1. Digital Transformation
The report also revealed that the integration of digital tools, processes and systems into an organisation is viewed as more crucial than ever to business growth.
Unsurprisingly, three out of four companies in the UK are working to develop new digital capabilities, making it a key trend within the workplace for this year and beyond.
With its reach already being felt far and wide, the digitalisation of the workplace shows no sign of slowing down. According to Emma Brock, Global Head of Organisational Effectiveness at digital agency Wavemaker, “the rate and speed of digital, automation, AI and robotics is going to change the world of work as we know it. The impact is going to be huge.”
With people naturally resistant to change, this poses a major problem. Avoiding digitalisation may not be a viable strategy moving forward, but neither is harnessing its power without a robust game plan.
“It’s all very well designing a new system, a new process, but unless people actually feel engaged and know the positive impact it’s going to have on their roles and the organisation, it just won’t work. So often you see projects fail because businesses haven’t thought about the people side of the change and adoption,” Brock adds.
Any shift within an organisation requires leadership with the ability to earn workforce buy-in, which is why Brock believes that just as fundamental to digital transformation is a change management strategy. With a background in financial services, she has seen first-hand how to encourage employees to embrace digital transformation, and recommends a similar approach for businesses looking to implement such a strategy in the future.
“Unless people know the positive impact it’s going to have on their roles and the organisation, it just won’t work”
“Progressive organisations recognise the need to have a change management team of experts working alongside the technology experts, to work out the implications, engagement and training they need to be doing, to bring people on that journey.”
Encouraging employees to be part of the journey is a point Ed Griffin, Director of HR Consultancy & Research at the Institute of Employment Studies, agrees with. After all, digital transformation has the power to make employees’ lives easier, he explains.
“I think if you ask a workforce which aspects of their role they least enjoy, because they’re the most repetitive, then the prospect of AI picking up those activities may be far less threatening. If it leads to job enrichment, then that’s really important.”
What’s more, Scott Jarvis, Head of Talent Development at global construction services company ISG, believes that when it comes to attracting new talent to businesses, school leavers and graduates are increasingly looking to join technologically advanced organisations.
“If you ask a workforce which aspects of the role they least enjoy… then the prospect of AI picking up those activities may be far less threatening”
“When we on-board school leavers and graduates, we give them plenty of exposure to our senior leaders and the kind of technology we’re using to design and build. That’s the area they’re always interested in asking loads of questions about.
“Construction is still a fairly competitive industry, so I think being able to showcase that way of working, is very attractive to a lot of younger people.”
Three quarters of UK employees said that the option of working flexibly would make a job more attractive to them, according to a recent study by meeting solution provider Powwownow. Nearly a third would prefer flexible working to a pay rise, and while this trend is unlikely to change anytime soon, there is still a yearning for face-to-face interaction.
“There is a massive focus on digital, automation, AI and robotics but there is a need to balance this with the human side of it. How do we use the technology to our advantage and interact with it?” says Brock.
“There’s only so much you can do over the phone, video conferencing and email. You can’t replace being there with someone in person and looking them in the eye. So, I think while there has to be more of a shift towards remote working, some people will always crave that human interaction.”
“There is a need to balance [automation] with the human side of it. How do we use the technology to our advantage?”
Millennials are, according to the research, the most likely to want the option to work flexibly. Some 70% wished they were offered it, compared to less than half (47%) of over 55s.
At the Wavemaker offices it is the millennial generation who value office space the most.
“I think it’s often our junior level employees who desire the identity of coming into an office and having their own desk the most. They value the ability to be able to work remotely, but they also like being able to feel they can come into an office and feel like they have a place here.”