Digital Workplace leader, Akumina, recently conducted a world-wide survey targeting working professionals to better understand the gravity of the remote work approach. Though many believed companies were reverting back to in-person models, Akumina’s survey proved remote and hybrid work increased by 30% since this time last year.
In the 2022 report, only 54% of survey respondents declared their company took a remote/hybrid approach, compared to the 84% in this year’s report. Similarly, there has also been a 4% increase in these decisions being made at the team-level rather than at the corporate level.
Companies are increasingly catering to the needs of their employees after the 2023 State of the Digital Workplace and Modern Intranet report showed ‘workplace flexibility’ was the second top priority when it came to job searching, trailing only behind ‘benefits and compensation.’ Prior to the pandemic, workplace flexibility was hardly a sustainable option, let alone a top priority. With changing times however, companies agree the remote/hybrid work approach highly benefits their employees.
“We firmly believe employees do their best work when they are connected, informed, and given the freedom to work in a way that best suits them,” said Bhadresh Patel, CDO of RGP and CEO at Veracity Consulting Group in Akumina’s 2023 report.
The needs of employees continue to change and with that, so must company standards. The State of the Digital Workplace report also conveyed nearly 55% of survey respondents have considered, or are currently considering, leaving their jobs for a company who cares more about their mental health and overall wellbeing.
“Employee wants and needs change often due to numerous factors – major life events, global pandemics, and unexpected health issues just to name a few,” said Jeff McPherson, Chief Digital Officer at Silvertech in the 2023 report. “Employers that recognize this as an on-going, top priority in improving employee experience will get the most return (in the form of productivity, retention and engagement) from their workforce.”
Akumina’s State of the Digital Workplace also drew notions that employees are looking for physical, tangible changes within the workplace. Alex Saunders, Head of Digital Communications at GSK, focuses his attention on the 70% of survey respondents who state a UI/UX refresh would make it easier to use their intranets.
“What we now know [employees] want is a better intranet design and experience,” said Saunders as the report highlights nearly 70% of users say a UI/UX refresh would make it easier for them to use their intranet and 58% said that it would make them use the tools more often. Saunders paints a picture that details their focus at GSK.
“I’ve heard from many of my colleagues at GSK that what they really want are digital tools that make their lives easier and that enable them to do their jobs better – which is what we’ve tried to deliver through our new intranet,” he said on the matter.
As a precursor to the report published on January 10, 2023, Akumina also held a survey results webinar on December 6, 2022 where they were joined by digital workplace professionals for a round-table discussion on the findings of the survey. The panel touched upon the importance of providing the same services to their employees that are available to customers, as well as several other themes concluded from the survey.
“This report is a comprehensive workup of trends found in real-life applications and has come to be information we rely on every year,” said Akumina CEO, Ed Rogers. “With so many participating in the survey and industry leaders sharing their personal experiences, we’ve been able to identify deltas within employee experience and best practices to diminish those gaps.”
Watch the webinar on demand here and download the 2023 State of the Digital Workplace and Modern Intranet report for a full view of the 2023 modern intranet landscape.
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