Have you been conducting research to learn more about satisfaction levels among your workforce, like employee surveys, for example? If so, then you’re like many large corporations that are beginning to understand the benefits of happy, enabled employees:
Higher levels of engagement, leading to increased productivity and innovationImproved employee retention levels
Employees act as evangelists for attracting top talent
If the results of those satisfaction surveys are not as positive as you’d like, it’s time to learn about steps you can take for improving employee experience using workplace technology.
Satisfaction isn’t enough: your goal should be improving employee experience
If your goal is to increase satisfaction levels among your employees, you may not be not going far enough to achieve the results you’re after. “Satisfaction” is really only about meeting your employees’ current expectations. Even when people get what they expect, don’t forget that expectations may be low. Meeting expectations is not necessarily enough to get them to perform in extraordinary ways. It might be barely enough to maintain the status quo.
Instead, shoot for the following goals related to improving employee experience:
Generate positive emotions. Create workplace experiences that help employees feel valued, build team camaraderie and cohesion, and show workers how their efforts contribute to company success.
Create delight throughout the workday. Moments of delight tend to be memorable, and color people’s attitudes and opinions long afterward. They don’t even have to be related to work!
Make things easy. Take steps to remove obstacles, time wasters and frustration that get in the way of work performance.
Read on for some ideas about how you can use workplace technology to impact all of these goals.
7 workplace technology ideas for improving employee experience
There’s a reason smartphones have revolutionized communication; they help to accomplish all 3 of the goals mentioned above. They make tasks quick & easy, create moments of delight and connect people to generate positive feelings. Workplace technology is well suited to helping you accomplish your employee experience goals. Here are 7 valuable ideas.
1. Intelligent wayfinding tools
What’s more frustrating than wasting time trying to find a space to work?
If your company has implemented agile workspaces with unassigned seating, how are your employees finding spaces to work? Desk booking systems can be frustrating, because people are forced to make their plans in advance. How often do your plans change from day to day and throughout the day? As a result, desks and conference rooms sit empty while others struggle to find what they need.
Instead, implement a wayfinding system with real-time intelligence that uses utilization tracking technology to sense which spaces are currently in use and which are available. Employees can simply take a moment to use a kiosk by the elevator, or open an app on their smartphone to find a work space in seconds. Even better: use the same technology to make it simple to find other people in the workplace, encouraging collaboration and teamwork.
Want to see how this workplace technology works? Watch this wayfinding video demo.
And, get this informative guide that explains the utilization technology you need to power modern wayfinding tools: Managing Workplace Utilization.
2. Connectivity everywhere
The idea of work/life balance is becoming a thing of the past: today it’s all about work/life integration. People want the flexibility and the ability to work when, where and how they need to. That means it’s up to you to enable that ability, by making it easy for people to connect with workplace technology from anywhere.
Remote connectivity is essential, but it’s just as important to make sure you have consistent, high-quality connectivity everywhere in your workplace. For example, don’t forget Wi-Fi on the grounds of your campus, in the cafeteria and even the gym.
3. Smart parking
At large corporate campuses, parking can be a frustrating problem for employees. They may waste as much as 20-30 minutes each day driving around a huge lot or garage looking for a parking spot. Talk about motivation to avoid coming into the office!
Instead, why not provide a moment of delight each day using workplace technology for smart parking? When people arrive, they are immediately directed to an empty parking spot. The “cool factor” is sure to win you major brownie points! Not to mention improving employee experience as they gain back time every morning.
4. Biometric security
While badge reader technology can be useful, it can also be a pain for employees to wear or carry around cards or tags everywhere they go. Biometric security is workplace technology that makes it easy for employees to move around throughout the day. Instead of swiping a card, you can use facial recognition, finger or handprint, iris recognition, or even voice recognition.
5. Automated café
Here’s another way to provide moments of delight for your employees every day: having their favorite drink ready and waiting at an automated office café. No more need to wait in long lines for their coffee, or even to make it themselves. Just pop in, grab and go. Talk about making it easy!
6. Meeting experience technology
There are a couple of different problems employees experience when it comes to workplace technology for meetings. First: things don’t always work as they expect, causing wasted time and frustration. Second, companies often make the mistake of providing meeting technology only in conference rooms. That practice flies in the face of the previous recommendation about providing connectivity everywhere.
Tackle the first issue head-on by committing to seamless and easy-to-use technology for meeting experiences, as well as fast support when needed. Doing so can go a long way to reducing stress in the workplace, enabling team communication, and improving employee experience.
Next, make meeting technology readily available for those impromptu brainstorming sessions or team status check-ins that may not take place in a meeting room. Mobile meeting technology is becoming a must-have for the collaborative office environment.
Learn more: Online Collaboration Tools for the Mobile Workforce
7. Personal temperature control apps
One of the biggest complaints people have about their workplace is the temperature! When they are constantly too hot or too cold, they are not only distracted and less productive, but they also feel a loss of control that makes them feel undervalued. The tough part of this issue is the time it takes facilities staff to field and respond to complaints about office temperature.
The good news is, you can implement workplace technology that makes it easy for every employee to share their office temperature experience using a mobile app. Even better, that app is tied to your building automation that can respond by adjusting HVAC systems. It’s an easy way for people to feel listened to, while taking workload off your FM team at the same time.
Implementing workplace technology can be one of the most successful strategies when it comes to improving employee experience.
*** This article was contributed by [Ian Morley](https://www.serraview.com/author/ian-morleyserraview-com/) of [Serraview](https://www.serraview.com/). It originally appeared on [Serraview’s blog](https://serraview.com/workplace-technology-improving-employee-experience/).