For a business and its employees, using the right technology can improve overall efficiency, productivity, and employee morale. Gone are the days when upgrading business tech is a luxury more than a necessity. Today, the type of technology you use has a direct effect on the success of your business—which means that if you keep using outdated, inadequate tech, your business will likely fail to grow as well.
The main reason for this is that employees’ morale relies heavily on your business’ technology. If they are stuck with old tech that barely lets them do their job efficiently, they are more likely to be dissatisfied with their job and have lower morale. Poor productivity and employee retention are just some of the common results.
So, in what ways can technology boost employee morale—and ultimately your business’ productivity?
1. Better communication
Remote work is now the new normal for millions of companies across the globe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This shift has birthed the ‘virtual workspace,’ which functions just like a real office only without the in-person interactions. It sounds simple, but there are many challenges of remote work that many people have come to realize after suddenly being shifted from an in-person office to a work-from-home set-up.
The main challenge of remote work is maintaining proper communication. Without non-verbal communication cues, talking to each other can be open to miscommunication and misunderstandings. Things can quickly get lost in translation. Employees can mistake other people’s “tone” for something else. In short, the lack of in-person interactions can decrease the effectiveness of internal communications and eventually affect morale.
Using the right technology is the key to avoiding communication issues. Here are the most important types that every company should have:
- Video conferencing. Seeing each other’s faces, even if it’s just on a screen, can help improve employee morale. Use video conferencing tools to conduct meetings, one-on-one coaching sessions, and even just weekly catch-ups to allow your employees to get some virtual face-to-face time.
- Instant messaging. An IM tool with features like encryption, channels, read receipts, and file sharing is a must for proper communication within the workplace.
2. Improved collaboration
Along with improved communication, using the right tech also helps boost collaboration among your workers. Here are some of the most important tools that can make collaboration easier and help boost employee morale by making their jobs more efficient.
- File sharing. Companies, especially those that are working remotely, need a reliable file sharing app to share documents with each other in a secure manner.
- Wikis. Let employees find information on their own through wikis that contain everything they need to know to do their jobs.
- Forums. Tools like Slack and Trello allow employees to collaborate easily without things getting lost in the sauce.
3. Increased employee engagement
The need for engagement is now more crucial than ever. Luckily, there are numerous tech solutions that allow companies to engage their employees—wherever they may be—through activities and events. One such example is the solution that Cosm provides. With a virtual event that allows people to enjoy an activity in a similar manner as an in-person event, employees will feel as if they are really in the moment instead of sitting behind their computer screens. Imagine the feeling of watching a movie in a dome theater, but it’s actually you meeting your colleagues!
4. Task automation
Few things kill morale faster than repetitive or redundant tasks—no one wants to do one thing over and over every day as part of their job.
Automating tedious and repetitive tasks like data input, appointment setting, and email blasts can boost employee productivity and allow them to focus on more important, more exciting tasks. Not only that but automating tasks will reduce the risk of human error, which is likely to happen in manual processes.
5. Increased efficiency
Older, inadequate tech makes room for inefficiency, and along with it comes employee dissatisfaction and disgruntlement. Employees want to do their job in the most efficient way possible, and using outdated tech can prevent that from happening.
Here are the signs that your business needs to upgrade its tech for better efficiency and employee morale:
- Computers take forever to boot up
- Employees can’t get their tasks done on time because of the tech available to them
- Your systems can no longer support upgrades
- The risk of a data breach is high
- There are concerns about data privacy regulations
- You get a lot of complaints from employees themselves
- There are a lot of mistakes that can be attributed to poor tech
Conclusion
Using proper technology is one of the key drivers for a business’ growth and development. If you want to boost your employees‘ morale and enjoy higher productivity as a result, it may be time for a technology refresh.
