Hybrid Working: Are SME employees missing out on the benefits?
Nothing about "hybrid working": Three out of five employees in smaller companies expect to continue working primarily in offices after Covid 19 restrictions are lifted, due to the many administrative and paper-based processes involved, according to one study.
Employees at small businesses across Europe fear they will have to return to the office by necessity because remote working will not allow them to adequately address customer experience and business growth. This finding was published by Ricoh Europe following a survey of more than 1400 office workers on the topic of hybrid working. Well over half (58 %) of respondents expect to work primarily in the office once Covid 19 restrictions are lifted. At the same time, they fear obstacles and bottlenecks in terms of dynamic working methods necessitated by constant changes in customer requirements, according to further findings from the survey.
Many outdated processes
Nearly half (45 %) of respondents say they would be more productive with less administrative overhead. Cumbersome, outdated work practices prevent small businesses from achieving better business results because their teams' capacity to upsell or create new business models is limited. In addition to these missed opportunities, creativity, motivation and job satisfaction are also hampered by the unavoidable processing of tedious routine tasks.
Workload is a key factor in the perception that a return to the office is inevitable. This is exacerbated by a lack of remote working tools for value-added activities and insufficient investment in automated processes. 40 % of workers have difficulty accessing data and information in enterprise systems when working remotely that would be needed to better serve customers. This leads to limitations in a typical identifier of small businesses: fast, convenient, and personalized service. The beneficiaries could be larger competitors, whose teams typically have straightforward access to all the data needed to optimize the customer experience.
More productive with remote or hybrid working
Half of respondents (51 %) believe that automated processes are indeed a way out. Not only would they add value to the work experience - they could also better retain salespeople and other top talent who often represent the company to the outside world. In fact, a quarter (25 %) of respondents are considering a move to an employer that better supports remote working. Automating central processes would also benefit initiatives to strengthen customer loyalty, and small businesses could raise their digital profile as a result.
David Mills, CEO of Ricoh Europe, explains: "Small businesses may lack the budget or even the need to completely refresh their technologies. But even moderate investments can have a significant and immediate impact - for example, the ability to access files remotely. Understandably, many small businesses do not have the skills needed to achieve critical cost savings through efficient process automation. Reliable support in this area could therefore provide the critical foundation for solid growth in the digital age."
Source: Ricoh
