Some argue that tech is dividing and isolating us from one another with information and entertainment available 24/7 on our personal devices. While there's some truth in that statement, tech can also bring us together in ways never before possible. People across the city, state, country, and world can communicate instantly and effectively from those same devices with modern collaboration tools like chat, screen sharing, and video meetings.
For businesses like yours, this presents an opportunity to bring your team together into a highly collaborative virtual workspace, realize the benefits of a highly skilled distributed workforce, and create a diverse and dynamic workplace culture.
Tech Enables Distributed Workforces
Tech — now more than ever — facilitates collaborative and productive workplace cultures. Employees can connect with one another instantly through chat, video call, email — whatever method works best for them at that moment. And, with the right tools, they can seamlessly switch between these communication methods depending on their needs and preferences.
Additionally, collaboration tools enable anywhere work, whether remote or hybrid, to accommodate changing business models and workplace needs. Tech allows employees to productively work anywhere, no matter the time or place — all they need is an internet connection.
Tech Can Help You Recruit and Retain Distributed Workforces
1) Recruitment – Tech can enable your company to recruit the best talent. Implementing modern tech to facilitate work makes your company more desirable to potential hires. Don't think tech matters? Think again. Half (52 percent) of companies reported their top recruiting challenge is that "candidates expect software or tools [they] haven't adopted," according to 451 Research's Voice of the Enterprise: Workforce Productivity & Collaboration, Employee Lifecycle & HR 2023 survey.
If you've embraced tech-enabled remote work, you're also not limited to candidates who live near your company's offices. You're free to expand your search to find the most qualified candidates wherever they are without requiring them to uproot their lives to join your team. Remote work also enables you to recruit workers from more diverse backgrounds, creating a richer, fuller culture.
2) Retention – Tech that supports remote work is also useful for retaining valued talent because it supports mobile work and flexible schedules for employees seeking to balance (or integrate) work and life.
Additionally, employees also want the right tech to do their jobs. 451's Voice of the Enterprise: Workforce Productivity & Collaboration, Employee Engagement 2022 survey found a clear line of sight from tech challenges to losing an employee. When employees were asked how likely they would be to take a new job when the only difference from their current job was better availability of devices, applications and other productivity tools, roughly 24 percent of respondents said they would be somewhat or very likely to take it. That's nearly one in four employees who may be saved by investing in modern work tools.
451 advises firms to focus on adopting tech that employees attribute to day-to-day work productivity. According to data from 451 Research's Voice of the Enterprise: Workforce Productivity & Collaboration: Work Execution Goals & Challenges 2023 survey, the top five tools that contribute most to work productivity include the following:
- All-in-one suites for spreadsheets, word processors, forms, slides, etc. (e.g., Microsoft Office 365, Google's GSuite, Zoho Workplace) — 48%
- Collaboration and communication tools (e.g., Zoom, Slack, Google Meet, WhatsApp, WeChat) — 41%
- File sharing or content management tools that share and manage documents (e.g., SharePoint, Dropbox, Box) — 40%
- Business "systems of record" such as customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) or human capital management (HCM) software (e.g., Salesforce, Workday, Netsuite ERP) — 22%
- Project and work management tools (e.g., Asana, JIRA, Planview, Smartsheet, Trello) — 20%
Tech Can Recruit, Retain and Upskill IT Talent
With technology-enabled employees and business models, companies rely increasingly on high-performance, cutting-edge tech. Subsequently, recruiting, retaining, and training IT talent is becoming more important and challenging than ever.
The good news is that offering flexible or hybrid work environments is viewed as the top way to retain high-performing tech talent, according to Deloitte's 2023 Global Technology Leadership Study.
Additionally, the study found the most significant incentive that draws tech professionals to new job opportunities is the work they would do, according to 54 percent of respondents. IT workers want a growth path, so working on more current tech or meaningful projects is attractive. In fact, 41 percent of surveyed IT workers cite a lack of career progression as a reason for wanting to quit their jobs.
The upfront investment of resources and time spent recruiting, reskilling, retaining, promoting, and inspiring tech workers can pay huge dividends by bringing advanced technology and people together to transform and elevate your business.
Modern technology is proven to attract and retain high-skilled, diverse employees that you need to drive your business. Fortunately, tech-enabling your workplace is easy with Cox Business. We help your company implement advanced collaboration tools, support distributed teams, and facilitate a collaborative culture.
