The Future of Employee Experience for Tech Companies Following the Pandemic

As the end of the global pandemic slowly starts to come into sight, it’s time to reflect on its impact on the world of business and the acceleration of the digital transformation that it brought about. The whole world is yet to discover exactly what the ‘new normal’ will look like and, like everything else, it will be a moveable feast that continues to evolve and develop as time goes by and the world around us changes. But one thing that has been brought into sharp focus over the past year and a bit is the digital transformation of employee experience.

It’s fair to say that many organizations have always had one eye on employee experience and the wellbeing of individuals in the workplace. But Covid-19 forced us all to look at how we care for individuals and interact with distributed teams, in a way that hadn’t previously seemed necessary. It changed the mindset of organizations and individuals and showed just what can be achieved via distributed teams. It could even be argued that lockdowns closed off the physical workplace but opened a far broader, and surprisingly manageable, digital workplace. Research indicates over 80% of US citizens would prefer to work from home in some form following the pandemic, and major companies, including Facebook, have already signaled their intention to allow some individuals to work from home permanently.

According to Christine Trodella, head of the Americas division for Workplace from Facebook, ‘convenience and flexibility’ are the most important factors when planning and discussing employee experience. And why not? Business leaders have always known that a happy workforce is a productive workforce, and the two are mutually beneficial. So long as individuals are happy, they will stay productive. And as long as they remain productive, the happier and better rewarded they will be.

Trodella espouses ‘how close to employees leadership has gotten’ as a success story from the past year. The digital transformation has allowed CEOs and senior executives to become more accessible to the workforce, helping create a more united culture within the organization. And it’s not just tech giants like Facebook that are adopting this structure. Moneypenny, a telephone-answering service for businesses, has gone all out to create personalization in the workplace with features such as ‘a pub, a treehouse and an allotment’ requested by the staff and delivered by the company to help enhance the environment and offer a place to relax and refresh throughout the day. And they are also looking at ways of personalizing incentives and recognition to enhance human interactions and drive productivity.

Likewise, Apple is looking at ways of creating ‘a powerful work environment’ for its employees wherever they plugin from. Apple has long been an innovator in terms of its product line and employee experience, and now the company is turning its attention to how AI technology can be used to create the best possible working environment for its distributed teams to help keep individuals engaged, productive, and feeling part of something. A hybrid model looks set to be the future of work, with organizations combining the benefits of office-based work and working from home to provide a solution that gives individuals flexibility and a sense of autonomy over their working practices, backed up by enhanced people analytics, driven by technological advancements that allow business leaders to interact with and manage distributed teams effectively in ways that were not previously possible.

Microsoft is another global giant that has learned lessons from the pandemic and made a concerted effort to embrace the digital transformation to improve the employee experience. Earlier this year, the company announced plans for employee experience to be fully digitalized, providing individuals with an enhanced platform for onboarding, collaboration, development, and wellbeing resources. Through the digital transformation of the employee experience, Microsoft aims to lead the tech world by attracting and retaining the best talent no matter where they are. 

The world has changed. Business has changed. Employee expectations are changing. The digital transformation has changed customer expectations and forced organizations to change their outlook and find ways to improve CX. Only by doing so can they expect to create customer loyalty. Consumers demand technological innovation to make their experience better, faster, or smoother. This past year in which organizations have been forced to apply the same focus to employee experience in newly distributed teams has changed individual expectations. Loyalty within the workforce is now equally dependent on the individual experience meeting expectations.

The fact that some of the biggest tech companies on the planet have chosen to focus on employee experience and on embracing distributed teams, is evidence that the hybrid method of working is where the future of business success lies. Technology affords organizations the opportunity to work with distributed teams from anywhere around the world. That means the best talent in your field is now open to working for you – no matter where you are based. 

And with this, the most important question arises – how to drive productivity and engagement of remote employees? Do companies have the right tools to listen and respond in time to their employees’ needs? Do they have the right systems in place to provide that unique level of personalized onboarding that we had before the pandemic on site? Are there the right instruments to deliver the right learning to the right person at the right time to empower them and bring the best out of each individual?  

The pandemic forced change upon the business world. Now is the time for the business world to take note of which aspects of the ‘current normal’ should be taken forward to the ‘new normal’ and how to navigate through a digital transformation of employee experience. That may be different across various industries and organizations – but one consistent aspect is that the digital transformation is the future of work.

Rallyware is here to help you digitally transform your business and deliver that unique and personalized employee experience to each individual at scale. Schedule your demo today!