Moussalam Dalati, General Manager in Middle East at Liferay talks about the digital workplace after Covid-19, its capabilities and future and of a hybrid work model.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the workplace forever. Estimates suggest that a hybrid model that combines the best of both worlds is likely to emerge: structure and sociability in one hand, and independence and flexibility on the other. Currently, 58% of millennials and Generation Z want a mixture of home and office working, and a different environment from previous generations.
The companies that invest the most to improve their employees’ experience will be the best prepared for remote work. This will also generate a more committed and empowered workforce, enhancing employee satisfaction and productivity.
The digital workplace after Covid-19
About 38% of Middle East professionals in the region now want to permanently work from home and a further 32% would prefer a hybrid model, according to a recent survey by recruitment firm Robert Walters.
This means the introduction of innovative tools for the digital workplace is essential for the organizations’ future as they will improve the teams‘ coordination and the development of quality work, as they will have all the tools they need to perform their job satisfactorily from anywhere.
Digital workplaces capabilities
There are five digital workplace capabilities that can enhance employees‘ productivity, more than ever, with ease and efficiency their tasks, while increasing their motivation and satisfaction:
1. Personalization of the employee experience: A 2019 study in Harvard Business Review found that, at that time, employers were spending, on average, $2,420 per person to enhance the employee experience. Despite that investment, only 13% of those surveyed were fully satisfied with their experience. Organizations, where employees can take action on employee experience and engagement insights, tend to see better customer experience. In order to maintain the productivity index of employees, it is necessary they have the experience that responds to their specific needs. The automated personalization of content based on behaviours will be a useful tool to facilitate information, reduce information overload, and increase productivity
2. Content management and collaboration capabilities: having technology equipped with content and document management functionalities is important for the effective and accurate management of their tasks and workflow. In addition, the functionalities that allow the creation and exchange of content and departmental and interdepartmental collaboration with video conferencing systems, chats, discussion forums, or collaborative wikis are excellent for maintaining employee productivity, regardless of the environment in which they are working. Besides, employee experience can be amplified by providing engaging user-centered experiences at work.
3. Management of access to information based on roles and profiles: proper management of identity and access control on the intranet will allow maintaining a continuous information access security system while helping the organization to define specific policies adapted to special situations or crises, applied to each specific type of business.
4. Search for content having a powerful first-rate search engine will provide quick and agile access to information, which directly impacts the workforce’s productivity rate. Also, if users have tools to filter and sort their search results or customize the results’ rankings, it will have a direct impact on their satisfaction levels. Providing an official repository of information for employees to access and allowing them to easily share information, content and best practices across different locations will also boost employee experience.
5. Integration of ecosystems: all the mentioned tools will make sense to the extent that they are integrated with the rest of the corporate systems because this integration will be the one that will allow offering a unified experience to the employee. It is crucial that, in situations that need to be managed fast, companies have the technology that allows them to adapt and evolve towards the model they need.
A hybrid work model
In the UAE having a hybrid work week is becoming the new normal as some companies are allowing employees to come to the office twice or three times a week and work from home for the rest of the week.
Leaders are now embracing the concept of radical flexibility to support their employees and build organizations around a hybrid workforce that has the power to decide where, when, and how they work.
The future of the digital workplace
The digital workplace needs to evolve and find new strategies to be more flexible and reduce costs.
A hybrid work model should be tested thoroughly first and we predict the success of blending between being office-base and working remotely will depend, mostly, on the digital tools provided to employees, so they can be productive, efficient and do their best work from anywhere.
