Five Workplace Trends Happening in 2021
The changes brought by the pandemic have contributed to the evolution of the evolving work landscape. Many claim that COVID-19 sped up the arrival of future trends, propelling companies to implement organizational shifts, waste no time hiring the right talent, and increase overall business operation efficiency. Here are the top five workplace trends that have been occurring in 2021:
An Enhanced Employee Experience
Many business leaders tend to forget that employee experience matters and is vital to the success of new hires. An enhanced employee experience doesn’t just mean that new employees are onboarded smoothly; it means that the overall well-being of team members is taken seriously. Workplace safety, a robust offering of benefits, flexible work options, genuine employee engagement, and readily available working spaces are essential for supporting teams to meet company objectives.
A Virtual Company Culture
There is no longer a need for teams to reserve a conference room to hold a meeting. In fact, 80% of employees use video calling for 1:1 meetings, and 78% of employees say they use web conferencing tools for team meetings. Additionally, 75% of CEOs say that video conference calls will entirely replace audio-only conference calls, and 67% of employees say they’re most likely to contribute to meeting over video conferencing.
Real estate firms are observing interests from businesses worldwide on the importance of modern hybrid-friendly work environments as remote work during the pandemic has proved that people can be productive and get work done from any location.
An Increased Emphasis on Mental Health and Well-Being
Long overdue, there has become an added focus on health care benefits and wellness initiatives. Whether employees return to the office or continue working from home, HR leaders are actively encouraging team members to make the most out of their vacation time, emphasizing how breaks contribute to a healthy work environment. These components will be critical to attaining talent and greatly contributes to both personal and professional development.
A Stronger Reliance on Digital Marketing
Less in-person meetings mean that enterprises need to work harder to gain their consumers’ attention. Pre-pandemic, a large number of small to medium-sized businesses were not convinced of the importance of digital marketing. Fast forward to today, over $450 billion is spent on digital marketing worldwide.
According to HubSpot, digital marketing helps you reach a larger audience than you could through traditional methods and target the prospects who are most likely to buy your product or service. Additionally, it’s often more cost-effective than traditional advertising and enables you to measure success daily and pivot as you see fit.
More Innovation
The COVID-19 pandemic hastened the way businesses cater to the world. New processes, technologies, and inventions are being developed every day to support the long-term company vision. One of the many benefits of hiring remote workers is their ability to share their knowledge with organizations from anywhere in the world.
And while the COVID-19 vaccine may be enabling business leaders to compel their teams to return to the office, the power of leveraging resources from different areas and locations is an advantage to the forward-thinking business model.
Companies should encourage creativity and calculated risks in the year 2021. Because at the end of the day, pandemic or no pandemic, the world will evolve at a rapid pace with or without us.
SmartChoice is a technology company based out of New York City with a unique portfolio of solutions including UCAAS, collaboration, software and analytics, dedicated contact centers, security, infrastructure, and managed connectivity. Through its unsurpassed white-glove service and 24x7x365 U.S. based support, it has grown to become one of the largest award-winning PBX/SIP providers in North America.
