Recent Trends in Workforce Communications
The people who make up today’s workforce and the way they approach their careers have undergone a dramatic change with the rise of the younger generations. Whether working for a small to medium-size business (SMB) or in a larger enterprise, this younger workforce typically works for more businesses over the course of their career, moving jobs more regularly for a number of reasons including fresh opportunity.
In fact, the majority of these young workers leave a position within three years, and experienced business leaders know how expensive it is to replace each worker. With that much on the line, a company’s ability to recruit and retain good talent is imperative.
Technology – especially your business phone system – can make a big difference in keeping employees onboard and engaged.
One important element is to create a work environment in which they have the opportunity to thrive. This involves understanding what their values and preferences are when it comes to where and how they deliver their best work. Business owners and managers should look for ways to adapt their workforce communications to meet the needs of this emerging “always on, always connected” generation.
At Sangoma, a rather healthy percentage of our team are millennials, so we’ve truly seen the challenges and rewards of supporting the productivity and flexibility that the younger workforce brings – and we understand the role Unified Communications (UC) plays in keeping this generation of workers connected with the most innovative and modern workforce communications solutions.
New Workforce Communications Prioritize Open Communications and Regular Feedback
While earlier generations of managers may think, “no news is good news,” more employee-conscious leaders realize that a talented team often interprets no news as bad news.
A good way to keep workers in the loop and secure in their jobs is to get in the habit of meeting regularly with employees to go over projects and discuss how things are going.
Checking in on a regular basis also provides an opportunity to uncover and address any questions, concerns, and ideas when they arise, rather than in an exit interview. For positions that are communication-heavy, Unified Communications reporting tools are handy for tracking individual and group performance with call logs, CRM reports, and more.
Flexibility For Mobile Working Communications
The new workforce is the most likely to say that they would change jobs or careers, move their family to another place, or take a pay cut to have the flexibility and the ability to better manage work and family life. For those that stick with inflexible but lucrative positions, burn-out is an ever-looming threat. We don’t live to work, after all.
With all the available collaboration tools and cloud-based solutions and apps, together with advancements in mobility, projects and tasks can be completed from almost anywhere. The ability to work remotely, and being able to use personal devices makes it easier for companies to offer the flexibility the workforce requires. Consider creating a formal policy for your company, allowing employees to work from home or at flexible hours, depending on your business.
Along with flexibility, the new workforce values a good work/life balance as being very important. While these “always on” workers enjoy finding personal meaning in their careers, they still need to be able to separate work life from home life. To address this with modern workforce communications solutions, many companies are implementing softphones for remote workers and sales teams. Apps like these provide employees with secure access to all of their UC features available on a desk phone, while protecting their personal contact information. When an employee makes a business call using the softphone app, the recipient sees only the business’s information, not a personal mobile number.
Accommodating flexible work schedules and the seamless transition between work devices is a must for a modern work environment, and goes a long way to helping improve productivity from all employees.
Workforce Communications Solutions Cultivate Collaboration
A culture of collaboration is one of the top things talented job-seekers are looking for in an employer. This can be everything from having an open, team-based working style to sharing and interacting via streaming video.
In supporting the collaborative nature of the new workforce, it’s important to understand that, while people aren’t necessarily more communicative than other previous generations, people today do communicate differently.
The new workforce prefers to stay more connected, not less, regardless of location. This can involve more advanced technology. When it comes to problem solving, if a complex question comes up or they need something explained, sure, people will still pick up the phone, but for simple and quick exchanges among coworkers, it’s not their first instinct. Younger employees often prefer working with modern UC tools such as conferencing, instant messaging, and video calling. Offering these types of tools for quick and easy communications is a great way to keep employees responsive, and it helps increase your organization’s overall efficiency, too.
Switchvox for Today’s Workforce Communications Solutions
As the generation that represents the largest, rising segment of employees in the workforce, it’s in an organization’s best interest to learn what attracts, motivates, and retains millennials. The ‘nice-to-have’ technologies are now the ‘need-to-have’ technologies as modern UC systems are evolving to meet the workforce communications needs of multi-generational workforces.
Don’t let aging communications solutions give employees a reason to question your ability to be a company worth working for.
While there are many options available on the modern UC business phone system market, none occupy the unique space that Switchvox does, at the intersection of cutting-edge functionality and value-based pricing. Contact a Solution Specialist today for a free inquiry into whether Switchvox can help your business meet the new and demanding requirements of workforce communications.