A secure digital workplace is a must, but for it to be effective, it must also be user-friendly. If processes such as authenticating into accounts, accessing data and applications, or enrolling new devices are too complex, employee satisfaction and productivity will drop and IT workloads will increase.
The business case for providing an exceptional employee experience is straightforward. Employees tend to be more engaged, productive and loyal. Technology can play a key role in enhancing employee experience. However, our survey suggests that organisations can and should do even more in this area.
Driving Forces For a Work at Home strategy
For those who have implemented, or plan to implement, a remote working strategy, employee-related objectives were the key drivers. Both employee experience and employee productivity were rated as the two most important factors driving a remote working strategy, well ahead of the next most important factor, cybersecurity.
However, when it comes to future investment, the focus is on improving security. Almost double the number of respondents rank this as their number one spending area versus either employee experience or productivity.
The Remote Working Experience is Not Homogeneous
Our study shows that the vast majority of respondents (between 76% and 89%) are either satisfied or very satisfied with the possibility of remote working. However, not everyone has the same user experience while working remotely as some elements of the remote working environment are difficult for the organisation to control.
For example, almost half of respondents (48%) experienced connectivity and broadband issues, while a similar percentage (44%) reported user experience problems. In both cases, this can lead to lost productivity and frustrated employees.
How Technology Can Enhance Employee Experience
Almost half (43%) of the businesses that have implemented a UEM (Unified Endpoint Management) system, or are planning to do so, do not use its device lifecycle management features. These features enable devices of new hires to be accessed and configured within a few simple clicks, saving both time and resources to the IT team. With distributed teams working in different locations, utilising these features becomes increasingly important.
Furthermore, almost half of the respondents (40%) have not adopted conditional access policies. These policies can provide simpler authentication for employees by taking into account additional contextual security information (such as the device being used or the location the employee is in). When combined with Single Sign-On, this technology, is a good example of how security and usability can be achieved at the same time.
Our Recommendations
Employee experience and productivity are clearly the pillars of the modern workplace. However, organisations are not fully exploiting their existing technology stack to further increase the employee experience. While they are planning on investing in employee experience in the coming 12 months, investing in cyber security seems to be top priority. As hybrid working is likely to become a permanent part of many business models, establishing a future-proof distributed workforce must be high on the strategic agenda.
When looking to enrol a lasting remote working strategy, we recommend the following:
- Introduce Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for employee experience, such as an Employee Net Promoter Score, on board level.
- Appoint a cross-functional C-level leader to take a holistic approach.
- Adopt a persona-based approach to device choice, to match the demands and activities of an employee’s role.
- Invest in and implement employee experience-centred technologies such as conditional access for secure and user friendly authentication, solutions that stabilise network connections or reduce bandwidth demands, and device enrolment programmes to simplify the rollout process of devices.
Read the full report
Providing an outstanding employee experience is key when looking to enrol a future-proof modern workplace. Ready to get started? Download our free report for tips and tricks on how enhance your hybrid workplace.