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The shift to hybrid working has seen many employers introduce more flexibility to their employees, giving workers the freedom to work from home or come to the office as they please.
But not all companies have absorbed the lessons of the past two years about the new workplace employee practices and expectations, spell out a potentially bumpy return to office as WFH allowances are phased out.
It means Recruiters may have difficulty If they don’t take the time to address some of the workplace anomalies, according to a report by SaaS analytics platform, Time Is Ltd and market research firm Ascend2.
A study involving 255 HR leaders at US companies identified a number of “red signs” that threaten to impede employee productivity, engagement, and collaboration in the workplace – yes. can affect company performance and recruitment efforts.
Among these is the persistence of the meeting culture, with 41% of respondents citing it as the top challenge for improving the employee experience. The report’s authors say too many meetings are “too long, poorly timed, and lacking in focus,” resulting in reduced productivity.
“The core issues behind meeting culture are clear: Quantity, length and focus all need to be improved – and employees need to be empowered so every meeting counts. to improve things is to give people more autonomy over the meetings they attend,” the report titled The evolving workforce and the personnel identity crisis.
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Two-thirds (67%) of survey respondents strongly agree that allowing employees to choose which meetings they attend improves productivity, compared with 26% moderately agreeing and 7% disagreeing. moderate or strong intentions.
Making meetings more productive is a challenge – 38% of HR leaders say measuring meeting effectiveness is difficult, but a better place to start is to consider the frequency and duration of meetings. meeting. For example, can an hour-long meeting be reduced to 30 minutes? Likewise, can the daily meeting be reduced to twice a week?
The researchers also suggest that “redundant and unproductive meetings” can be made 1:1 to help ensure targeted responses and help build internal relationships. After-hours meetings are also lead to lethargy and burnout, Again, reducing the number of meetings is key here, the authors note, as the more meetings are held during the day, the more likely it is that others will be pushed outside of normal business hours. often.
Workplaces are also plagued with collaboration headaches, largely due to messy implementations and inconsistent use of email, instant messaging, and video meeting tools.
As reported by Time Is Ltd, the technology used to collaborate was the top employee experience challenge during the early months of the pandemic, and this has only become more complicated as the pandemic progresses and employees continue to work from home.
Workplace collaboration software has not only become the focus of the normal workday, but organizations have also adopted new productivity and collaboration tools that are overwhelming workers and having the opposite effect.
More than 8 in 10 respondents (84%) said they receive more emails than ever before and had a similar response when respondents reported their use of instant messaging (80%) for video communication ( 83%) and file sharing tools (77%).
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The report says the use of email and instant messaging should be controlled, while video calls should be treated similarly to face-to-face meetings, in that employers should focus on duration. , frequency, and whether they are absolutely necessary.
Another important red flag for workers to consider is how large their company is focus on their employee experience.
The Time Is Ltd report suggests that this is an area where employers are finding it difficult to apply effort and forethought – which can lead to difficulties recruiting and retaining employees. in a tight labor market.
For example, only 32% of HR leaders say they focus on the hiring and referral process, while less than a quarter (24%) say improving employee engagement is a top priority. early next year.
While 58% of respondents said improving employee satisfaction is a top goal, the report said employees will “expect more concrete solutions” that directly impact their experience in the workplace. work by improving health, productivity, and engagement.
High turnover, poor onboarding process and lack of focus on employee retention are just a few areas of opportunity for HR leaders, the report says.
“Companies aren’t equipped to handle what’s next right now, and they underestimate the need to get it right.”
