Digitization of the workplace: 5 capital mistakes
Today, the work-life balance is more important than ever. The younger generation in particular demands a modern workplace and flexible working hours and locations. However, many companies are still making capital mistakes on the way to digitizing the workplace.
A modern workplace and flexible working hours and location are important arguments for companies to retain talent, especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers. After all, work-life balance is becoming increasingly important, especially for the younger generation. Companies are therefore quite rightly launching new work initiatives or driving forward the digitization of the workplace for their employees. Thanks to modern technology, neither of these is witchcraft, and cloud solutions, for example, can also give medium-sized companies a real advantage quickly and easily.
Common mistakes in the digitization of the workplace
Numerous companies are making some major mistakes on their way to modern work. Michael Heitz, Regional Vice President Germany at Citrix, explains which capital mistakes companies are still making in digitizing the workplace and how they can avoid them.
- Desk Duty: It is no longer a secret that employees would like to work from different locations, from home or on the move from the train. In fact, 48 percent of executives surveyed in a Citrix study published this year said that the ability to work from anywhere has a positive impact on the so-called "employee experience," which ultimately means employee satisfaction. For companies with an unattractive location that rely on commuters, the possibility of an equivalent digital workplace is even essential in order to be able to hold their own in the market.
- Mobile working not thought through to the end: It's not enough to hand employees a laptop or smartphone, as another Citrix study shows: A full 44 percent of German (editor's note: there are no figures for Switzerland in this regard) desk workers, for example, send documents to their private e-mail address so that they can access them outside the office. This is a disaster in terms of data protection and IT security! Companies must provide suitable hardware and software solutions to make mobile working efficient, simple and secure.
- Password glut: Each service a different username and password. Who is supposed to remember that? One in four employees in many companies still faces this challenge. It's no wonder that employees capitulate and write down passwords. In the worst case, these are then neatly printed out and pinned to the edge of the PC screen, and any customer or visitor in the office can quickly photograph them. The remedy is a so-called single sign-on function for all services used, which is managed centrally by the IT department.
- "We've always done it that way": Of course, the maxim "never change a running system" is justified, especially for critical systems. But Citrix found that employees are open to learning about new tools and applications. 60 percent of employees are curious when their employer replaces old tools with new ones. In addition, 44 percent say they think new technologies are important for working more efficiently. So companies should not underestimate employees and should certainly not put technological innovations on the back burner for fear of change or employee frustration.
- Cumbersome software: Today, we are all constantly surrounded by elegant and efficient software. Especially in the private sphere: smartphone and web apps for end users regularly set the standard. This makes it all the more difficult for employees to engage with cumbersome, non-intuitive or non-purposeful enterprise software. All too often, this leads to frustration and, in the worst case, resignation. A full 28 percent of German employees (editor's note: no figures for Switzerland are known here either) have already relied on so-called "shadow IT". That means they install software on their own, bypassing the IT department, or use web services that they know from their private lives. While this solves the problem of the individual employee, it can pose a much greater problem for the company if, for example, sensitive data is lost in this way.
A change to "New Work" is certainly not easy. Above all, it needs support throughout the company. Once the HR department has defined the guard rails and set up processes with the company management, the IT department must make them possible. That means processes and tools that have been thought through to the end for a truly digital and flexible workplace. In today's world, no company can afford the negative impact on employee satisfaction or employee experience if major mistakes are made.
About the cited studies
Citrix surveyed 1,000 workers who rely significantly on IT devices/computers to perform their jobs in January 2019 and April and May 2019. In addition, executives with HR responsibilities were surveyed for a study published in June 2019. The survey was conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) with Citrix Systems, Inc. as sponsor.
Source: Citrix
