Digital workplace trends for 2024
Improving the employee work experience
According to a poll, 50% of remote workers surveyed feel lonely at least once per week, stating isolation as their number one problem. This is a problem that affects the entire company, even if it isn’t immediately visible.
Companies do seem to be thinking about employee well-being, with 91% of employers cited as including mental health initiatives as part of their return to worksite strategies. Physical health and work-life balance follow closely behind in their considerations.
Prioritizing reliable ways to connect virtually is a good place to start. As employees continue to evaluate their work-life priorities, it is imperative to evaluate what is important to your current employees as well as any new employees joining the team. Roughly 75% of employees regard collaboration and teamwork as important. Online collaboration tools are one way hybrid workplaces have managed to increase productivity up to 30%.
Hybrid work models
The future of work hinges on companies continuing to develop and sustain solid hybrid workplace models. In a study from Slack, 63% of employees favor the flexibility of a hybrid remote-office model while only 17% said they want to return to full-time office work, and that was shortly after the pandemic. Current workplace trends show preferences continue to skew toward hybrid work, and companies such as IDC state that it is critical that IT teams build an infrastructure to support this future.
Cloud and IT infrastructure
Cloud computing and hosting solutions are essential to workplace agility. They provide remote workers with the tools they need to get their work done, offer multi-layered data security, and assure operational continuity across great distances.
Improving cloud-based collaboration
A managed cloud service provider can help you develop, customize and deploy secured, flexible, and scalable public, private, or hybrid cloud solutions.
And this is a big deal. The online collaboration market is expected to grow from $12.4 billion in 2019 to $13.5 billion by 2024. Teamwork applications based on cloud collaboration are the highest growth segment at 60%.
Keeping employees connected and productive, developing their talents, reducing turnover and disgruntlement, and generally improving business communication and collaboration are reasons enough to further the investment in cloud communication technology.
Flexible workspaces
A company’s biggest asset, of course, is its employees. And while many of these employees enjoy working from home, others need a different environment to thrive. This is where workplace flexibility comes in. According to Gartner, flexibility is key to digital workplace productivity.
Companies have developed health and wellness initiatives to keep employees happier, healthier, and, therefore, more productive.
Creating an ideal workspace for every employee
The nature of remote work has changed from a once-in-a-while occurrence to a daily reality for many workers.
According to Forbes, in 2023 12.7% of full-time employees work from home and 28.2% work in some form of hybrid model. Combining in-home and in-office work offers equal flexibility for those who enjoy working from home and those who prefer a physical office space.
Managing physical office workspaces to accommodate employees coming in at varying frequencies throughout the week requires a level of planning and flexibility to make sure operations run smoothly and safely.
Security
It is no surprise that cyber security is a topic top-of-mind for all businesses, with cyber-attacks continuing to rise year after year. In the first nine months of 2023, cyber attacks increased 20% from the previous year, with multiple companies stating AI as a risk that makes the attacks harder to detect. Additionally, 72% of businesses worldwide experienced ransomware attacks in 2023.
Implementing security best practices including multi-layered protocols, additional support like managed security services, and tools like Bullwall Ransomware Containment can limit the potential damage of a cyber attack.
Collaboration tools
From simple and effective whiteboards to sophisticated, cloud-based communication tools, workers need to be kept in the loop and stay productive regardless of where they work.
Keeping in constant, close contact has many benefits. It builds trust between senior and junior employees and keeps lines of communication open for more opportunities for collaboration and better efficiency.
Centralized strategy
A centralized strategy is necessary for any company with employees working in the office, remotely, in geographically separated offices, or a hybrid of these. Companies need to keep centralization in mind when designing, developing, and implementing technologies that bolster a company's core purpose while allowing for employee-friendly flexibility.
Decentralizing services and automating workflows
Companies continue to digitally decentralize their operations to avoid disruption.
A major part of decentralization is automation. Automation cuts down on manual, paper-driven workflows so employees can reserve time for more sophisticated, strategic tasks. Workflow automation can take previously bulky systems and streamline them to become more cost-effective and overall more productive.
Using intelligent process automation
Intelligent process automation refers to the combination of various technologies to automate business processes to completion. Benefits of intelligent automation include reduced costs, improved accuracy through consistent processes and approaches, improved customer experience, and compliance and regulation standardization.
IBPSM and IPAs
Ricoh’s Intelligent Business PlatformSM (IBPSM) and other Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) systems utilize automation and machine learning to improve productivity and cut down on waste.
IPAs help a company realize greater value, faster service, and improved customer experience regardless of work style, keeping the digital workplace and hybrid models competitive.
Digital workplace trends will continue to evolve
Has your workplace embraced a hybrid model?
Have questions about how to create a more seamless transition to a hybrid work experience?
Our reality is that the digital workplace is here to stay. And as trends evolve, you can rely on us to deliver answers and solutions to keep your business competitive and moving forward.
Continue to chapter 6 to learn about how to improve your digital workplace experience.