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How can we use technology to make the return to work easier?

March 2020 saw a mass move to home working that will arguably alter workplace culture and the way we view the office for a long time to come. After an initial period of anxiety and uncertainty regarding cloud-based tools, organisations are discovering that remote working can be an effective and efficient experience and needn’t come at a cost to company culture either. However, now that we’re seeing businesses and organisations being given the green light to start returning to work, albeit with social distancing restrictions etc, how can we ensure that this doesn’t become the next challenge 

Synergi are dedicated to helping all organisations embrace technological solutions that work flexibly to suit your organisation’s needs. In the current business climate, a large focus of this commitment is to ensure that all organisations – whether working from home, onsite or in an office – can maintain seamless operations. For those who will continue to work from home, we’ve got a range of suitable solutions here, as well as a host of useful webinars and virtual events. However, this article is addressing those who are making the move to return to work, and how this process can be eased and supported using simple and affordable technologies. 

 

Making returning to work easier for employees

Communication is one of the most important aspects of not only business, but any form of collaboration. It’s vital for organisations to both facilitate simple and effective communication between employees, and to provide clear and visible communication surrounding any changes or updates to high-priority information. Here are three key software solutions that can make the return to work easier for everyone.

Make the most of Microsoft Teams:

For many of you it may be the case that due to the practical realities of social distancing you can’t have everyone return to working at the office just yet. Microsoft Teams has proven itself to be a key player in maintaining business as usual during lockdown, and many organisations have used it to develop a culture of improved collaboration and teamwork. It makes absolute sense to continue to develop and increase its use and engage your teams more in everything it can offer. Effective use of Microsoft Teams will maintain and increase the level of effective communication and collaboration that you've established. It will connect and include those who have returned to the office and those who must still work remotely.

Even if everyone can return to work, Microsoft Teams acts as a clear, central teamwork hub for your business, making sharing and collaborating on content and documents a simple and efficient affair. And with the working climate lacking certainty, the ability to arrange online meetings, mark your messages as important and keep records of calls and chats is more useful than ever before. If you feel you may be accessing only the tip of the iceberg that is Microsoft Teams capabilities, and want to know more, we cover this off in our recent blog post.

Read our Teams Tips blog post here

Communicate, Collaborate, Communicate (using Intranets):

A key responsibility of an intranet is to engage and inform employees. In its most basic form, an intranet should facilitate document, content and information sharing and management in a simple and secure way.

Right now, being able to share important information with your employees is truly vital. An important tool available for most intranet offerings is the alert banner, depending on the provider, this appears under a variety of names. For example, within Valo this tool is known as “important messages”. However, the concept remains the same. It enables organisations to send out messaging organisation wide, appearing at the top of the intranet site, ensuring that this vital information is being seen. In the move to return to work you may need to share messaging or notifications quickly and widely; alert banners can help you achieve this. However, perhaps use these alerts sparingly so you’re not compromising the integrity and effectiveness of the tool.

If you need to share information, rules or guidelines that you are feel are important, but don’t warrant the extremity of an alert, then make sure you’re making full use of your news pages with up-to-date and relevant information – and provide a feedback option for staff and employees to comment and raise concerns or questions.

Finally, Valo also offer the FAQ feature. This dynamic and user-friendly tool can make it simple and straightforward to provide answers to your employees’ most commonly asked questions - fostering a culture of openness and trust within your organisation.

Find out more about teamwork tools

Keep everything secure:

Given that we’re promoting the use of cloud-based tools and acknowledging that there may be still be a geographical need to share sensitive data using these tools, it’s important to be mindful of governance and security. With many organisations utilising Microsoft 365’s SharePoint and Office tools, we would advocate using Microsoft’s security offerings as well. These tools are affordable, effective and integrate seamlessly. By offering peace of mind and the knowledge that users can share sensitive data securely, the concerns surrounding remote collaboration are lifted.

Learn more about Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security

Making returning to work easier for employers

So far we’ve highlighted a few ways how technology can help with maintaining and improving the day-to-day operations of your organisation as you move from remote working back into office spaces. However, what about the likely raft of new processes that come with the new government regulations? It’s entirely possible that employers are facing the instigation of many new processes such as audits, working from home agreements, return to work certificates, annual leave changes and site visit approvals. These processes have the potential to become a substantial headache for businesses. What if you could automate these processes quickly and simply?  Synergi are currently offering you a free trial* to do exactly that. Our business transformation pack offers a series of workflows and forms, powered by the global-leading Nintex automation suite, that make these processes paperless and stress free. 

Find out more about our business transformation packs

Discover the possibilities of this Nintex-powered automation toolkit

Find out more here

Register for a business transformation pack

Follow a few simple steps to showcase your interest

Register here

*Free Trial of the business transformation pack provides you with 90 days free on the Nintex platform 

If you have any questions, feel free to call on 0191 4770365 or email enquiries@teamsynergi.co.uk. 

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