Such a high figure is bound to alarm managers – yet there is a consensus among employees regarding the reasons behind this. Over a third (35%) say that insufficient, slow, and unreliable workplace technology is harming their productivity at home.
Employees are largely united in their frustrations with workplace tech, but the same can’t be said for their employers. CIOs are particularly underestimating the impact of technology on workers’ efficiency at home, with 27% blaming home distractions for lack of hybrid productivity. With questions of trust and accountability coming into play here, it’s an issue that deepens the employer-employee divide.
Collaboration and camaraderie matter to today’s dispersed workforce. Almost half (46%) of employees say that having the right digital tools is essential for feeling a sense of belonging to their organisation and colleagues, both in the office and at home. Without a good standard of technology, this teamwork and collaboration simply cannot happen.
This is unfortunately the reality for many workforces, as 28% of employees identify insufficient tech as the biggest barrier to feeling connected to their organisation and peers. Poor digital collaboration is having a range of negative impacts on staff, including frustration (29%) and isolation (28%).
Recruitment and retention are huge challenges for organisations – and the problem could get worse if workforce technology needs continue to go unmet. Right now, 40% of employees are considering leaving their job due to a lack of access to the right digital collaboration tools. Increasingly dissatisfied with the absence of tech-enabled flexibility and collaborative opportunities, workers are being driven to look for better prospects elsewhere.
HR directors should be prioritising technology as a means of winning back their workforces – but they are currently focusing on other important initiatives such as career development and work-life balance. Like CIOs, they are overlooking the importance of collaborative digital tools.
CIOs and HR leaders are doing their best to adapt to changed working practices and evolving workforce demands. But over three-quarters (77%) still say that some employee expectations around flexibility are simply incompatible with the needs of the organisation. They cite a range of barriers, including budget, security concerns, and even uncertainty on where to start in meeting employee flexibility needs.
Employers are missing a trick here, along with a golden opportunity to heal the disconnect with their remote and hybrid workforces. Technology is key to flexibility, and tech-enabled flexibility is a crucial ingredient of the things employees want most from work – teamwork, collaboration, efficiency, and a sense of belonging.
To make new ways of working truly ‘work’, employers need to prioritise the technology and collaborative digital tools needed to support employees as they navigate hybrid and remote environments. As leaders in the Managed Workplace Services provider (MWS) space, Apogee is the partner to make this happen.
Click below to discover more about how Apogee helps organisations transform workforce collaboration with technology and connect the dots between employer and employee.
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