While 83% of companies in the post-pandemic era are confident they have found the right balance in terms of people-first work models like hybrid or remote working, the reality is different altogether, according to Avanade.
Denmark-based Avanade, which provides innovative digital, cloud and advisory services, industry solutions and design-led experiences across the Microsoft ecosystem, commissioned independent market research agency Vanson Bourne to conduct research into workplace experience between October 2021 and January 2022. The study surveyed 2,100 global senior decision-makers from IT, lines of business and HR/training.
Respondents were from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway), The Netherlands, Japan, Australia and Brazil.
Almost all (98%) respondents said that their business was taking steps to improve their employees’ workplace experience, and 85% also claimed their business had embraced (or piloted) hybrid or remote working.
However, workers are being let down by a lack of technology, security and flexibility, with 60% saying they have not provided their employees with genuine choice about when or where they work.
Also, 62% said they were yet to enable employees to more easily access the tools and applications they need to work seamlessly from anywhere, and 61% have not adopted cloud-based platforms for knowledge sharing.
More than half (55%) of respondents said they do not have a security model that enables all employees to work securely wherever they’re based.
Findings suggest that not delivering on their promises could be costing companies millions of dollars, with respondents estimating an average 6.7% growth from successfully implemented workplace experience programs (driven by a partnership between IT, HR and business leaders) over the last year.
Based on the participant companies’ revenues, Avanade calculates the growth opportunity could range from US$37 million to $6.5 billion.
In addition to the financial rewards, Avanade’s research also showed that organisations have been embracing broader, more progressive workplace experience strategies in the last 12 months, and have generated significant other benefits, both for their people and their business.
These include 6.8% average overall productivity improvement, 6.7% average increase in employee retention, 6.9% average increase in customer satisfaction scores, 6.5% average rise in stock market valuation, and 6.3% average reduction in costs.
Over the long-term, 72% of the workplace experience top performers felt their organisations were prepared for the future of work, compared with only 33% of bottom performers.
Similarly, 91% of top performers are confident that their company has already achieved the right hybrid work approach, compared with just half of those trailing behind.
“Taking a holistic approach to the workplace experience is critical and benefits both businesses and their most important asset—their employees,” said Veit Siegenheim, Avanade’s Modern Workplace lead. “The longer leaders delay taking action, the further they’ll fall behind and risk losing out, financially and in the war for talent.”
