Understanding the Changing Work Environment
It’s no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has caused drastic changes to our family, social and work life. Although it is easy to be overwhelmed by it, the future of workplace technology, employee interaction, and the work environment is looking up. Some of these changes are not new. Most companies are aware that work was moving toward telecommuting, but the pandemic had expedited that movement. As digital workplace experts, our goal is to help companies adapt to these significant work shifts, deploy elite modern solutions, and support the longevity of their business. In this article, we will outline the significant ways coronavirus will change the way we work, on an economical, sociological, and technological level.
The future work environment will have changes from both sides of the spectrum:
1. What the company does for you.
2. What you do for the company.
What the company does for you:
Working remotely during this pandemic has changed the company’s approach to problem-solving. Response time has increased, innovation has flourished, and collaboration is not only encouraged but necessary. This has allowed employees to experiment with the most efficient way to work together and empowered them to find solutions creatively and communicatively.
The crisis has also brought out influential leaders and highlighted the importance of clear communication, calmness, empathy, and decisive action. This understanding will pave the way for future leadership best practices and tactics.
There will also be a focus on company culture, promoting employee interaction and interest. This is already done in some companies by actively monitoring, managing, and curating. Additionally, there will be a bigger focus on the holistic employee’s well being: physical, mental, and emotional. Support for mental health, specifically, has gotten more attention and appreciation for its importance. Support systems have been put in place during the pandemic to manage the pressures of career, social, and family that will most likely remain and become a more integral part of work-life in the future. Moving forward, by prioritizing a good “work-life balance,” employee engagement and motivation will increase.
What you do for the company:
How employees work for the company has already changed during this crisis and is likely to be permanently flexible in the future. With a quality digital workplace platform, companies can support a broader range of remote work situations and benefit the employee by reducing stress and increasing productivity.
With these benefits, companies can have access to a broader talent pool and experience better employee retention rates. How employees work with others has changed for the better during this crisis. The unity between teammates has improved because of the crisis we all have in common. Diversity has increased as people expand their views on how they can contribute in different ways. And overall, empathy about work-life has elevated. Although a stressful time, this crisis can also offer employees a renewed career opportunity. As new problems arise in companies and employees’ roles expand to solve these problems, they gain valuable skills and experience they didn’t have before.
Business Expenses, Innovation, and Technical Demands
All companies are absorbing high costs right now and coming out of this crisis. Many will seek to reduce or limit expenses until they can stabilize themselves. This may consist of making significant enterprise changes, such as: reducing traveling expenses, supporting sustainability, downsizing their company space, promoting remote work, decreasing energy consumption, etc. Organizations are faced with difficult challenges; however, their ability to adjust and strategically plan in these times of urgent will ensure their continuity after the crisis.
There has also been an exponential increase in the demand for innovative technology as people find flexibility and real-time communication a necessity for remote working. Technology has prioritized video and virtual meeting enhancement, team meeting features, organizational tools, and automation to match the demand of the business, education, and healthcare world. These platforms have increased employee productivity and performance by creating a more comfortable and user-friendly way to have a real-time, cross-team, and cross-division collaboration. From this communication, teams have become more self-organized. The importance of project management is evident now more than ever.
Additionally, remote working has also forced employees to become more comfortable with this technology, leaving them more prepared for remote work in the future. The demand for the innovation of new technology has created a new standard for work environments, a new “normal.” These innovations are necessary now, practical and productive overall, and will remain and expand in the future.
How will organizations survive the change?
1. Adapting to technological needs – Finding premium support, a strong network infrastructure, expert-knowledge, security, and top-tier online communication & collaboration solutions.
2. Leadership, transparency, and employee support – Keep employees connected and supported through clear communication, flexible scheduling, mental health awareness, and collaborative efforts.
3. Budgeting – The investments and financial decisions that organizations make have to be fundamentally important to the business and its people.
Klarinet Solutions specializes in enhancing system performance, optimizing user experience, and developing streamlined processes that support business objectives now and after this Coronavirus epidemic. Feel free to contact us if you want to hear more about ways to receive a tailored cloud service deployment, remote strategical plan, secure system, and maintenance protocol.
