Digital Age is reshaping workplaces with innovative technologies
In this digital age, we are at the threshold of HR transformation. Leveraging technology to construct a conducive environment and an inclusive mind-set among the employees is a major challenge faced by HR in 2019. Using advanced digital technology to revolutionize the current workforce management can breathe fresh air into Performance Management.
Let’s understand the demographic of the corporate sector with some key stats about the workforce in India-
Treated as a communication channel between the top and bottom level, the Middle Management is often comprised of stressed employees. According to the latest India Employee Survey by Hush, the health of corporate employees have declined over the years with one out of five suffering from workplace depression. Anxiety about the corporate culture and workload causes tremendous Job Stress.Moreover, when an employee’s personal ethics clash with the organisation, it results in ethical dilemmas leading to Ethical Stress. This inadvertently causes low productivity, increased absenteeism, and intention to quit among employees. ASSOCHAM has declared that the annual cost of absenteeism to companies, in terms of lost productivity, is an alarming USD 1.17 Billion.
Identifying the signs of organisational stress through technology is only the first step towards designing a strategy to set goals and formulate an action plan for improvement.
At the core of an effective work-life balance, two concepts are relevant to each of us. They are achievement and enjoyment. Managers in the corporate sector can curb employees’ self-care deprivation during big projects by merging lifestyle goals of employees with the organisation objectives.
The heart beats only if personal and organisational values resonate. Introduction of workplace counselling gives the employees a safe space to talk about their problems and helps them view issues with a new perspective. And for leaders to become a coach, we need to provide feedback to our teams. Technology-enabled performance management tools with regular feedback helps to focus on people development in a holistic manner by enabling managers to become effective listeners.
After taking feedback from the employees, I introduced healthier food options at my workplace, I have realized this provides workers enough motivation to feel the internal benefits of living a healthier life.
We are in the Digital Age where machine intelligence can even predict our future behaviors. Coaching and feedback in real-time via Artificial Intelligence can improve performance and employee experience. The best coaching between a manager and employee is achieved with frequent one-on-one conversations covering expectations, feedback, and growth & development. According to a report by Accenture, this approach has enabled Adobe to become an agile businesses by supporting honest conversations that focus more on future developments rather than past performance.
Discussions need to be started about coaching, mental well-being and merging them Performance Management Technology. Innovative technologies are reshaping the workplace practices in this Digital Age. Aligning technology with personal and organisational goals will help us design the best solutions to boost employee productivity by improving their personal decisions and health.
