29 May 2024

How to reimagine your workplace experience and guarantee employee satisfaction

Are your employees happy? If you have a distributed workforce, you might find this question difficult to answer.

That said, if all is not well with your employees, you wouldn't be alone. Forty-one percent of workers worldwide are considering leaving their jobs. A huge number, but not so surprising.

For one thing, hybrid working has opened new opportunities for those previously hamstrung by location. Then there's the Great Resignation creating a record number of vacancies and placing the power firmly in the hands of your staff. So, what can you do to make your workforce happy, whilst also improving employee retention? Well, you could start by reimagining your workplace experience. We're going to look at the technology you can use for better hybrid working and employee satisfaction. Let's dive in.

1. Improve communication

Seventy percent of workers want flexible remote work options to continue, while over 65 percent want more in-person time with their teams. So, to meet the demands of your workforce, hybrid working is clearly the answer and there are ways to ensure your hybrid workers can easily connect and collaborate.

When you migrate to Microsoft 365 your workforce will be able to connect to your network from wherever, whether they are on-site or working remotely. Taking advantage of the range of cloud-based applications included is easy, with Microsoft Teams and Teams Rooms which includes Microsoft Whiteboard they can enjoy video conferencing with exceptional and consistent user experience with the option to break out into separate rooms for more focused meetings. In addition, apps like Yammer keep staff included and well informed on company news whilst SharePoint will enable them to share and edit files, empowering more efficient collaborations, regardless of where they are.

But supporting a hybrid workforce is not always straightforward. Communication can suffer as a result of bad internet connections and inferior video conferencing. And this can contribute to a poor employee experience. And yet, when you migrate to the cloud, your workforce will be able to connect to your network whether they are on-site or working remotely. Then they can take advantage of the range of cloud-based applications included with Microsoft 365.

2. Provide insights

Remote employees work longer, not more efficiently according to a recent study. This is because frequent meetings and messages are all too common, especially while companies figure out how to manage the hybrid working model.

So, before you start micromanaging your employees' time, consider a better way.

Viva Insights in Outlook will provide your employees with personal insights into their working day so they can better manage this themselves. It will help them:

  • Prepare for meetings
  • Stay on top of tasks
  • Improve focus

They will also get digest emails once a month, outlining their working patterns with recommendations on how they can improve.

3. Promote wellbeing

Fifty-six percent of home workers find it harder to switch off, according to a survey from the Royal Society of Public Health. With burnout too common an occurrence among remote employees, the need to promote wellbeing has never been clearer.

Viva Insights on Microsoft Teams can help. Its Headspace app provides personal well-

being experiences to users, with guided meditations to help employees disconnect and recharge. And for those having trouble concentrating on work, there are playlists to improve focus, too.

Boost employee satisfaction with a better workplace experience

Sixty-six percent of leaders are considering redesigning their offices for hybrid work.

And yet there are tools for better hybrid working already available that require no overhaul to your company space.

With a range of apps from Microsoft 365, you can help your employees streamline their communication and collaborate efficiently, all while improving their workplace experience. So, you can guarantee employee satisfaction, while benefiting from a workforce that is happy and productive, no matter where they are.