On Promotion Day, Chris Bedi, Chief Information Officer from ServiceNow, and Pat Wadors, Chief Talent Officer, gathered together for a virtual meeting on the appearance of the “next workplace”. This has nothing to do with the new normal (the current way of working), but the way of working afterwards. Both sides believe that the way of working has changed forever.
Now everyone is talking about the new normal. How do we live within five feet, and what does working from home look like? Of course, this is only possible if possible. Many companies have considered and analyzed it. We also wrote some articles about it on Techzine.
At ServiceNow, they are looking to the future, hoping to be more positive in the future. Without affecting our situation, this is of course annoying and sometimes makes many people feel sad. In a new period, we can (partially) return to the office, but there is no vaccine there yet and other measures will be taken. What would it be like? But even if there is a vaccine, will we go back before the corona or our workplace will change forever?
Our lives have changed, for beginners, it’s less social
People have lost a lot of social contacts. Not only did they no longer meet with colleagues, but the catering industry was also closed, all activities were cancelled, and even family visits were restricted to a certain extent. Missing the conversation at the coffee machine sounds like a trivial matter, but it is really good for us. Due to work from home and little social interaction, your social adaptability declines. This does not mean that working at home will end soon. As long as there is no vaccine, many people will continue to work from home.
Things that many people don’t mind at all. Social isolation is annoying, but many people like to work from home. A recent study conducted by Okta found that only one-third of employees want to return to the office. Two-thirds of people think it’s okay at home, and of course they don’t want to give up completely.
The new normal is the next normal and the future of work
This new normal (often mentioned) makes the employee’s desire for the next normal or the employer’s request. At ServiceNow, they believe that the way they work has changed forever. Although some people are now allowed or allowed to work from home, almost everyone now works entirely from home. The reason for this is that everyone who was previously allowed or unable to work from home can now do so. This removes barriers and arguments for employers. New insights have also been created, and so have employees’ desires and requirements. How often do employees want to work in the office after the corona?
Pat Wadors: “The workplace no longer exists before Corona”
Vados said that the workplace before Corona no longer exists. Both parties are considering how we will work in the future. By employees, but also by employers. In the past few months, many companies have suddenly had to make major innovations to make working from home possible. In order to collaborate with colleagues, significant investments have been made in other cloud services and collaboration platforms.
According to Wadors, the trick is to ensure that employees actually start using all these new tools. In addition, companies must measure someone’s productivity so that they can make adjustments if necessary to improve this. The leadership style has also changed. Empathy is becoming more and more important. Now, personal contact via video call requires a cautious approach. However, you can still show interest in someone’s private life.
Bedi added that marketing methods from the consumer market can easily be used to measure innovation. If you introduce a new platform (such as Slack or Zoom), you can easily measure how many daily active users the platform has, how much time employees spend on the platform, how many conversations there are, and how many messages are sent. If you collect this data every day, you will see a row and you can see the progress of adoption. You can then make adjustments in certain areas.
Step by step to the next normal
According to Bedi and Wadors, we are now in the new normal, everyone is suddenly working from home, and we are now slowly transitioning to the next normal. Wadors emphasized that it is important to take small steps in all areas now.
To make working from home possible, the company had to make a lot of changes in the past few months. First of all, this change has been very large, but now some new cloud services may be added, and employees should use them now. It would be unwise to quickly add a small amount of services again in the next few months.
You must also give employees time to get used to these new services, and sometimes show them how to best use certain things. Therefore, the company must also invest in some information. In addition, they must listen carefully to their employees, otherwise they may feel frustrated because things are not working properly, or have to do something twice due to sudden use of additional cloud solutions.
Bedi said ServiceNow can usually play a role in the latter. With ServiceNow, you can create a workflow in which many different cloud services can be linked together, or data can be sent to another service in certain events, thus saving repetitive work. In other words, things have become simpler.
There may also be frustration, because in this cloud era, there are still some old applications that cannot be used together. An outdated ERP or HRM solution, ServiceNow also has a solution for this. With low code, you can easily create a modern web application that integrates with that unfriendly old version of the application, so that employees can no longer see the old version, but modern web applications can. User-friendliness and speed will be greatly improved.
