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DEX's Role in Bringing Generations Together

Thu, 11 May 2023 07:00:00 Z

Key takeaways

There are four generations in the workforce – each expecting something else from technology.
Organisations need to find a balance between technological innovations and comfortable tools for all generations.
By integrating accessibility into technologies and methodologies, organisations can build work environments that work for everyone.
Organisations should consider automation and AI to improve their digital employee experience and bring generations together.

Download the Digital Employee Experience Report and explore research results.

For the first time in history, there are four generations in the workforce:

Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964).
Generation X (1965-1980).
Millennial (1981-1996).
Generation Z (1997-2012).

This puts organisations in a unique situation – how do you make the correct adjustments for such a wide-ranging workforce? We are interacting with tech in nearly every aspect of our lives. And each generation has their own preferences, expectations and drivers for using tech.

Workers of all generations have struggled to adapt to remote and hybrid work environments, finding themselves in an uphill battle to build positive interactions with new tools and devices. This has been exacerbated by the rapid pace of technological development.

“DEX is great, but I believe we should also leave some space to the older generations who are not so familiar with new technologies and can function more efficiently in traditional environments.”

- IT Support Specialist, Essity

By 2030, one in every five Americans will be of retirement age, with 65% of Boomers planning on working past the retirement age of 65. By 2050, people in the European Union aged 75-84 years will expand by 56.1%. Employment rates for people aged 50-69 are also expected to rise to 65% in 2035, with 12% of office workers already being 59 years or older. This can’t be overlooked as it points to more diversity in how workers interact with their technology and what they expect from their employers.

For example, Millennials in a Gartner report rated socialisation and passion as strong motivators for working at an organisation, giving it the highest rating of five. Meanwhile, Baby Boomer and Gen X rate these two categories at one and three, respectively.

Even though a large portion of the workforce is still over the age of 50, Gen Z is projected to make up 27% of the workforce by 2025. This growing dichotomy means that employees, even if they work for the same company or on the same team, will have vastly different work methods and expectations from their employers.

Inclusivity is the key to tapping into new growth in this era of Everywhere Work. Investing in your digital employee experience (DEX), which equips your employees with the right tools, is a great start.

The correct investment helps to foster improved workflows and help with talent retention. On top of that, the tools it brings to your organisation, such as 360-degree monitoring of devices and automatic self-healing of devices, offer you the necessary insights to identify how to bridge generational divides.

A flexible and scalable employee experience for everyone

Organisations need to balance adopting technological innovations and making sure all generations can stay productive and comfortable with the tools they use. Because at the end of the day, a great digital employee experience works for everyone – regardless of their age. But, just like Albert Einstein’s saying, “everything is relative,” a “great” experience is different for everyone.

What works well for one generation may not translate equally to another. You need to make sure your IT team can cater to all their needs and monitor trends to adjust and inform your strategy and investment. For example, Gen Z and Millennials, who’ve been surrounded by tech their entire lives, might not be inclined to seek support. They’ll opt for resolving it themselves.

This type of DIY culture can eventually snowball into shadow IT – a risk growing globally. In fact, our Everywhere Work report shows there’s been a 26% increase in shadow IT because of remote work environments. In some countries, like Germany, there’s been an astounding 45% increase in shadow IT.

That’s why basing it on the context of the user and noting specific preferences and expectations, thanks to heightened levels of automation and AI, opens the door for more personalised support for all generations.

While it’s important to keep generational differences in mind, it’s equally important not to fall victim to stereotyping – sometimes referred to as unconscious bias. Rather, get a gauge directly from your employees and look at what areas need to be addressed.

Our research found that 14% of workers say their organisation doesn’t even collect employee feedback on a regular basis. With 26% of employees saying they’d quit their job partly because of the tools available, taking no action isn’t an option. Asking for direct feedback from your employees is key. Additionally, you can augment this by measuring your users’ DEX score and sentiment on a continuous basis.

A common cause of employee frustration stems from lost work and interrupted momentum. In fact, 42% of office workers have spent their own money on hardware and software to help stay productive and ease frustration for themselves.

When workers lack the necessary tools to work effectively, their productivity and morale suffer. This is highlighted in a recent Harvard Business Review study where only 28% of employees feel connected to their organisation’s mission. And this can lead to a mass exodus. According to our Everywhere Work report, 25% of office workers say they switched jobs in the last year because they didn’t feel engaged with the values and culture of their company.

Seeing what works for employees and what areas need to be addressed is key to improving your organisation’s DEX and putting your employees in a position to succeed.

Integrate accessibility into your technologies and methodologies

As you head towards improving your digital employee experience, assessing how to make your technology flexible and scalable for everyone is a step in the right direction.

Some examples of improving accessibility can include:

Going beyond post-ticket surveys and collecting sentiment via interactive automation bots.
Offering audio options.
Tracking and optimising experiences over time.
Implementing automation to reduce workloads and solve problems before they impact users.

Organisations have an opportunity to be trailblazers in how they run their digital employee experience initiatives. Not only will improving your DEX build work environments that cater to each employee’s needs, increase productivity levels and align them with the goals of your organisation, it will help bridge generational divides – making your organisation more inclusive and productive.

