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The past few years have changed how employees view work, what they want from work and expectations from their employers. Employees are focusing on the work experience as much as the work itself. They demand workplace flexibility and holistic, seamless, reliable and intuitive work experiences. Poor digital experiences like inadequate meeting technology, complex processes for basic tasks, bottlenecks to access applications, and technology and data silos keep employees from efficiently getting the job done, eroding staff morale. Fortunately, improving the employee experience is proving to merit the investment required: a recent McKinsey survey found that employees at leading employee experience companies are more inclined to surpass work expectations, having a 40% higher level of discretionary effort.
Technology is playing a growing role in the quality of an employee’s experience. It can deliver simplified, frictionless and unified experiences, or it can inhibit productivity and collaboration. Companies need to modernize their IT landscape to enhance the work experience for all employees.
Four Ways that Technology Improves the Work Experience
Organizations may want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ digital employee experience. But this path is flawed. Case in point: a project manager who works indoors at multiple office locations needs a radically different digital experience than the field technician who works in pouring rain on top of a utility pole at midnight.
To ensure every employee has the digital work experience they need, senior leaders should survey different groups of employees about their technology requirements to ensure the result reflects the actual needs of each role type. A central trend companies must consider is employees working from any location on any device. But for these new work models to benefit the organization, companies must focus on tools that maximize efficiency, productivity, engagement and collaboration. This emerging work reality will also require designing a digital work strategy that includes security at the core of any work scenario. All organizations must keep employees, clients and data safe to ensure compliance and resilience.
We believe that technology can improve the work experience for employees and companies in four main areas:
- Efficiency and productivity improvements
A recent study found that improving the employee experience during onboarding can reduce the time it takes for employees to become fully productive. Poor onboarding leaves employees unprepared; 52% of new hires reported feeling unsettled after poor onboarding. Employees in smaller companies (66%) and remote workers (63%) suffered the most. Further, the study found that half of employees reported they would work harder if they had a productive onboarding experience.
- Engagement and communication
Just improving tools that employees use to communicate with one another improves the employee experience. A 2023 CIPD survey found that 73% of UK workers felt they had the right resources to do their jobs, but this number dropped to 69% when rating their ability to communicate with coworkers. Improving remote connectivity at secure locations enables workers to support customers remotely, improves collaboration with other employees and provides access to tech support and expertise anywhere in the world.
- Flexible working through digital workplace
Remote and hybrid work models have taken root. Companies should incorporate new technology like AI/ML to streamline any role and add more value to the organization. For example, one of Wipro’s global pharmaceutical clients with complex regulations in over 51 countries needed improved performance from the compliance team. Many employees were unaware of all policies regarding corporate credit cards, expense claims, claim reversals, etc. Using ML pattern recognition, the compliance team quickly identified anomalies to improve compliance accuracy. The technology also helped the team uncover systematic, collusive, non-compliant claim behavior.
- Securing the enterprise
Companies need to understand the state of cyberattacks, breaches and regulatory laws. An organization’s capabilities to address threats differ in diverse work environments. Determine which technologies will most likely impact your organization’s cyber security posture today and in the future. For companies working in the government contractor space, cyber security concerns are heightened. It is important to note that Wipro’s recent 2023 State of Cyber Security report found that 46% of US organizations have experienced a serious data breach in the past three years. But an astounding 82% of all nation attacks focused on espionage, with 39% of state-sponsored attacks targeting private sector companies that supply services to governments.
Start by defining clear goals for the employee experience. Survey employees to verify they have access to needed applications (including those in remote work models) and understand and plan for where cyber security breaches will likely occur. Use benchmarks to learn where your IT organization is today versus where you want to be tomorrow. Assess where technology gaps exist and determine improvements to make in the short, medium and long term. Create a strategy based on employee feedback and industry trends and define goals for how technology can provide a better employee experience. And understand how new technology will integrate with your existing IT architecture. Consider the pace of implementing new technology. Leaders must choose between incremental change and a more sweeping approach. Many organizations find that incremental change is the right one due to the complexities mentioned. Finally, don’t overlook tools for collaboration, including those that support field-based or remote workers with secure platforms that make work easier, provide access to critical information, extend team expertise on the fly and permit secure, remote tech support.
Evolve or die. -Craig Charles
Improving the Employee Experience has Many Benefits
Most companies invest in the digital workplace to improve the employee experience. However, the benefits extend beyond employee experience – increased staff productivity, reduced absenteeism, improved processes, safer and more secure workplaces, higher employee engagement, better inclusion and diversity, lower staff attrition rates and better recruitment (lower recruiting costs), etc. In short, greater ease of work and easier access to information and systems increases employee satisfaction and productivity. And that translates to better performance on the bottom line.
At Wipro, we have helped many global companies leverage technology to transform their employee experience. As a world-leading cyber security practice, we embed security in all client digital workplace solutions. Are you ready to modernize your IT to enhance the employee experience?
Connect with us to see what’s possible for your organizational needs.
