"It's all talk!" This is one of the revelations of an Avanade study of 2,100 businesses in 15 countries which noted that most companies are 'not walking the walk' when it comes to giving employees the tools and technology to thrive in the post-pandemic world.
Company view
98% of companies (leadership) participating in the study said that their business had improved their employees’ workplace experience. While 85% claimed their business had embraced (or piloted) hybrid or remote working, 83% are confident they have found the right balance in terms of people-first work models like hybrid or remote working.
Employee view – the disconnect
Source: Avanade 2022
Employees participating in the study beg to disagree.
- 60% said they have not provided their employees with a genuine choice about when or where they work
- 62% said they were yet to enable employees to more easily access the tools and applications they need to work seamlessly from anywhere
- 61% have not adopted cloud-based platforms for knowledge sharing
- 55% do not have a security model that enables all employees to work securely wherever they’re based
Consequences
Source: Avanade 2022
According to the research, not delivering on their promises could cost companies millions of dollars, with Avanade estimating an average 6.7% growth from successfully implemented workplace experience programs (driven by a partnership between IT, HR and business leaders) over the last year.
Avanade calculates that participant companies risk losing out on between US$37 million to US$6.5 billion in revenue (calculated based on participant company revenues).
Rewards for walking the talk
For organisations that have embraced broader, more progressive workplace experience strategies in the last 12 months, benefits gained by both company and employees include:
- 6.83% average overall productivity improvement
- 6.7% average increase in employee retention
- 6.92% average increase in customer satisfaction scores
- 6.48% average rise in stock market valuation
- 6.34% average reduction in costs
Over the long-term, 72% of the workplace experience top performers felt their organisations were prepared for the future of work, compared with only 33% of bottom performers. Similarly, 91% of top performers are confident that their company has already achieved the right hybrid work approach, compared with just half of those trailing behind.
Veit Siegenheim, Avanade’s Modern Workplace lead says taking a holistic approach to the workplace experience is critical and benefits both businesses and their most important asset—their employees. "The longer leaders delay taking action, the further they’ll fall behind and risk losing out, financially and in the war for talent,” he concluded.
