We all know how quickly the workplace has changed in the face of the pandemic, and workplace technology has evolved faster than ever to facilitate it. This change has meant that the expectations of workers have also shifted, and business owners need to be quick off the mark to meet these expectations if they want to maintain a low staff turnover.
But how much of a difference does the right tech actually make to your staff? A global survey conducted by Unisys found that 87% of companies that remain up to date in technology adoption have staff that are happy in their workplace, with positive attitudes towards their employer. On the other hand, 70% of businesses that neglect their tech updates have staff that view the exec team and the work environment negatively.
The link here is clear – when workplaces invest in technology that makes their employees’ jobs easier, people are much happier, and stats show that happy workers outperform their competition by 20%. Regularly assessing and adjusting your business technology stack means you can keep your staff happy while boosting your business performance. Let us show you five things you can do to make this happen and how to prevent high staff turnover.
1. Make sure your connectivity is up to speed
We all know how frustrating it is when you’re waiting for something to load, and no matter how times you refresh, it doesn’t go any faster. So, imagine how it would be for staff who are trying to meet deadlines, but instead are wasting valuable time waiting for an email to come through, or a file to load. Delayed speeds can impact research, customer service, and internal communications, effecting your bottom line in a way that leaves everyone unhappy.
By getting on top of your network and connectivity, you’ll cut down these wait times significantly. Plus, you’ll have the internet speed and capacity you need to support digital tools that help your people work better. There are a range of connectivity and network options that you can choose from that will keep you connected and maintain your operational needs – it’s just a matter of identifying what works for you.
2. Offer workplace flexibility and the tools to support it
The importance of flexibility in the workplace is a big one. Unisys’ survey found that workers these days are seeking “agile, modern solutions” that support work across multiple locations. Without mobility options that allow for streamlined productivity, employee satisfaction and motivation suffer.
Open discussions can reveal how to provide support to staff, and what they need to be able to do their best work. From there, you can investigate the best options to utilise. Here are a few to consider:
Collaboration tools for productivity
Leveraging tools that get your staff collaborating seamlessly has never been more important, especially since the pandemic. Access to instant messaging and cloud sharing that are supported by a good quality network means much less downtime. There are a number of cloud collaboration solutions to consider, each with different features that will fulfil the needs of your staff in different ways. Be sure to investigate your options and chat to your staff about the way they like to work.
BYOD to make life easy
BYOD (bring your own device) has been rising in popularity, and now it’s here to stay. More employees than ever expect to be able to use their devices for personal and business tasks. Facilitating a shift towards BYOD can help with employee satisfaction and even act as a selling point for new staff looking for a great working environment.
VPN to help protect your people
When offering more flexible options, you still want your enterprise’s business-critical information to remain secure, so make sure you get Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) set up for you employees. That way, wherever they’re accessing the information from, the VPN will encrypt the data and keep it safe.
3. Provide your staff with the hardware they need to work effectively
Staff need desk and computer set ups that don’t work against them. Likewise, graphic designers need monitors with a certain level of resolution so they can see their work clearly, and some developers might need a certain kind of laptop that supports a specific software. If your workplace isn’t offering these options, staff could be lured to a business that does. Rather than lose valuable staff, make sure you’re aware of the hardware your team needs.
4. Give workers peace of mind with good cyber security
Once you’ve got devices connected and collaborating on your network, you need to make sure your enterprise security solutions are also up to scratch. You can install software that protects against viruses and identifies suspicious activity theft, as well as providing endpoint protection across devices. Taking cyber security seriously shows your staff that you are across the latest threats and taking steps to protect them and the business.
5. Make resolving issues easy
When IT and tech issues arise, you don’t want to leave it to your staff to fix, or have them wait hours to get back online before they can work again. Data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that the average employee loses 12.4 hours a year to servers being down, and 6.2 from network issues, but with managed services, server and network downtime was reduced by over 85%.
By outsourcing IT, you can access the experience of a qualified team committed to resolving your issues, removing the need for you to hire your own IT staff. Plus, if you already have IT staff, they can focus on more important priorities and leave the user issues and malfunctioning equipment to the outsourced team. This keeps every part of your enterprise as productive as possible.
How Rubicon 8 can help
From enterprise mobility, to professional and managed services, we have a range of enterprise technology solutions ready to implement so we can make life easy for your staff. Even if you just need advice on how to keep staff turnover low with the right kind of tech, our consultants can help. They’ll will work alongside you to design, deploy and manage solutions that work for you and the needs of your enterprise.
Contact us today to get things started.
