The Employee Experience: 9 Digital Workplace Trends You Can Adopt

Your employees are the lifeblood of your organization. Without them, nothing would get done. Employees are now front and center in most company workplace strategies, but there’s a lag in executing those strategies.

Research from the 2020 Intelligent Workplace Report has revealed that over 75% of respondents found that transitioning to remote working was challenging to employees due to feelings of isolation, connectivity issues, and not having a dedicated home office.

It’s time for organizations to step up and recognize the need for change in the workplace. Employee experience have risen in strategic importance as employees are recognized as being fundamental to building an agile, successful enterprise.

However, while almost 90% of organizations recognize the value of employee experience and wellbeing, well under half are fully satisfied with their employee experience capabilities.

Here are 9 trends your organization can adopt to create a more positive employee experience and productive work environment:

Happy employees lead to happy customers

It’s important to understand the relationship between customer experience and employee experience. Your employees are the face of your company. They are making decisions about how customers connect with your organization. If employees enjoy their work and are happy at your organization, that positive experience rubs off on your customers, too.

Provide access to digital content

Digital content is key to keeping employees connected and engaged with the information they need. Employees are working from home. They can’t simply pop their head over the cubicle wall and ask their neighbor a question. Now, all that raw material that keeps employees informed and productive is stored digitally, and employees need to access it via the Cloud and platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, Egnyte, and more.

Ensure information is searchable and accessible

While your organization has accumulated a lot of digital content over the years, it needs to live in a digital repository. There also needs to be an easy way for employees to quickly find what they need. Make sure you breakdown the silos within your company and combine all access to relevant information into one unified location. Then, make sure you can search and access the right content quickly and easily.

Set up real-time communication

The ability to communicate in real-time is what brings people together. Everyone has a smartphone these days. There are 3.5 billion smartphone users globally and 77% of Americans have smartphones. Now, employees can always be connected with each other, using platforms such as Slack, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and other chat platforms.

Encourage collaboration with employees

With many employees working from home, you’ll need creative ways for employees to virtually connect with each other and collaborate. Employees can connect in team rooms, via web conferencing, or by contacting fellow workers through a company-wide employee directory.

Incorporate video and chat

With seven months of pandemic under our belts, many of us are trying to combat Zoom fatigue and endless emails. Transitioning to real-time communication, such as chat or messaging platforms and video applications, are helping us adapt to a more flexible style of work. Encourage employees to block out a few meeting-free hours into their daily schedules so they can have quiet time to get work done.

Foster work-life balance

Research suggests that being busy makes us less productive, but employees are feeling the increasing need to always be available to work. It’s time to encourage employees to set clear boundaries around work hours. At the end of the day, walk away from your computer and unplug from work.

Emphasize mental health

Your employees want to know that you are concerned about their overall well-being. Future-forward organizations are ramping up to support employees, especially when it comes to mental health. Emotionally healthy employees are happier, more engaged, and productive and are more likely to be loyal to your organization. Leaders can play a huge role in maintaining the physical and emotional health of remote workers.

Nurture your community and culture

Your employees want to know that they are valued by their employer. They want to connect with coworkers, managers, and bosses. They want to belong and make an impact with the work they do. Virtual fun should be a part of your regular remote work culture. Employees can connect and socialize in a more informal and comfortable setting. When remote workers connect, collaborate, and participate in team-building activities, it improves morale, engagement, and productivity.

At CatalystXL, we want to help you quickly and easily share information and foster collaboration across your entire organization. We can deliver a no code, custom branded enterprise mobile app that unlocks answers and provides insights via our Cardware™ platform — sharing categorized content in a powerful flashcard format. Our mobile app fosters a community of collaboration, engagement, and connectedness for your employees – both in and out of the office.

Book a demo today.