Undoubtedly, innovative technology does a lot for businesses and their growth today. However, a thing that’s frequently overlooked is how technology can be used for motivating our employees. Apart from appreciation and the obvious monetary ways, it is pretty challenging to come up with creative ways to motivate employees.
While there are other interesting ways, too, such as offering them free lunches, paid leaves, unlimited PTO, and company-hosted events, if you’re looking for something different, we might have a couple of things for you. Today, businesses across the world are trying to use technology to keep their workforce motivated.
Here are 7 ways you can use technology to keep your workforce motivated:
1. Offer flexible working options
According to Office Corp, offices that allow work-from-home have increased by a whopping 103% since the year 2005. This is because organizations are realizing the immense advantages of working from home. As companies continue doing so, this number will continue to rise dramatically. This, ultimately, saves your company money. More importantly, it will result in more enthusiastic and well-rest employees.
This means more productivity. And despite these clear benefits, there still will be many managers still at stake when it comes to offering employees flexible workplace options.
So, if you wish to keep your existing employees motivated, want to attract more talented individuals to your organization, and also want to see sustainable long-term growth, this is a strategy you want to consider following.
2. Offer good learning and growth opportunities
Every self-motivated, driven employee knows the importance of continuous learning. While they want to deliver high-quality results, they also want opportunities where they can thrive. Make your employees feel like you value them and like they are a valued asset for the growth of your business.
Have in place internal or external learning support available for your employees and provide them with substantial learning opportunities. This instils a sense of belonging within your employees, as it makes them feel that the company cares about and invests in them.
When your employees thrive, the company thrives. And remember that simply giving them access to a learning portal isn’t enough. You need to talk t your employees and invest time in getting to know what works best for them. Giving them opportunities to learn and grow will help them become successful and more committed to your organization in the long term.
3. Provide more mobility
The number of telecommuting is rising every day, however many organizations have mixed emotions about it. Regardless of what your believes and opinions are about this issue, you need to offer your employees the appropriate and the best mobile workplace tools so that they can remain connected amongst each other, no matter where they are. Doing this will enable them to become more flexible and help them tap into their full potential.
What’s surprising, is that a 40% boost in productivity can be seen in employees by doing so. Obviously, mobile applications and devices are not the only way to keep your employees connected and informed.
Other ways, such as employee portals and team sites can also be used efficiently to make sure that there is a proper, continuous flow of information at all times. Online business meeting capabilities help everyone in the team stay connected, despite their physical location. Using tools like Google Meet and Zoom can also help in broadening your customer base.
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4. Give & receive feedback in real-time
Usually, managers and superiors give employees feedback only at the time of quarterly/annual performance reviews. Feedback is something that should be given continually, and unfortunately, a very small percentage of employers do so. However, if this is automated using your Human Resource software, giving and receiving real-time feedback would become easier.
Giving real-time feedback would greatly enhance the performance of an employee. This would also improve engagement and increase motivation since you are consistently guiding and mentoring your employees and nudging them in the right direction.
5. Leverage the Internet of Things
Together with the power of 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT) is to bring a whole new level of automation. So many manual jobs, tasks, and processes can now be automated, making your organization even more productive and efficient. IoT will impact everything, from layout optimization to operations management as well as equipment maintenance.
When you invest in smarter buildings and smart tools, you gain access to more insightful feedback and data and more about your employees, equipment, and customers. With infinite information at your disposal, you’ll have more control over what it costs to run and operate your facility as well as keep the condition of your building in good standing.
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6. Invest in M2M Communication
With the evolution of workplace solutions, we have new and enhanced communication abilities among, not just employees, but equipment too. With benefits like transparency as well as a steady flow of big data analytics, organizations can start investing in Machine to Machine (M2M) Communication. Through M2M, your devices can seamlessly communicate with each other and with business software over the internet.
You and your management team get access to real-time data and feedback about where, how, and by whom your equipment is being used. The team also gets critical data and alerts regarding system breakdowns and can see what tools and assets are benefiting their workforce the most. Ultimately, this helps in making your workplace more efficient and keeps your employees more engaged, motivated, and productive.
7. Increased collaboration and sharing
Cloud-centric file-sharing tools, such as Google Drive and Dropbox, are gaining traction with organizations of all sizes. Using cloud-based file sharing tools helps eliminate the basic frustrations of employees by making it convenient to find and share work-related documents.
The tools also keep track of who is working on which document, who has access to it and encourage collaborative working among co-workers. With companies going remote, these tools are extremely helpful as it makes it easier for your workforce to access files remotely and also do their work while they are on the go.
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