The shift to remote working environments has put the strength of workplace connections to the test over the past year. While life seems to be returning to normal, the clear benefits that remote or hybrid working models bring, including increased productivity and flexibility, have prompted employees and organisations alike to stay the course.
However, while the work-from-anywhere era has a plethora of advantages, it also comes with a big risk: the loss of human connections.
Humans by nature are social beings, the great philosopher Aristotle once said. People survive and thrive through cooperation and collaboration.
In the workplace, often the energy and trust we build from social interactions have become the foundations of successful ventures and innovative outcomes.
As the world around us changes, organisations need to adapt their workplace and practices to realise an engaging and thriving hybrid work culture. This calls for CEOs to prioritise the human element as organisations respond to the new business environment.
Employers can play a crucial role in enabling teams to stay connected and ensure regular collaboration. Interestingly, there are ways to empower teams and help them feel more engaged within the hybrid workspace by implementing the right initiatives and the appropriate technologies to support them.
Better together
Business outcomes are always better when people can be their best. As social beings, employees deliver the best results when they engage with other individuals who share their values and aspirations.
A big challenge of the hybrid workplace is the feeling of disconnect from the physical office. As distributed teams become more prevalent and face-to-face engagement and interactions reduce, employees may feel isolated and disengaged. Findings of the Microsoft Work Trend Index 2020 revealed that nearly 60% of people surveyed say that they feel less connected to their team after shifting to remote work.
More than ensuring that employees are equipped with the right tools to be productive, it is paramount that organisations foster a culture where people feel engaged, informed and connected. Whenever possible, provide employees with opportunities for meaningful social interactions whether it is through virtual team-building activities, mentorship sessions or weekly catch-up meetings.
Technology-enabled connections
The digital workplace must consist of a holistic solution that can collate insights into an integrated experience while offering people the resources and support they need.
Business leaders need to keep in mind that supporting the human element in the workplace is a large part of their responsibilities. They need to look for a data-driven digital platform that seamlessly integrates all aspects of productivity and employee well-being. This means using anonymised and aggregated data not only to analyse productivity and output but also to gain insights into creating new personal well-being experiences.
Employee experience platforms such as Microsoft Viva can be instrumental in providing employees across the organisation access to relevant resources, encourage participation in engaging conversations and to share knowledge and skills. These kinds of tools help encourage often siloed departments to be more inclusive and think more holistically about the value they can bring together.
Moreover, with such a platform in place, company leaders can foster a thriving digital environment that promotes work-life balance as it gives them privacy-protected insights into employees’ work habits. This information will allow them to urge employees to take regular breaks, recharge, engage and communicate.
Adapting to the hybrid future
Employees expect a high-quality work-from-anywhere experience as the hybrid office becomes the preferred way of working for most. This means that fostering human connections in the hybrid workplace needs to be a top priority for companies even after the pandemic is over.
Investment in reliable technology infrastructure is central to the success of digital transformation goals as it can provide the right balance between people and productivity through actionable insights and analysis. To achieve this, companies need to implement an employee experience platform that can engage customers, empower employees, optimise operations, and reinvent products and services.
