Are you annoyed by the long chain of e-mail messages in your inbox each morning? Do you wish you could speak to your co-workers in person rather than over Skype? You’re not alone. Many employees lament that new technologies have eliminated much of the face-to-face work of the business world. But Natalie Burg, writing for Unify, claims that new tech doesn’t have to make a workplace less people-friendly.
Isolated
The key, Burg writes, is for companies to use technology properly. A lot of companies simply use tech such as e-mail and video conferencing in order to pile more work on their employees. This can leave employees feeling exhausted by the end of the day. But Burg writes that there’s a way for companies to use tech properly: They simply need to use new technology to make their employees’ lives easier.
Evolving workplace
Burg says that companies do not have to abandon technology. Instead, they should make sure their tech evolves to help keep the human element in the business world. For instance, companies often talk about work-life balance. Technology can actually help employees achieve that. As Burg writes, it’s actually a good thing if employees have the ability while sitting at the dinner table to send a quick e-mail message to a colleague across the country. This tech allows the employee to leave the office an hour earlier, definitely a valuable thing.
Creating happy, productive workers
Employees tend to be happier when they are able to work on a mobile basis. And when workers are happier, they’re usually more productive, as well. The reality is, as Burg writes, companies that don’t amend their technology to make their workers more mobile might soon find themselves left behind. Why would the top employees choose to work at a company that doesn’t adopt mobile technology?