Post-Covid workplace

How have employee relationships and experiences changed over the course of the pandemic? NTT DATA Romania sought to find out, with results showing a wide range of perceptions: some celebrated the new forms of communication and others were dispirited by the decrease in in-office interaction. This leads to a challenging but crucial question: how can we make sure we all feel included in our organizations?

No matter how you feel about it, remote work is here to stay. As leaders, how confident and comfortable you are with this shift will depend on your own experiences, background, and even your seniority. There are very real changes involved in working remotely or in hybrid teams, but there is good news: when we take the time to be intentional, the proper courses of action become clear.

Our physical and digital working environments are converging at breakneck speed, and few organizations would claim to be ready. Preparedness is often seen as a purely technological responsibility, but a broader set of ingredients is required for a truly successful strategy. As workplaces become more ‘liquid’ and organizations refine their post-Covid working practices, the key lies not just in tools and infrastructure but in behaviors that allow for understanding, organizing and optimizing work within this new hybrid environment.

The impact of the pandemic and advancing technologies have made designing the future workplace a complex task. As well as focusing on flexibility and comfort, a good workplace design must support collaboration, interaction and innovation – and have connectivity at its heart. The interoperability and opportunities presented by the metaverse may hold one of the keys to overcoming legacy problems and providing your employees with the best possible experience.

Many businesses are struggling to make the right decisions about how to engage their people in this new, almost unrecognizable world of work. Employee engagement is down, reports of burnout are getting worse and worker satisfaction in many organizations is low. Now more than ever, success for any business lies in creating a culture that helps its people grow. But it’s one thing to say that you want to be people-centric, and another to create an environment where this ethos is upheld. In-depth feedback around employee perceptions ensures companies can walk the talk.

As interactions between corporate teams reach the point where virtual is as effective as in-person, the very nature and purpose of the physical office has permanently changed. Hybrid working has proven productive for organizations and rewarding for individuals, and is here to stay. Rather than cling to the past, we must embrace the opportunities of this new post-pandemic business environment – and as such improve speed of decision-making, efficiency of operations and the wellbeing of the entire workforce.

Covid has changed how people view their professional trajectories, as well as the way in which companies perceive their employees. Leaders now have the opportunity to experiment, testing hybrid work formulas in order to secure both the health of the company and of the individuals working within it. At the core is balance, fairness and inclusivity.

With so much upheaval to the work environment in just a few years, our expectations of and relationship with work have changed completely. How can organizations prepare for these shifts as employees set new boundaries and seek purpose at work?

With organizations currently looking at an increasingly detached workforce and a fierce talent war, a human-centered approach to HR is certainly gaining traction. This is where design thinking comes into play – to remain competitive, companies need to involve people in co-designing an environment where they want to show up.

Leaders will need to learn to manage wellbeing and the social aspects of team relationships, if they want to successfully build connection and productivity in the workplace of the future.

In a world where talent is demanding flexibility and employers want connection, data can provide the answer. Using the data you already have available in your office building can help you both to maximize resources, and make the office attractive to employees.

The pandemic forced businesses and organizations to abandon the physical office and adopt remote working. But with Covid now seemingly behind us, and hybrid practices well-established, is there a danger that without face-to-face interaction, organizations will lose the very thing that keeps them connected?

Digitally enabled collaboration through hybrid working models now seems critical to all our futures. The question is, are you ready? Alongside technological advances, your employees will need new skills and capabilities to thrive.

Inclusive leadership is more critical than ever as we continue to navigate through the Covid-19 pandemic. Leaders are working to maintain productivity, collaboration, and innovation during these challenging times. Those who can also address amplified issues around inclusion and belonging in a distributed workforce will be primed for superior organisational performance in the future.

Covid has changed almost everything about how we work, and now HR is undergoing a revolution. HR’s most important role, arguably, is improving the employee experience – in turn contributing to profitability, competitiveness and, of course, the happiness of the workforce. Here’s how data and analytics support this aim.

No industry has been left untouched by the pandemic. Since its onset, companies have been in a constant state of heightened flux: adjusting, recovering or strategising for the future, and all eyes have been on the technology that has helped carry them through. As the economy starts to recover, organisations must pivot to meet any challenge head-on.

Smarter and more sustainable workplaces are essential for all businesses as we tentatively emerge from the restrictions of the pandemic. Technology is pivotal in not only providing a seamless user experience but also in building a greener IT strategy.

Worldwide retention of top talent has been an organisational issue for some time now. The recent ‘turnover tsunami’ headlines show us the problem isn’t getting better. Here’s how NTT DATA Business Solutions Turkey, Middle East and North Africa have managed to retain 97% of new employees in the last five years.

The sudden shock of the changes brought about as a result of coronavirus has passed, and we are now settling into what is likely to be a long period of working from home. Our sister companies, particularly NTT DATA Italia, have been coping with this situation for some time already, and we have benefitted from their experience. We would like to share some of what they have discovered.

As we enter a new era of work, three key elements can help employee and employer alike respond favourably to the shift: communication, learning and a reimagined workplace. Taken together, these elements offer a model for truly smart working.

Welcome to the third issue of CXO Magazine. Our theme for this issue is ‘Agility in the Age of Disruption’

Organisations looking to urgently improve agility across the enterprise will find that their leaders across all levels need support in making a mindset shift. To make this shift is neither instant nor effortless, organisations must make, model and coach for it to ensure the success of agile initiatives.

In Italy, an experiment is redefining everything we know about the modern workplace. A ‘zero kilometre’ office, designed to promote relationships that transcend generational and sectoral boundaries - and overcome the conundrum of working safely and effectively in the post-Covid world.

How is the Covid-19 pandemic different from other crises, and how can organisations build resilience? A well kept secret of the most successful companies across the globe is speed-to-learn. If you can learn quickly, you can change quickly, and if you can change quickly, you can capitalise on crises, extreme events, and the ever-shifting inclinations of consumers.

Crises are usually accompanied by a host of challenges to overcome. Vicki Chauhan, Head of Public Sector at NTT DATA UK, is focusing on opportunities for improvement born out of the recent global pandemic.

We often display more resilience and inventiveness in times of crises than during business-as-usual. Can our response to pandemics and other devastating events provide us with lessons for change and innovation?

Future-proofing our organisations is only possible when we start to see the world through a new lens, and adjust to conditions of uncertainty with radical rethinking.

A new kind of connectivity has emerged from the global health crisis and ensuing economic challenges of the last few years. Advancing technologies coupled with new ways of living and working have changed our needs for connection. With these changes, the corporate landscape must be reimagined.