Let’s Get Digital
When I think back to my childhood and compare it to what kids of today have – it’s a whole new world! My younger days consisted of rushing home after school to play ‘Turtle Graphics’ on a very large Personal Computer – the simple movements of an object on a screen using arrow keys or commands kept me busy for hours (you’re smiling if you remember this too!). Scary to think how much has changed and how fast technology has evolved. I am surprised we don’t all have imprints of our phone brands on the palm of our hands, and don’t look googly-eyed with the amount of time we spend tweeting, on Facebook, Yammer, Skype, and all of the other digital, media, techno sites which I’m not cool enough to know about.
But what does all this mean for the way we work in the future?
Digital technology is calling into question the way many businesses have traditionally operated, in particular around ‘where we work’ and the potential for an ‘always-on’ culture.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently reported that of the 30.2 million people employed in the UK in the first three months of 2014, 13.9% were home workers. They highlighted this as the highest level of home working since they started recording this in 1998. This will grow, as digital technology continues to support employees working and connecting whenever and wherever they like. Plus, with the government supporting flexible work and bringing in recent legislation whereby: “All employees will have the legal right to request flexible working from 30 June 2014 – not just parents and carers.”, the figures from the ONS will only be going in one direction. I wonder how this will go down in Yahoo?… anyway, I digress.
Remote working can instill trust between employer and employee, boost productivity and is an attractive part of an offer companies can make to attract talent (often included in a reward package / offer letter). The big question is: are businesses ready to fully support flexible working in a digital world? – Do employees have access to the technology they need to work?, e.g. laptop, mobile phone, and are companies preparing themselves for employees to become more demanding than ever over expectations with the technology they are given?
It is typical for us to see in the employee surveys that we run with organizations across the world, technology and IT equipment being one of the biggest gripes. So, if it is a barrier for many employees now, this needs to be explored and managed to ensure a sustainable way of working in the future.
One other big part of more digital working is employees no longer working a traditional 9am-5pm day. Hywel Roberts writes in HR magazine about how in a study of employment habits, just over two-thirds of employees are working outside of the traditional office hours. For some this is a motivating way of working by being able to work at times that suit personal lifestyle and work peaks / troughs, and research points to this way of working supporting employee productivity and work-life balance. There is the risk though that with more flexible and digital working, the boundary between professional and personal life becomes increasingly blurred, and employees are less able to ‘switch-off’ because they might not have an actual start or end to the working day. This could then impact, for example:
- work-life balance / health if we are always accessible via some form of technology and are not disciplined enough to, or perhaps don’t have the inclination to ‘switch off’;
- how we work with colleagues / our teams if we are communicating face-to-face less, and engagement levels as a result of this if we are working in more individualistic ways.
These are all ifs and buts so it really does depend on how employees make it work for them, and how organizations support them. So, what should organizations be thinking of doing now?
- Manage employee expectations about what technology is available to them. This might involve being clear with them about budgets of the business so not being able to have the latest technology or software upgrades, but providing something which is fit-for-purpose and enables them to deliver their job effectively. Often employees expect to have the same equipment / technology as they have at home because it is now so readily available, but it’s about setting expectations and employees being realistic. Even technology companies don’t always have the best / latest equipment!
- Use technology to your advantage, for example, social media can help encourage better collaboration, knowledge-sharing and employee recognition within and across teams. But, don’t forget the importance of face-time (that’s face-time not Facebook readers!) – Teams coming together in-person with purpose and to build relationships / networks is a key part of teamwork, innovation and development.
- Educate employees and managers about the pitfalls of an always-on culture and the benefits they can enjoy by managing themselves and their work around personal lifestyle. Encourage managers to lead-by-example and keep this on a team meeting agenda so colleagues can share how this works in practice. Much of this will be moving away from it being frowned upon to log on / off at different times, so it’s really about changing the mind-set of traditional ways of working and the value / reward placed on output (rather than time spent).
The digital world is continuously changing, and in the time you have read this I’m sure Apple has released a new product or some new technology, so set to with the digital evolution!