Guest Post by Leon Papkoff, CEO & Chief Strategist, The CXApp

The modern workplace has changed irrevocably, but not in the ways we expected. All the same principles and requirements are intact, but the way we go about achieving goals and interacting with one another are evolving.

Interacting with physical spaces (conference rooms, doors, workstations) is still a thing, and it won’t be long before many remote operations fold back into the office, reinvigorating traditional workplace experiences. But that doesn’t necessarily mean things are going back exactly as they were.

Low-touch connectedness is key, with more contextual and yet distanced experiences spread throughout a physical location. To support this type of agility in the workplace – IoT is a desirable way to achieve it.

The Evolution of Worker Engagement Strategies

Connected employees have new work styles, new habits, and new workstation needs, for on and off-site practices. A proper worker engagement program needs to incorporate the move between work, home, and back again. It needs to become a hybrid experience.

Companies with excellent employee experience regularly outperform the S&P 500 by 122%. Today, 51% of business leaders say they have plans to create individualized employee experience programs comparable to consumer experiences. An emphasis on improved employee experience is integral to the future of work.

What Employees and Tenants Want

As we begin to open the doors to large public venues and major corporate campuses, there is a range of new protocols we have to consider to improve overall workplace readiness for the short-term but also to prepare ourselves and our spaces for the future.

Here are few of the different experiences to consider in order to meet the needs of the modern workforce in the post-pandemic world of work:

  • Low-touch or contactless access to frequented spaces
  • Hoteling or workspace reservation support with remote access
  • Live maps and indoor/outdoor wayfinding between buildings and spaces
  • Proximity-based alerts related to spaces, people, and events
  • Special updates or announcements about a location or facility
  • Real-time social distancing alerts with personal contact tracing opportunities
  • Mobile ordering for food, supplies, help etc.
  • Always-on communication between colleagues and management
  • News and activity feeds with relevant, meaningful information

Building A Smart Campus

A connected workplace that fully incorporates smart campus technology — like IoT devices and sensors — is the endgame. Adapting a conventional workplace to include these elements will take time.

According to an Enterprise Technology Research spending survey, more than 1,000 CIOs and information technology buyers surveyed expect tech spending to show a slight upward trend of roughly 2% in 2021.

The connected workplace, especially one equipped with smart campus IoT technologies, offers wide-reaching benefits not just for employees, but also for businesses. It can significantly improve and boost productivity levels at all stages of an operation. Work tends to get done faster, with more focus and higher accuracy because a lot of the minor concerns we regularly deal with in our workday are alleviated thanks to connected workplace technology.

Even something like taking a lunch is simplified, improved, and made much safer overall. Workers can order food from the safety of their desk or workstation, and then have it delivered without ever entering communal spaces. They have the freedom to continue working in the interim, or they can take much-needed breaks to fend off burn-out.

It’s this kind of smart adaptation that makes connected workplaces so beneficial. Other benefits include lower operating costs, improved energy efficiency, more streamlined use of resources or supplies, and both higher situational and user awareness through collected data.

Of course, all of these benefits can be rolled back into the workplace to further improve experiences, resources, and output.

One thing we know for sure about the future of work and the new employee experience journey is that employees and teams need tools to access the ‘office’ anytime, anywhere.

Leon Papkoff is CEO & Chief Strategist, The CXApp.