How and when to return to the office?
The current question in many companies is: how and when do we return to the office? According to Wadors, the company should not do this under any circumstances. Let employees choose whether to return to the office. Ensure that there is one-way traffic in the office, ensure that additional walls or plexiglass are placed when necessary, and provide masks or other preventive equipment. Make sure employees feel safe.
In addition, the government must allow people to return to the office. This is not the case in all countries. In addition to a set of basic measures, the company must also consider the future and take stock of how employees view the future. Wadors pointed out that it is no longer necessary for everyone to work between 9 and 5, and it can also improve efficiency and productivity.
Some companies may consider renting larger offices or additional square meters to establish a safe distance while also providing convenience for everyone. Companies should use recent investments in innovation to make working from home possible. In some cases, these costs can save office space. If 50% of employees work from home from now on, some offices will become redundant.
Wadors expects people to come to the office in a targeted manner. For example, there is a project that must be delivered and submitted to the client or the board of directors. People no longer go to the office from 9 to 5 o’clock. They can also do this at home now. Of course, when all these online tools immediately show that many employees are more productive than the office, because at home usually less attention. Of course, this does not apply to everyone. Although there are exceptions, it is certainly possible under certain guidance.
Agile work is renaissance
According to Wadors, agile work is undergoing a renaissance. At this stage, this is very important. Both the company and the employees must be flexible and ensure that the work is done. In order to keep this big stick still, the sprint of just a few weeks is very important, and all the content can be visualized by the project management tool. This makes it possible to monitor progress, but also to make quick adjustments if necessary.
Combining listening to the opinions of employees and further innovation on this basis will bring a new way of working for each company. Bedi expects that the speed, efficiency and user-friendliness of applications and business solutions will now truly stand out.
Wadors also expects that we will see new trends. She has heard of some moves that may become a trend. For example, there may be no meetings on Friday, except for virtual drinks. But it is also prohibited to send appointment invitations on weekends. She thinks this is a good idea, because since we work so much at home, our private and work lives have become increasingly chaotic. It is a good thing to relax for a while and not be busy with work. If you subsequently receive a meeting invitation on Sunday, it may still be working in your mind.
One trend that Wadors dislikes is false backgrounds in video calls. For example, someone is sitting in front of the Las Vegas sign, or in an artificial office. It’s not bad to show part of the house in a video call. It makes you more humane and ensures that you can also talk about small things before and after the conversation. The social interactions you have during the physical meeting will also take place in the virtual meeting. Bedy added that he had to tidy up the bookshelf behind him recently, but it has been a while.
in conclusion
The way of working is changing. Employees have changed their expectations, and employers have new challenges. It is important to move forward step by step, talk to each other and find a solution.
Some things to consider:
- How do employees feel about working from home?
- What do employees think about working from home in the near future and long-term?
- Do they want to work in the office again?
- When can you work in the office again?
- Does everyone work in the office only when necessary or 50/50?
- Do you need to adjust the office? Consider separate entrances and exits, one-way traffic, plexiglass walls, masks, and hand gels. How many people can the meeting room hold? Is it necessary to adjust, relocate or retire the desk for a safe distance?
- If employees continue to work from home, will they have a decent workplace? Consider the height of the table and a good chair. A separate monitor, keyboard and mouse are also very valuable.
- What cloud services do we provide for employees? Are there enough documents? How and when do you use these services?
- Can we measure who uses which services, frequency of use, activity level, etc.?
- Will employees experience any problems or frustration? For example, using software solutions or performing tasks that must be performed where innovation can help?
This is a summary of many courses that ServiceNow wants to teach us in a short time. The company firmly believes that if organizations now have the basis to work orderly from home and move forward gradually, they will become more successful. It is important to listen to the voices of employees, and it is important to make the right choices for innovation. Ensuring that applications work together, or making annoying legacy applications finally innovate, can easily increase productivity and efficiency.
tip: This month, ServiceNow will hold a virtual knowledge event. Many conversations can be found in ServiceNow and customers, where they talk about how to handle innovation and improve business processes. Anyone can view it for free.
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