Technology is agreed to be the greatest driver of output-per-hour by both employees and employers. When asked how technology impacts working practices, employees and employers agreed that technology improves productivity, the ability to make quicker and better-informed decisions and the ability to work better with others outside the organisation.
That said, as shown in Figure 8, employers currently underestimate what kind of technologies drive output per hour. Employees are far more concerned about core technologies, such as infrastructure and digitisations, which have become the hallmarks of successful digital transformation strategies.
Meanwhile, executives are focused on facilities management (sensors and monitoring equipment, temperature control), which employees rate as the least effective at improving their productivity. Lastly, as noted previously in this report, employees want the flexibility to work remotely, but technology provided by employers currently does not allow them to do so effectively. Ireland is the exception in this case. When asked to rank the effectiveness of technologies on business performance, Irish executives ranked business applications and workplace productivity tools first (97%), followed by technology infrastructure (90%), and digitisation of information (80%). Facilities management systems ranked last at 70%.
Close alignment on technology in Ireland supports what is an overall bullish approach to workplace strategy, specifically around technology in the country. Irish executives are more con dent than their UK counterparts that technology strategies are effective today.
For example, when asked about the current effectiveness of technology infrastructure, 90% of Irish executives claimed they’re effective, in comparison to 72% of UK executives. Looking ahead, 90% of Irish executives also see greater potential for performance from technology infrastructure, which is again higher than an average of 81% of executives in the UK.
The potential impact on performance that Irish executives believe technology can make is backed by a much more bullish approach to future investment. As noted earlier, next year 23% of Irish executives report that they plan to spend more than 10% of their operating budget on office modernisation, in comparison to just 12% of executives in the UK who will do the same.
With budget and investment decisions on the horizon, the question is how are business leaders prioritising workplace transformation initiatives and is there alignment internally? The answer is no, misalignment internally appears to be preventing progress towards an optimal office setting, especially when it comes to technology. When looking at the key decision-makers (CEO, CIO, CFO and CHRO) one might think there would be competing interests given roles. For example, CHROs might focus more on culture while CIOs champion new technologies. However, it’s the CEO who was found to be out of alignment with the broader executive team.
For example, when asked to rate the effectiveness of technology infrastructure today only 67% felt that it’s effective. When looking ahead and asked to rate the potential impact of technology infrastructure, sentiment increases modestly to 77%. Meanwhile, CFOs (87%), CIOs (84%), and CHROs (86%) all believe that infrastructure can lead to greater impact on business performance.
Whilst there is disparity between CEOs and other executive team members on the potential impact of technology infrastructure, all are in agreement on the potential of improved facilities management systems, which may prove to be a poor investment choice and strategy considering how employees feel about its ability to help them perform and be more productive.
Organisations in the UK are at risk of taking the wrong investment path. 93% of companies that plan to spend more 10% of their annual operating budget identified facilities management as the greatest impact potential, which is out of alignment with what employees feel will make them most productive.
What is clear is that greater alignment is needed among executive teams, particularly around technology. As the person responsible for providing long-term vision, progress toward the optimal office will depend on CEOs leading an effort to create a holistic approach to workplace transformation to ensure investment maps back to employee needs.
As leadership teams begin to align on strategy, they’ll need to consider the way technology impacts their employees and type of work. Similar to culture, there is no one size fits all strategy for technology and employees are clearly prioritising certain technologies based on the industry they work in, with the exception of technology to help remote working and facilities management (Figure 9).
Across every industry and sector employees feel there is greater potential for productivity if the right technology is made available to assist with remote working, whilst also indicating that facilities management will not help them as much as employers think.
Interestingly, employees across financial services, business and professional services and healthcare cite that technology infrastructure would drive greater potential for productivity than their employers do.
Meanwhile, there is more alignment in education and public sector, two groups of organisations that are generally perceived to be less technologically advanced than their private sector counterparts. However, sentiment from employees and employers across education and public sector indicate that the productivity ceiling might be lower than the private sector. There is also shocking disparity in views amongst financial services and business and professional services when it comes to other core technologies.
Employees at financial services firms report significantly more opportunity to unlock productivity through use of business applications and workplace productivity tools, whilst employees at business and professional services firms believe more highly in the need to digitise information and create digital work flows.
Contrary to popular belief, financial services and business and professional services firms may not be as tech-savvy and forward-thinking, especially when it comes to critical functions such as sharing and managing the flow of information.
There’s clearly a lot of progress to made towards moving to the optimal office, but it’s clear that every industry and sector will need to find their own technology path and develop strategies with their employees top of mind.
