In the modern business landscape, attracting and retaining talent has never been more important for employers – especially considering that, in the UK alone, job vacancies are actually 300,000 higher than in early 2020.

In recent research conducted by Apogee, a worrying 40% of 200 employees reported that they are willing to leave their current role to pursue opportunities elsewhere – with the main factor being a lack of access to digital collaboration tools.

HR Directors may consider this to be an unreasonable employee demand, especially considering how much they adjusted to the challenges of 2020. However, the research seems to indicate that employees are experiencing negative effects due to continued under-investment in tools that ease hybrid collaboration.

 For instance, over a quarter of our sample (28%) reported that a lack of adequate tech is preventing them from doing their job properly, with many reporting feelings of frustration (29%) and isolation (28%) as a direct result.

But despite flexibility being a top employee demand, 20% of 200 HR Directors aren’t sure how to meet these needs – with 76% going as far as to call them ‘simply incompatible with the needs of the business.’ This is also despite nearly one-third of these HR Directors naming work-life balance (32%) as the most important feature of the ideal workplace.

Here we see a clear disconnect in terms of priorities – while work-life balance is recognised to be a priority, investing in better hybrid working is considered by many to be a bridge too far. But why is this the case, and how can HR Directors be convinced that collaboration tech is crucial for retaining their valuable talent?

Playing The Generation Game

Of course, this isn’t the only disconnect that HR Directors are having to contend with. A considerable 18% of HR Directors report struggling to connect with employees, especially those in Gen Z – digital natives who, having only joined the workforce during the pandemic, prefer to communicate digitally; and expect seamless hybrid collaboration to already be in place.

But HR leaders are underestimating the impact that the right technology can have on staff retention – ranking it a distant fourth behind work-life balance (40%), career development (28%), and hybrid working (27%). In contrast, 24% of employees actually put collaboration technology as their top priority for an ideal workplace.

This disconnect could be partially motivated by HR Directors putting more value on physical office interactions than younger generations. For 23%, less face-to-face time is preventing them from feeling connected to employees – but, by showing hesitancy to meet the newest generation halfway, HR Directors are only widening the chasm between themselves and their youngest colleagues.

This is obviously something that employers cannot afford. Nearly a quarter (23%) of HR leaders said that current challenges surrounding recruitment and retention are already the most common factor stopping them from feeling optimistic about the future of work – and the longer this disconnect goes unchecked, the longer that negative feelings will have to fester.

Meeting Employees Halfway

Hybrid working isn’t going anywhere - and with technology developing as quickly as it is, digital collaboration tools will become commonplace for businesses sooner or later. However, embracing it proactively actually creates cost efficiencies within your organisation; by allowing you to get more value from your employee hours – while also enhancing the work-life balance that employees have become accustomed to.

In order to foster a more functional hybrid working culture for their employees, HR Directors must make their boards aware of the benefits that come with effective digital collaboration – as well as finding the value in virtual interaction for themselves, rather than dismiss it as a temporary fad popular among younger generations. Below are a few examples of the advantages you’re missing out on:

• For making documents easy to locate, share, secure, back up, and open from any location, an Information Management system is invaluable. This not only gives your remote employees easy access to the files they need, when they need them; but also gives you tools to protect sensitive files from both internal and external threats to data security.
  
  
• Rather than burden your employees with low-value manual jobs, Process Automation software handles certain admin tasks (i.e. invoice processing) without requiring employee resource – allowing them to devote more attention to valuable strategic tasks when not in the office.
  
  
• Ensure effective communication – and, in turn, more effective collaboration – with a Meeting Room Equipment service. As well as promoting better mental health by allowing employees to feel more connected to their colleagues, this facilitates more effective, co-ordinated teamwork; even when employees are working remotely.

Ultimately, an organisation is nothing without its people; and actively choosing to not invest in enriching the employee experience only serves to drive talent away. HR Directors are a key voice that can keep people engaged and invested in their companies - but only if they are open-minded to new ways of working and communicating, and only if they are willing to fight their employees’ corner to upper management.

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