Just about half of organisations — 48% globally and 51% in the Asia-Pacific region — strongly agree that employees have access to the technology they need to work well both at home and in the office, but 90% see the enablement of hybrid and remote work as having a positive impact on their bottom line.
These are from findings of the 2023 Global Employee Experience Trends Report from NTT, which is based on interviews with 1,442 customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) decision-makers in various roles across 14 sectors and 25 countries.
Results reveal that many firms are now implementing more structured approaches to work, with the report finding that 56% globally and 58% among APAC hybrid workers spend half the work week at the office.
However, with hybrid models still favourable and recognised by the majority of business leaders as fundamental to positive EX, organisations need to ensure they are providing employees with the technologies they need to work effectively, regardless of location.
This shows how the EX-narrative has evolved over the last several years. Today, it is a business-wide priority to proactively ensure employees are empowered and have the right technologies in place to feel connected and drive efficiency.
Based on results, top-performing companies that increased their IT spend and invested in EX technology were 56% more likely than underperformers to report improved business growth due to improvements to EX.
Also, they are 89% more likely than all others to have significantly increased employee satisfaction.
Amit Dhingra, EVP of network services at NTT, said that the disconnect between what employees need and what businesses provide them with is still too large.
“Too often we see hybrid working strategies focusing on one type of working style, despite employees wanting the flexibility to work in a way that suits them,” said Dhingra.
Still, 73% of organisations agree that hybrid and remote working has led to their investment in mobility over the last two years to promote flexibility.
“But more still needs to be done to reduce the disconnect and improve EX,” said Dhingra. “This is especially true given that satisfied and engaged employees are 66% more likely to deliver exceptional customer service.”
In addition to hybrid work, EX is also being impacted by the rise in AI, with the emerging technology voted as the top enabler of future CX and EX strategies, and AI interfaces rising to become the norm for four in every five organisations within the next 12 months.
Despite this, 87% of organisations surveyed agree that human-led support remains a critical element in their customer engagement.
