4 tips for a productive digital workplace

Working from home has become an efficient way to work for many people in different professions. Having a digital workplace has its pros and cons, though. Employees learning to manage their flexibility while maintaining maximum productivity can sometimes be a challenge. For employees and employers, not having that in-person, face-to-face connection can also create an obstacle. How can your company foster a productive digital workplace? We have a few tips for you as you evaluate your current or future workplace.

Breathe life into the digital workplace.

When people don’t have face-to-face interaction with each other, a person’s unique personality traits are lost. Communication is easily misunderstood when all conversations take place through virtual messaging. A person’s tone, mannerisms, and personality add so much to their words, so communication is naturally easier in person.

To alleviate this obstacle, have some virtual or in-person meetings where you can get to know a little more about your employees and they can have some interactions with one another. We are not suggesting unnecessary meetings, just to have some of your communications take place in a setting where people can get to know each other a little better.

Eliminate unnecessary meetings.

As we stated before, some meetings are essential and some face-to-face is vital for employee camaraderie and harmony. Meetings also happen to be a big productivity killer. Stopping a task to do something else wastes time because of the effort it takes to switch back to what you were doing to begin with. Stopping constructive work and changing gears to focus on the information being shared can be a harmful interruption for employees.

Instead of frequent meetings, employers can have a notification system to alert employees of any important information to take note of at the start of each work day. Any information that can easily be shared and understood in a written memo should be shared this way instead of stopping all work to conduct a meeting.

Consider having a few on-demand services.

People are now used to all sorts of on-demand options and information being at their fingertips in seconds. Consider how you can engage and support your digital team with instant services. These services would be useful for employees across different time zones to get instant help whenever they need it.

You can develop and offer on-demand services like collaboration and analysis. Consider exactly which options would be best in your business. With the popularity of working from phones and tablets, make sure these options are mobile friendly.

Focus on the importance of team.

With the ability to easily disconnect in a digital workplace, you’ll need to focus on the importance of each employee feeling some ownership within the team. Employees need a compelling “why” or connection to the overall company vision, and that vision is one thing leaders cannot share too much.

While you are fulfilling the needs of the organization as a whole, don’t forget about the needs of the human employees. Examine what your company needs most each month, whether it is social interaction, workplace optimization, or employee recognition, and be ready to make adjustments as needed.