The pandemic quickly pushed businesses to the brink of adapting to the crisis. In a recent survey we conducted, we asked people about their work situation before and after the pandemic, as well as what will happen in the future. Marketingmediaweb
OK. So it looks like the office orientation is behind us and
the future of hybrid work is leading nowhere. 72% of people questioned want to
share their time between their home and their office. What needs to be changes
for this to work?
Straight to the point ... HR managers will have to address
specific employee needs that were once important but are now the number one
priority and challenge for everyone. Otherwise, the hybrid job will crash and
burn.
It means creating a sense of belonging, culture, meaningful
bonds and connection without the daily commute. Easier said than complete, but
these are the main things that create levels of fatigue, anxiety, and
disconnection, and everyone keeps complaining when not encountered.
Do you see the pattern?
Everything that has been mentioned so far is only one aspect
of communication. The next evolution of internal communication must be based on
asynchronous and meaningful connections that create communities and help people
work more closely together digitally.
From our investigation, we have seen that a large number of
people have been exposed to more stress since the start of the pandemic. 92% of
them, to be exact.
In addition, since March of last year, one in two people
feel more detached from their organization.
It's fair to say that these statistics paint a sad picture.
So it's only natural for HR managers to worry that hybrid work is getting
nowhere. Especially since the recent change sparked a storm of issues that
affected everyone from CEOs to new hires right out of college.
These problems include:
Less connected team
Employee satisfaction and well-being decrease
Suspended employees
That being said, every problem has a solution, right? So how
can human leaders create a forward-looking hybrid employee experience in the
workplace?
Building a sense of connection and belonging is the new holy
grail when it comes to employee experience.
Develop an open culture of sharing and recognition that
helps employees feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.
Break down communication barriers, be boldly flat,
transparent, and give everyone a voice. This is the only method to get real
attention.
If you feel like your team is drifting away, find out how HR
managers use Workvivo to keep employees happy and engaged in one place.
So what's the key to making the hybrid work for the long
haul?
In our survey, popular leaders told us they wanted a more
human experience; more recognition, cooperation and more communication for
their employees.
Employees pay attention to ping-pong tables, bean bags, or
the perks of the office. What they lack is to be told publicly “Hello, good
job! And happy birthday. The key to organizing an employee is communication and
creating emotional engagement.
Before we continue, we need to address the elephant in the
room. People have flocked to Slack, Teams, or Zoom as a replacement for their
digital desktop. Indeed, 2 out of 3 companies that have acquired and deployed a
new communication tool after the pandemic have chosen one of these tools.
But was it the right choice?
2 out of 3 people who took our big employee experience
survey said they were overwhelmed with instant messaging.
To further validate this belief, famous author Cal Newport
reveals the extent of our instant messaging problem in his New Yorker article.
He points out that software company RescueTime estimates that employees using
Slack access the platform on average every five minutes, which is an incredibly
high rate of interruption.