No one could miss the trend of workers leaving their jobs in record numbers once pandemic restrictions began to recede. While there are complex reasons for this dramatic migration, what’s obvious is that many people weren’t happy with their existing employment, and now we’re seeing a war for talent with dramatic wage increases, and recruiters struggling to fill positions.
As a result, organisations are prioritising employee satisfaction to increase retention and attract talent. One of the primary factors influencing employee satisfaction is the option of flexible work, and technology plays a vital role in enabling people to work wherever and whenever they want (while also meeting organisations’ needs). With these drivers in mind, we predict a rise in technology being used to boost employee satisfaction and retain talent.
Why technology?
Employees are seeking more than just flexible schedules – they want the ability to easily work on any device from home, while travelling or anywhere else they happen to be. People are increasingly expecting work technologies to be modern, user-friendly solutions that they can adopt quickly and rely on however and wherever they’re working.
One of the primary factors influencing employee satisfaction is the option of flexible work, and technology plays a vital role in enabling people to work wherever and whenever they want (while also meeting organisations’ needs).
Warrick McLean, CEO at Coleman Greig Lawyers, was recently quoted in our trends whitepaper about this pivotal period for law firms: “The iPhone has been around since 2007, which means professionals working in our organisations have literally had a smartphone their entire lives. It’s intuitive, easy to use – naturally all technology is like that, right? And then they enter a law firm and don’t understand why our systems can’t do this or won’t allow that. We’re in the midst of a pivotal period in which law firms need to realise that every business is a technology business. And legacy, on-premises systems will stick out as clunky and inefficient to today’s young professionals. The longer it takes for your organisation to implement modern, easily accessible tools that enable a collaborative culture, the more talent you stand to lose and the more your service delivery to clients could suffer.”
Seek out cloud-native tools that optimise the remote work experience. Look for features like video meetings, real-time chat, and seamless mobile document and email management. Review common workflows and collaboration tools and determine how easily tasks can be accomplished on mobile devices or from remote workspaces. And consider that, if more applications can live under a vendor’s umbrella of services and with better integrations (fewer apps and fewer clicks), that speaks to the centrality of user experience.
As Joy Heath Rush, CEO of the International Legal Technology Association, put it: “To attract and retain top talent, we must make the employee experience better, make it easier to do work, provide professional development and mentorship opportunities and otherwise differentiate our business from others – all of which can be enabled by technology.”
Conclusions from the Great Resignation
In addition to organisations using technology to improve employee satisfaction, we also expect to see a trend of more intentional offboarding – formally enacting processes around the transfer of responsibilities once an employee leaves a business or retires – to gain insight into the causes of turnover, and tighter access controls to prevent data exfiltration.
There is also an opportunity for leaders who are willing to be first-movers in making their law firms more accessible and inclusive. Paul Unger, partner at Affinity Consulting Group, notes: “This sudden new way of working brought to light the need to consider how individuals with disabilities access technologies and perform work. Enhancing accessibility improves the overall user experience and could be a differentiator in recruiting talent and enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities.”
The security impact of the Great Resignation is significant. It’s common for employees to share documents with their personal email addresses and devices to make remote work easier, creating security vulnerabilities. And new job announcements make it easy for malicious actors to target new employees with phishing schemes. Mobile data and device management will be a critical part of ensuring your data remains secure in today’s new normal.
The security impact of the Great Resignation is significant. It’s common for employees to share documents with their personal email addresses and devices to make remote work easier, creating security vulnerabilities. And new job announcements make it easy for malicious actors to target new employees with phishing schemes. Mobile data and device management will be a critical part of ensuring your data remains secure in today’s new normal. We’ll also see cybersecurity teams evolve into cyber-resiliency teams.
Tech that puts people first
Employees who experience ineffective business technologies can become discouraged, disconnected, and ultimately disengaged. The Great Resignation has presented new opportunities to get creative with how technology supports an individual’s success. When we utilise technology to prioritise employee satisfaction, we’ll experience very purposeful in-person workplaces, employees who are loyal and happy, and a thriving culture that allows you to find, grow and retain top talent from around the world.