Did you know that employees are currently being deprived of the opportunity to connect and collaborate with one another?
Shockingly, a recent survey of over 200 business owners and employees across SMEs and the public sector, reveals that a whopping 40% of employees are contemplating leaving their current jobs because of the lack of access to the right digital collaboration tools.
The report further highlights that business owners and employees are not on the same page when it comes to flexibility needs, with a fifth (20%) of business owners admitting they don’t know where to start in meeting their workforce’s needs.
One of the key findings from the survey indicates that there is a significant disconnect between business owners and employees. For instance, 28% of employees identified insufficient technology as the most significant barrier to feeling more connected to their organisation and colleagues. It’s therefore not surprising that there is a widespread lack of tech-enabled connection and flexibility in the workplace.
Consequently, this is leading to various woes such as difficulties in attracting new talent, as well as employee recruitment, development, and retention. In fact, 18% of business owners have cited these as the biggest obstacles that employers must overcome in the workplace.
Poor digital collaboration across hybrid work settings is impacting staff, from frustration (29%) and isolation (28%) to an inability to do their job properly (28%). This further supports the need for Business Owners/Directors to step up and ensure that the right technology is provided to employees to facilitate smooth collaboration across different working environments. By overlooking the crucial role technology plays in supporting flexible working, businesses are at risk of driving away good talent.
Allan Page, owner of Somerbys IT adds “Unfortunately, business owners currently underestimate the impact that the right technology has on long-term employee loyalty and retention. This is because they don’t think it’s important enough.”
In fact business owners rank it a distant fourth behind work-life balance (40%), career development opportunities (28%), and hybrid/remote working opportunities (27%). Over half (52%) of employees rank technology as the most important feature of their ‘ideal’ workplace. It is therefore crucial that business owners make a conscious effort to address this disconnect by investing in technology that will help employees collaborate seamlessly across different working environments.
The survey also highlights the need for business owners to better understand and meet employees’ flexibility needs. Despite 39% of business owners saying that hybrid and remote working arrangements are the top flexibility demand they are seeing from employees, a staggering 73% of employees fail to strongly agree that their workplace needs are being met by their employer.
For 76% of business owners, employee expectations around flexibility are simply incompatible with the needs of the business. As such, business owners need to invest in the technology their employees require to work flexibly.
Employees are currently facing other challenges such as navigating the inequalities between hybrid and office-based employees, which was identified as the biggest future challenge among workers (24%).
Business owners, therefore, have a great opportunity to bridge the gap between employers and employees by adding value to how the workforce collaborates with digital tools. Ultimately, this will not only boost employee satisfaction and retention rates but also drive business growth and productivity.
If you feel there is a disconnect in your business and would like to discuss how Somerbys IT can help get in touch with the experts at Somerbys.