Everyone has their own preferred way of working, and the shift to the hybrid model over the past two years has seen many employees modify their working patterns to whatever suits them best. Organizations have begun to learn that where and when work gets done isn’t as important as ensuring that employees have choice and flexibility. Accenture reports that employees in a hybrid model have stronger work relationships, better mental health, and are more likely to consider themselves as “thriving” than those fully onsite. Likewise, numerous companies and countries are boasting the success of four-day work week trials.
But flexible schedules and locations can be a real challenge to adopt and manage on an ongoing basis. When the office is no longer the hub and the workforce is distributed, spotting issues with collaboration, well-being, or faulty technology is tricky without the right tools. To overcome this barrier, companies can use workplace analytics to gain the insight they need into employees’ experience. Here’s an example of how a large services company can do just that using Scalable Software’s workplace analytics platform, Acumen.
A big attraction of hybrid working for the services company is that it would enable their staff to have a better work-life balance – a value that is important to them. The company has many knowledge workers that could potentially work flexibly, but also many staff that would still need to follow more traditional working patterns, such as administrators and those in customer-facing roles. This means the workforce would be split between office and remote, and 9-5 vs varied hours – which added a layer of complication.
For this business, it’s crucial to get hybrid working right. Business success depends on the creativity and innovativeness of their employees – which is difficult to measure even with everyone in the same location! To overcome this, the company understands it needs to put technology at the center of its transition, and equip employees with the right hardware and software to support high levels of collaboration. The company also needs visibility into how well this new technology was performing and whether employees use the new solutions, to ensure employees can thrive without technical issues.
Acumen gives the company the insights to ensure its digital experience is up to scratch and that collaboration between employees is seamless. For example, managers can see at a glance when a particular team is relying on a cumbersome collaborative method such as email. They can then provide guidance on moving to a more real-time and collaborative platform, such as Microsoft Teams.
The company is also able to safeguard employee well-being. A huge draw to the Acumen platform is that in contrast to other workplace analytics products, Acumen focuses not just on technical elements but on the human aspects of hybrid working, enabling management to maximize well-being just as much as IT effectiveness. The company can identify from Acumen data that some employees are working excessively long hours – something that isn’t always obvious with home working. This can increase the risk of burnout and loss of talent. Indeed, our own research into hybrid working trends found that a poor digital experience forces hybrid workers to work an extra 1.83 hours per week – a massive 2.2 extra weeks a year!
Acumen allows the services company to identify those employees as risk of overwork and take steps to reduce their stress. Moreover, Acumen’s ability to customize its findings to the company’s specific business strategy means that decision-makers can see data within the context of their own organization, with a comprehensive and bespoke view of its employee experience.
At Scalable Software, we recognize that an organization can’t succeed if its employees feel frustrated with their technology, and that digital experience is therefore imperative to an effective hybrid model. We arm companies with the data they need to tackle hybrid working challenges and help their teams to thrive.
Find out how Acumen can help your organization adopt hybrid working successfully.