Improving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is something C-suites can’t avoid. 56% of full-time employees say having an ethnically, racially or culturally diverse workforce is very important to them – with Gen Z and Millennial employees valuing it more than Gen X and Boomers.

Improving your digital employee experience efforts can also aid in DEI efforts by:

Building clearer connections to specific business outcomes.
Maximising data-driven decision making.
Providing a consolidated view of DEI technology programs.

Not only does DEX create environments where employees have a choice in how they work, it breaks barriers that’ve been ingrained into traditional work settings – paving the way for a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

If you’d like to learn more about DEX, explore our eBook and watch our webinar for a step-by-step outline.

The Role of DEX in Talent Retention

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 14:32:46 Z

Key takeaways

The average knowledge worker uses 2.6 devices to get their jobs done and runs into an average of 3.67 digital endpoint issues a day.
Research shows that almost a third of employees quit a job within the first six months.
87% of HR professionals say improving retention rates are among their highest priorities in the next five years.
Thanks to digital burnouts and better job opportunities, 20% of HR professionals are expecting a decrease in employee retention rates, based on current trends at their organisation.
By providing the right tools for their employees, organisations can increase talent retention and reduce the risks of work-related stress and digital burnouts.

Download the Digital Employee Experience Report and explore research results.

Recruiting talent to your organisation is one thing, keeping said talent is a different beast. Everywhere Work has given the workforce an increased sense of power in choosing where and how they work.

As a result, retaining employees has become a challenge for organisations. Research has shown that 31% of employees quit a job within the first six months and France experienced record-high turnover in 2021, with a rate of 24.20%. This massive employee shift, sometimes called the “great resignation”, is a worldwide phenomenon.

Recent reports are showing:

38% of Australian workers intend to leave their current employer during the next 12 months.
The US saw 5.9 million total separations in July 2022 – 20% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
The Netherlands had 1.9 million people start a new job at the beginning of 2022 – 400,000 more than at the same time in 2021.
45% of US employees are currently looking for a better position elsewhere.

Knowledge workers’ expectations have changed in the age of Everywhere Work; especially when it comes to the technology they use day-to-day. The average employee now uses 2.6 devices to get their job done and 49% of employees are frustrated with their current tools – with 26% even contemplating leaving their job partly because of it.

Therefore, a proper investment in your Digital Employee Experience (DEX) process and tools can help you both recruit and keep talent, as well as align them with the goals of your organisation.

The value of DEX across your organisation

Talent retention has become a topic no organisation can escape. An overwhelming 87% of HR experts consider improving retention rates to be among their highest priorities in the next five years.

“I think ‘Attracts and retains talent’ has an edge at the moment since good employees are hard to come by in the current job market!”

- Mick Verbunt, System Engineer / Workspace Engineer, ACA IT Solutionsty

Over the past few years, businesses have reassessed embracing user-centric approaches to IT. In particular, the “modern management theory” postulates that job satisfaction predicates workforce productivity, rather than financial compensation. Applying this principle to the present day, the use of IT requires digital technology to serve the workers, rather than the other way around.

Today, the type and usability of the technology businesses offer to employees are chief factors for attracting and retaining a talented workforce. According to research, 41% of businesses reported they had lost IT workers because they were unhappy with having to perform excessive workloads.

Rather than focusing on delivering “user-centric” technology that solely targets the goal of making workers productive, modern management approaches address the broader objective of enhancing employee experiences to elevate both productivity and job satisfaction.

Deter digital burnouts

Everywhere Work hasn’t been just a bed of roses. It has created an always-on environment where workers can’t “plug out.” Unrestricted access to the internet and their work devices has caused a spike in digital burnouts.

Digital burnouts, a contributing factor to mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, are costing UK organisations over 15 million days of lost work. HR professionals estimate up to 50% of their annual turnover is caused by digital burnouts. In fact, 20% of organizations are predicting a decrease in talent retention based on current trends.

When workers experience digital burnout, they find themselves disengaged from the goals of their organisation. That’s further confirmed by research saying only 28% of employees feel connected to their company's mission.

By providing the right tools for their employees, organizations can be proactive in reducing work-related stress and digital burnouts, leading to a more engaged and invigorated workforce. When workers feel more in line with their organisation’s goals, productivity will increase.

What value do higher retention rates have?

Employees bring the most value to an organisation when they’re energized, motivated and willing to take on challenges and strategic projects. None of that can start without a great relationship with their devices and tools. And workers are vocal about it – our survey on digital employee experience found that 65% of employees and 71% of IT professionals said they could be more productive if they had different tools.

There are also financial factors to consider. It’s estimated that low retention rates will cost the US economy $430 billion in lost revenue by 2030 and replacing a trained employee can exceed their salary by up to 200%. In the UK, work-related stress is costing organisations over £5 billion annually. Improving your retention rates, through the correct investment in DEX, can maximize a company's profits up to four times.

“Between reducing risk and retaining our healthcare talent, we believe improving the DEX of our employees is very important for our business.”

- Robert Garza, Systems Architect, University Health System

Investing in DEX is no longer a question of “if” or “when”. The toll digital burnouts are taking on your teams are now clearly impacting organizations’ ability to attract and retain talent. Empower your teams with great tools that drive productivity and employee engagement.

Learn more about which areas to focus on first in our Getting started with DEX eBook.