Remote employee wellness in a WFH world: Top tips
Employee well-being is good for employees and for business. Discover the top tips to support remote employee wellness in a WFH-friendly world.
When workers went remote at the beginning of the pandemic, it was supposed to be a short-term solution. Fast forward two years, and remote workers have traded in their business suits for sweatpants and an office lunch for an afternoon stroll or playtime with their pets.
The good news is that most employees are just fine continuing to work remotely. In a 2021 Gallup survey, 54% of US workers reported that they’re not concerned about virtual work damaging their company culture. In fact, 12% believe it actually improves company culture.
This optimism isn’t surprising given that many employers have made proactive, strategic investments to support their remote teams.
Through digital transformation, companies build highly integrated, seamless remote work environments that leverage their employees just as effectively—and oftentimes, even more effectively—than when workers came to the office every day.
Digital transformation helps create healthy, productive work environments in three key ways:
- Cloud-based communication and collaboration tools
- AI-based employee support tools
- Automation allows employees to focus on more strategic work
Pets welcome: New virtual workspaces empower remote workers
Workers expect employers to create a professional working environment and to provide the tools they need to get their job done efficiently and effectively. For remote workers, building this workplace means investing in digital technologies.
Working from home, employees need more ways to communicate, including instant messaging and video conferencing. Teams also need new collaboration tools, including document-sharing software and project-management software.
Modern, cloud-based technologies can give companies these capabilities. Employees are supported and empowered to get their jobs done faster than they ever did in the office. Significantly, these tools enable employees to communicate and collaborate seamlessly with colleagues, both in real time as well as asynchronously.
Online collaboration: How sellers become rainmakers
Make it rain: Boost sales success via online collaboration and watch remote sales orgs soar.
Next-generation HR and IT services
When remote workers need services like HR or IT, it’s not often easy or fast. Since employees cannot simply walk down the hall to ask a colleague for help, companies need to find ways to replicate—and ideally, enhance—their service experiences through digital transformation.
The infusion of AI and automation into modern software solutions means that companies can improve how employees, especially those who work remotely, receive services.
For example, IT help desks can pull up complete case histories on an employee as soon as they make contact. Similarly, HR can build self-service portals that automatically initiate and manage a variety of common service requests, such as updating names or contact information.
Specific industries can take advantage of advanced tools that help with employee development. For instance, AI-based platforms that automatically review customer service calls in real time and provide coaching and feedback to the service agent—without a supervisor ever having to review the call recording manually.
What is employee experience management: Definition, benefits, strategy
Learn about employee experience management and why it matters. Improving employee experience unlocks big business benefits.
To the max: Digital tools give remote employees flexibility
Employees love remote work because of the flexibility—and that flexibility extends to devices used to get work done. They want to be able to work from anywhere at any time, which can mean using their personal phones, computers, and networks.
Through digital transformation, companies can build the capabilities to enable the most flexibility while reducing security risks. Specifically, companies can invest in tools that automatically flag suspicious emails, add multifactor authentication and encryption to any device, and keep all confidential information accessible only via virtual private networks.
Business transformation: Start with people, or don’t bother starting
For successful business transformation, leaders must take a people-first approach. Learn the benefits of putting people first in transformation projects, including a better bottom line.
Shifting to the strategic stuff
Employees often spend a lot of time on manual, repetitive workflows that could be automated. While remote work isn’t a necessary precursor to achieving automation, it certainly is a driving force.
Companies can automate many of their routine workflows, including those centered around analytics and reporting, project management, and employee services. These technology solutions can automatically store, manage, and integrate all of the data necessary to power these diverse functions.
The bottom line for the company? Employees can spend less time on time-consuming, low-value tasks and more time on higher-value work.
Digital transformation is within reach for companies of all sizes and across all industries, but some have been reluctant to make changes. But with remote work becoming a permanent way of doing business, companies that don’t adapt will fall behind.
