Technology spurring demands for workplace flexibility

Rachel Clough at SD Worx explains why last-minute leave is top of the workforce wish-list

 

Searches for “last-minute holiday deals” are up by 180% on Google in the UK. But it’s not just an appetite for sun, sea and sand fuelling the demand. And neither is it just a sign of the times with bargain hunters trying to bag a last-minute deal.

 

Today, workforces are experiencing flexibility like never before across all aspects of the job, and especially when it comes to annual leave and holiday booking. 

 

Flexibility: Taking Europe’s temperature 

To see the impact of new flexible approaches across workplaces and workforces, SD Worx surveyed 5,000 employers and 16,000 employees across 16 European countries. Our research shows that 40% of Brits can request leave on the same day of their holiday. The findings point towards an increasingly flexible attitude among both employees and businesses with regards to balance in personal and professional lives.

 

Throughout the pandemic burnout was a phenomenon that swept across industries. It’s clear workers are drawing a line in record numbers. Many are voting with their feet and prioritising flexibility and balance like never before in their working lives.

 

Across Europe as a whole the picture is a similar one. Over three quarters (78%) of European employees ranked leave and flexible working on a similar priority level as salary. The key takeaway for businesses?  The value of flexibility is now ranking as highly as salary for employees in their ideal benefits package; something businesses need to take into account to ensure competitive edge as skills shortages and the war on talent continue to bite.

 

It’s a whole new state of play that’s going nowhere fast but what lies behind it and what should businesses be actioning right now to deliver on demand effectively?

 

A savvier than ever workforce emergences 

Today’s new breed of employee is astute, savvier than ever and they arrive into the workforce knowing exactly what they want and what their red lines are. Leave and flexible working now rival salary on a worker’s wishlist so the benefits and value employees increasingly attach to their time is something they expect to see reflected across their employer’s operations. 

 

Businesses who fail to lean into the trend and deliver on the demand run the risk of high turnover and will eventually lose top talent. It’s against this backdrop that businesses are pivoting their offering with staff retention the name of the game. 

 

Leading the fight for flexibility and improved digital systems is the latest group of employees to enter the employment pool - Gen Z. This new generation have entered the workforce as ‘tech natives’, making them a vital asset to any organisation, yet they have their own set of workplace needs.

 

They desire the same level of technical freedom at work that they experience at home making it unsurprising that our research found half of today’s young workforce crave better digitalisation at work when it comes to HR processes – such as streamlined digital holiday bookings or absence requests.

 

Unlike the generations before them, Gen Z employees – and many millennials – do not carry the same loyalty values to an employer like the baby boomers and Generation X once did.  Simply put, if the needs of today’s employees aren’t met, employees will leave in search for a better workplace flexibility and freedom. In today’s tough recruitment landscape, this is talent that organisations can’t afford to lose. 

 

Transformation and Investment

The first step businesses need to take when ramping up efforts towards flexibility lies in evaluating workplace technology. Too often businesses are burdened by outdated manual systems that are time consuming and frustrating for the average employee to use.

 

The modern employee has outgrown these systems and craves convenience and the ability to book holiday leave through seamless systems which are quick and easy to use from any device, anywhere.

 

However, the old rules are being thrown out at speed to such an extent that the UK is at the helm of digital transformation in HR. Still from our survey, a record 68% of British companies are investing in digital HR solutions. The fast-rising adoption of this tech now puts the UK in pole position in HR technology compared with Europe as a whole (60%).

 

We’re seeing a whole new business emphasis on optimising the digital work environment in order to promote productivity and deliver on worker wellbeing.   This sits alongside the urgent need to rise to new tech standards and demand from digital-native workforces. 

 

Empowering workforces 

These tools present great opportunities to provide staff with increased flexibility and workplace freedom, providing employees with better employee experience, but they also enable HR teams more time to focus on complex employee needs – such as managing and protecting staff from burnout.

 

By putting the power back into employees’ hands – through workforce management apps available on staff’s devices – businesses are essentially removing the need for employees to burden HR teams with information and administration requests that clog up HR’s inbox and distract them from delivering more value-adding activities where their expertise is truly needed.  

 

Our new working world makes shape shifting mission critical so businesses can keep delivering against new fixed working demands and expectations from workforces. Companies now want to transition to a ‘people centric’ approach - investing in applications that benefit individual employees. They are turning to automation to help support training and development, collaboration and teamwork, and also employee wellbeing.

 

The incentives are endless but let’s not forget not every employee is a computer whiz and some may need training to ensure they are up to speed and equipped to reap the benefits.

 

Let’s make the tech people-centric to ensure all know how they can truly use it well so they can take full advantage.

 

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Rachel Clough is UK Country Lead at SD Worx

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com