The move to hybrid work requires Singaporean businesses to re-evaluate their operating model and identify specific requirements for their working environment. Policies will facilitate flexibility along with productivity, while tools will need to be integrated to ensure a seamless user experience.
With hybrid work continuing to gain traction, organizations must adapt or risk losing their ability to attract and retain talent, said Geraldine Kor, managing director for South Asia at Telstra. She noted that the shift has presented challenges for companies in terms of delivering meaningful employee experiences.
“For example, virtual and remote referral processes are not necessarily evolving to this new way of working,” Kor told ZDNET. “Companies need to understand how to overcome these challenges to create a positive experience for starters. This is especially true in Singapore, where hybrid is increasingly becoming the norm in many organizations due to strong government support for flexible work arrangements.”
For example, a work-from-home setup may not be an ideal choice for everyone or suitable, said Dan Bognar, vice president of the DocuSign team and general manager of the Asia-Pacific region for Japan. for all cases.
According to research from document management provider, 79% of employees in Singapore believe that working from home still has some obstacles, two years after companies started adopting the flexible working model. About 40% see no change in productivity while 19% say their productivity declines when they work from home.
Bognar said these findings show that the technology and tools that workers are equipped with at their workplaces are critical to their productivity.
A study from Logitech found that 59% of office workers in Singapore admits meetings would be more effective if all participants have an equal opportunity to contribute and speak. Another 56% said in-office participants are more involved in hybrid meetings than their colleagues who are dialing in remotely.
DocuSign research also shows that 49% of Millennials and 44% of Gen X employees in Singapore believe that working remotely has hindered teamwork and collaboration with colleagues.
To tackle such challenges, companies should adopt powerful and well-integrated tools, said Bognar, to ensure a holistic employee experience even for those working from home.
He added: “Empowering employees with the best tools that allow them to work from anywhere is a critical success factor. “Successful Organizations” [because they] invest in the right innovative solutions to ensure their employees get the right technical support in their work.”
To do so, he urges companies to include an employee’s perspective in looking at their business processes and identifying the right hybrid working models for their organizations. “This way you can maximize efficiency, collaboration and creativity,” he said, adding that businesses then need to adopt a full range of combined work policies for allowing workers to exercise flexibility.
Kor further noted that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have struggled with implementing technology that is crucial to supporting hybrid work. Singaporean companies often point to challenges in cross-departmental collaboration as well as difficulty in choosing the right technology among a multitude of options as key barriers.
“It’s important for organizations, regardless of size, to quickly overcome such challenges so employees have the tools they need,” she said, adding that managing the workforce Decentralization also requires consistency in practices, guidelines, and policies across the organization.
Adopt integrated, open collaboration tools
In particular, technologies that support open communication and collaboration are key to collaborative work, according to Kor. In addition to collaboration tools, visual collaboration platforms or whiteboard tools are also essential to facilitate brainstorming between increasingly integrated teams, she said.
Noting that employees look forward to building stronger relationships with their hybrid teams, Kor said the right technology is critical to creating a seamless office experience for those working from home. .
“Today and in the future, we will need intelligent software that allows many remote workers to feel as part of the action as those in the office,” she said. Telstra has provided essential office equipment such as monitors and standing desks, as well as a self-service toolkit app, to support its own hybrid teams, she added.
Bognar noted that while many IT departments have stepped up support for hybrid work in the wake of the global pandemic, some may not have implemented scalable technology. He emphasized that organizations need to regularly reassess their IT systems to identify and replace tools that consume disproportionate amounts of costs and resources.
“An optimized hybrid workplace ensures flexibility and productivity, and businesses may need to rethink their operating models and work arrangements to make it work,” said Kor. this. In addition to tools and technology, this includes having adequate policies and programs in place.”
“With more employees choosing their next job based on their ability to work from anywhere, companies with strong infrastructure to facilitate flexible work will be able to attract talent.” Our research shows that more than half of business leaders are looking to leverage their cloud infrastructure, including cloud-based security platforms and services, to manage better manage a decentralized workforce,” she said. “Companies have the opportunity to better align their business processes and priorities across a distributed workforce, and develop collaborative processes and workflows to keep pace with customer needs.” Staff.”
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