This is how technology helps avoid loneliness in the home office

Out of sight, out of mind: This mantra should in no way apply to the work-from-home workforce. However, the reality sometimes looks different. It is not enough just to provide employees with laptops, because remote or hybrid work has an impact on all the factors that make up a positive employee experience: company culture, flexibility, management style and technology.

Asking employees in the home office to develop a sense of belonging to their employer is of the essence. Therefore, companies should give technology a new role and consider how it can help strengthen corporate cultures to encourage collaboration. Of course, it’s easier to create a sense of togetherness when everyone is working together in the office. But this lack of physical proximity can also be compensated for through a digital communication strategy. Employee surveys, for example, highlight what colleagues value in the company or would improve on. Online training also welds the workforce together and motivates and strengthens the company culture.

Employees need collaboration tools

Many companies have already digitized their products and services. But employees also need digital tools. The key to agile business models is cloud-based platforms that make communication between hybrid teams much easier. If you use collaboration tools such as those provided by Zoho, the physical distance disappears because applications such as email, chat, videos, and meetings are integrated into a single user interface and thus allow seamless exchange.

In addition to these tools, employees also use department-specific applications such as customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), or human resource management systems. This diversity can lead to many applications running in isolation and involving a lot of administrative work. Here too, with the right technology, companies can ensure that users don’t get lost in the maze of applications. Instead, a group where employees can communicate with each other via apps via chat, voice and video phone calls ensures smooth operations, efficiency and flexibility.

Timely praise increases motivation

Not only technology, but leadership is also a challenge in the modern world of work. So that productivity does not suffer from lack of coordination and communication, planning qualities of management are required. You must decide which tasks employees can do remotely and which should be done in the office for a productive outcome. Management must find the perfect combination in which employees can enjoy the flexibility of working from home and social interaction in the office.

Even in the home office, employees’ need for recognition is just as strong. But conveying praise is more difficult because of the distance. Managers can get technology support here. By analyzing data, they identify high-performing employees and teams and give them timely recognition. When managers do this in public forums or online meetings, the odds are high that the praise indirectly improves the mood and motivation of the entire team.

This is an article from our online 3-4/2023 issue. Request a free trial subscription to the print edition.

Maintaining company culture is more difficult when the workforce is decentralized. So leaders are tasked with embodying culture in every interaction to ensure employees understand it. A strong culture is the prerequisite for motivating employees and ultimately achieving success.

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