Employees want to use tech that can make their job responsibilities easier and improve their skills as well — tech in the workplace. But when this isn’t chosen with the employees in mind, it will impede progress, waste time and decrease efficiency.
Entrepreneurs need to realise that they may not see things the same way as employees and following the latest technological trends and implementing it in the company isn’t going to cut anymore.
Instead, entrepreneurs need to understand the employee requirements, involve them more in the process, and completely rethink how technology can be used in the workplace for continued organisational growth.
Gartner establishes the components of the digital workplace
Employees’ opinion matters the most
While it is the top executives or leaders of the company who choose the technology at workplaces, it is the employees who would be using the new technology on an everyday basis.
If the employees don’t find the technology useful enough, it defeats the purpose of new technological investments. After all, incorporating new technological tools doesn’t just require large capital, but time as well.
According to a report, 90% of c-suite executives claim that their company pays attention to the employees’ needs when picking out new technology, but only 53% of the employees agree. When leaders don’t have a clear understanding of their staff’s requirements, it ultimately affects the way employees perform their duties.
The idea is to incorporate new technologies that can help your employees do their best work, instead of adopting the latest technology trend just because of the hype around it.
Help employees acquire better digital skills
According to the World Economic Forum, over 54% of employees will need significant re-skilling and up-skilling, and over 35% of them will need at least six months worth of training.
The shelf life for digital skills is constantly getting shorter as technology evolves at a rapid pace. While it is reported that employees are willing to spend as much as 15 hours every month to learn new skills, it is truly up to the leaders to find new ways to integrate skill development lessons without affecting the day to day work responsibilities of the employees.
Business leaders confident the digital skills gap is closing, says Deloitte
Employees want a balance of online and face-to-face interactions
While digitisation is important for businesses, 40-45% of the employees still prefer face-to-face interactions for performance reviews, discussing difficult problems with their bosses, and asking questions to the HR team.
Of course, digitisation and automation have a big place in organisations as it helps save time and enhance the work of the employees, but it cannot replace face-to-face interactions completely.
More than half of employees believe that tasks like scheduling, enrolling in benefits, applying for leaves, or getting help with IT issues should be completely digitised.
For entrepreneurs, that means finding the right balance between digital and human interactions. They need to pick and choose what business processes should be completely automated, and which ones should still have human interaction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_PK9LhAy2A
Employees crave recognition
Employees are motivated by two factors when it comes to adopting new technologies:
• Tools that can improve efficiency and allows them to perform their core responsibilities more easily.
• Rewards and recognition.
While it is easier to convince the younger, tech-savvy generation to try new technologies, it is the older, more experienced generation that needs more convincing.
Entrepreneurs should especially focus on people who aren’t convinced of the new technological trends, and drive up their interest by introducing skill development training that can lead to promotions, better job opportunities, and external recognition for the employees.
Are you using tech wisely, or just throwing it at employees?
Understanding what drives your employees can help you break assumptions about them and provide them with all the tools that they require to perform their job efficiently.
Instead of just tossing many different applications at your team, figure out what they need the most and find a complete digital workplace that can solve many problems at once. But most of all, the best software is the one that is actually used.
Written by Suresh Sambandam, founder of OrangeScape and CEO at kissflow
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