Mark Benson, Chief Technology Officer at Logicalis UK
The talent acquisition landscape has never been more competitive. Digital skills shortages, access to a wider digital pool, and remote recruitment processes have left businesses grappling to get suitable candidates through the door.
It’s much harder to truly capture a candidate’s personality sat behind a screen. While they can virtually relay their digital and business skills, it’s not as easy to grasp whether someone is the right fit culturally for an organisation.
That said, businesses can’t afford to focus solely on technical skills as a cultural imbalance can lead to disengaged employees, drops in productivity and high turnover rates. Technical skills and recognition should be considered as the foundation to focus a candidate pool but qualifying an interviewee’s personality traits and how they reflect the value propositions and behaviours of a business are the building blocks to successful recruitment choices.
Supporting dispersed workers
The past 12 months have been extremely challenging for many businesses, with many still grappling to accelerate their digital transformation. As the world emerges from the pandemic, there is still so much uncertainty in the job market. High-quality candidates may fear taking the leap and moving jobs now, but displaying a supportive internal culture will reassure them in their career change choices. What’s more, the fixed traditional office environment is a thing of the past. Businesses have observed increases in productivity due to the ability to work from anywhere, which isn’t expected to change anytime soon.
Reduced commute times and more time spent at home have led to improved work/life balances, and for some, the thought of returning to the office is somewhat unattractive. In fact, 65% of workers want to keep working from home and 58% state that they would look for a new job if they were forced to head back to the office. Workforces want the flexibility to work from anywhere, and businesses can’t afford to lose out on top talent if they don’t empower a hybrid workforce.
As businesses keep up their hybrid working policies, companies need to enable employees to connect to any service from any device to keep efficiency and productivity levels at their highest. To ensure employee engagement, secure and effective collaboration tools are a critical investment for a business looking for new sources of innovation and productivity amongst a dispersed workforce.
Ensuring connectivity
A collaboration solution enables employees to effectively work together, regardless of their location. Employees are better connected, creating efficient communication channels that build company culture, strengthen engagement and increase productivity to maintain customer delivery. What’s more, the right collaboration tools will ensure businesses are in higher quality contact with customers to adapt to evolving environments and improve market responsiveness.
Organisations should partner with an expert who can provide knowledgeable guidance on choosing the right collaborative approach. An expert will have the technical ability to merge all voice and other communications services into one unified solution and provide a single interface through which businesses can access the tools they need to collaborate more effectively.
A business’ strongest asset
In any business, its people are its best asset. It’s what differentiates a company from its competitors and makes them unique. It’s therefore vital that each hire a company makes is the right cultural fit to ensure that customers continue to receive high levels of service to reach their own business goals and objectives. By guaranteeing a good culture fit, new starters can settle in quickly and are prepared for the future of work – whether that’s in the office, remote, or a combination of the two.
Even at Logicalis, we are currently evaluating its own office requirements and engaging with employees to understand their preferences for future working models. Future hires will expect employers to offer a hybrid working policy, so we are ensuring we can meet those expectations and supporting our customers to do so with secure and flexible IT and a great working culture.
Businesses should focus on their cultural fit to ensure employees feel supported and empowered in their virtual collaborative engagements. If not, companies risk losing valuable employees to competitors who can provide the workplace they desire to meet their professional and personal needs. The future of the workplace is uncertain, and businesses have been allowed to make their own choices on whether they return full-time, adopt a remote working policy, or remain hybrid. Connected and collaborative employees are undoubtedly the foundation for making a difference today and contributing to success for the future.
