he nature of work has fundamentally changed and re-shaped the future workplace, with 75% of workers agreeing their expectations of work have changed in the last couple of years.
In this new world of work, organisations are faced with an imperative to take the lessons they’ve learned over the past two years, and apply them to the shape their future workplace strategies.
From creating more balanced cultures that enable positive well-being, to scaling technology offerings for effective and secure collaboration, employees around the world are calling on their organisations to embrace more flexible employment models. The key question is, how best to do that?
Cultures of empathy
In this re-shaped world of work, employers are faced with the growing need to humanise the workplace, and to find new ways to motivate their staff to go back into their places of work. The home, perhaps for the first time, can now compete on an equal footing in many cases as the office, in terms of productivity levels, environment and even technology set up (although of course, this is not universal).
A recent survey found that 88% of companies are using incentives to get their employees back on site, with 67% making changes to the physical workplace in order to do so. From fitness classes and mental health provision, to healthy food offerings and childcare facilities on-site, businesses will need to instil cultures and infrastructures of balance in their physical workplaces to make hybrid working, work.
But while broadly, the idea of better balance and hybrid working is at the heart of the future of work conversation, it is important leaders remember there is no once-size-fits-all solution. Companies must consider what works best both for their specific needs and this should be done in open conversation and collaboration between employer and employee.
Ultimately, working cultures must be about outcomes, not hours. The era of presenteeism and commuting for the sake of being in an office is over and without flexibility, will lead to organisations losing out on talent. The future of the workplace must be about increasing productivity, increasing well-being and constantly evolving.
Engaging through technology
As the future of work continues to evolve with the hybrid model at its centre, a key thread that has emerged for employers is the imperative to support employees with the IT resources that will enable them to move easily and securely between working environments.
Tools and infrastructure such as hybrid cloud, video conferencing, and file sharing software have become instrumental to both overcoming physical distance, and creating a culture of collaboration and innovation.
Innovation is happening at pace. To make these environments even more productive and collaborative, we can also go further than the existing ‘2D engagement’ we see today – hybrid interactions taking place through traditional computer screens – and leverage emerging technology, not least virtual reality (VR) to create 3D hybrid environments.
However, the rapid deployment of these technologies has also vastly expanded the risk landscape, creating a rich environment for cyber breaches, with threat actors able to exploit individuals who lack training, cyber awareness and sufficient technology.
In a distributed landscape, security is the common thread that must now become a boardroom agenda priority. The key to a successful hybrid working strategy will be a technology infrastructure underpinned with the cyber solutions, and crucially the cyber education, to enable creativity, innovation and collaboration.
Empowering teams
Whether it is fostering better cultures or providing the best technology, the common link in how organisations are evolving to the future of work is the increased empowerment of employees.
The catalyst behind this has deeper roots than recent digital transformation. It is found in increased trends towards prospective employees searching for purpose in their roles and wanting to work for companies that share their values. The other side of that coin has been ‘The Great Resignation’, which has seen employees gaining an increased understanding that they have the power to leave organisations who do not hold those values.
The upshot for organisations is the opportunity to deploy new models that reset the employer-employee relationship, support the requirements of staff and empower them to work in ways that better suit them. It also opens up new talent pools that previously did not exist, with technology making the world smaller in its enablement of businesses to reach across borders.
We know that technology enables greater productivity and so, organisations should allocate the benefits of that to their people and give them more choice about how, when and where they work. This will deliver better connection between companies and their staff, and foster the cultures of trust that enable outcomes-based working.
Breaking through to digital transformation
To succeed in the ‘new normal’, businesses must invest in a computing platform that can deliver security, manageability, and performance capabilities to enable both them and their employees to be productive. That means equipping PCs with hardware-based security and the latest technology, which can help drive the best business results.
The Intel® vPro® platform, for example, which is truly built for business, continues to drive innovation and adapt to businesses’ rapidly evolving needs worldwide. It means both Intel® and Dell can remain laser focused on advancing both IT- and end-user benefits to deliver the best business PCs and experiences.
Dell Technologies recent research, Breakthrough, looks at the intersection of people and technology to help our customers overcome barriers to digital transformation. What we found was that work is increasingly becoming an outcome, rather than a place or time.
80% of respondents polled by Dell Technologies across the world believe this shift will create a more inclusive work environment.
But many have not quite reached this goal. According to our UK research, 58% of all respondents are not yet experiencing a better work-life balance and 41% believe staff are wrestling with burnout that affects their ability to deliver on their work.
If you think of recent, expedited digital transformations as a construction project, many businesses went from an empty plot or their first foundations.
Our Breakthrough study shows that now is the time to build on these foundations and make repairs, specifically, to drive progress for the future. As our customers adopt the technologies, processes, and infrastructure to support the Future of Work, they can rely on our expertise and proven solutions to build a flexible digital workplace.
To find out more about how Dell Technologies and Intel® can support your transition to the future of work, see our solutions here.