WORKPLACE REDESIGN FOR MILLENNIALS
Technology
innovation at workplaces has always been guided by culture. This is even more
pronounced in the case of collaboration technologies, because it closely
mirrors the way we have learnt to communicate. Today’s technology changes are
largely influenced by the millennial generation—a generation that has a
completely different mindset from Gen Xers or the baby boomers.
As
opposed to the earlier generations that modelled their way of working as per
the tools and technologies that were available to them, this generation
actually demands technology that can enable them to work the way they want.
This generation was the key force behind the growth of consumerization of IT
and bring your own device trends.
Given
that India will become the youngest country by 2021, with 64% of its population
in the age group of 20-35, according to the Economic Survey 2013-14, Indian
businesses need to shape their strategies to remain relevant to this section.
It is fair to say that it is mandatory to morph our workplaces to accommodate
the millennial generation. If we do not, we will not be able to acquire and
retain top talent, which will stunt our ability to innovate.
In
my view, organizations should keep the following factors in mind while
redesigning workplaces for millennials:
Deploying
relevant infrastructure: The millennial workforce understands the importance of
teamwork and knowledgesharing with their global counterparts and collaboration
with their customers. They will either break rules or leave workplaces that do
not satisfy their needs. According to Digital, Disparate,and
Disengaged, a June 2016 study by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Prysm,
71% of the information workers who responded to the survey have said they are
more likely to remain at their company if investments were made in a modern,
digital collaboration solution. Further, according to 83% of information
workers, the right technology tools can help them be productive regardless of
location. Similarly, three-quarters or more of IT and facilities respondents
reported that a modern, digital workspace could help their organizations make
strides in product development, grow revenue and speed time-to-market.
Supporting
innovation: The way we act as a team is changing—from traditional, “passive”
meetings to meetings where we innovate in groups. A case in point is the
R&D departments in multinational companies. There are several companies
whose R&D teams have been pooling resources globally to drive innovations
for different markets. Consider the example of one of the IT leaders, IBM
India—its scientists work in close association across the company’s
world-renowned research labs. IBM Research India has also emerged as a premier
research lab in the region and is working to solve unique challenges in
emerging markets. Tech solutions that are deployed should be conducive for
employees to be able to work together and innovate. Sharing highly visual
information in real time: The advent of mobile technology has enabled our
workforce to be geographically distributed. This has also created a need for
technology that allows us to share highly visual information in realtime
among disparate team members. Enabling multidimensional experiences: The
optimal goal is to choose tools/solutions that allow for multidimensional
experiences that mirror the way we naturally think and interact. And this is
not just limited to the way we talk, but also the way we work.
Building
a culture of collaboration: Tools are only as effective as the culture we build
in our organizations. Enterprises should start with this as their goal, to
build a culture of collaboration that is most relevant for them and result in
the highest productivity for their employees. They should then envisage ways to
drive adoption and train their employees for maximum impact.
Workplaces
of the future are going to be transformed into visual workplaces, which will
bring together content, data, live applications, video conferencing, live
sources and the Web into a touch-interactive visual workspace where teams can
simultaneously create, edit, share and store content to maximize productivity,
regardless of device or geographical location. To attract and retain
millennials, businesses should look at embracing tools that make this possible.
Varadha Raju is country head (India) and vice-president of sales and operations
at Prysm Inc.
Source | Mint | 11 April 2017
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
Upcoming Event | MANLIBNET 17th Annual
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