For many employees, a meaningful career is something vital to gain sufficient levels of income to live the life you want. However, millions of people find that they suffer from stress, as a direct result of cultivating and managing their career paths. The modern world of work is characterized by staff members needing to balance a multitude of daily tasks whilst focusing on key projects and preparing for important meetings. It is recognized that technology in the workplace has allowed staff to work harder and more efficiently than ever before.
However, in some cases, this can lead to ever-increasing workloads that increase the risk of work-related stress and even burnout. The introduction of office computers (from as early as the 1950s in some companies) meant that many tasks could be completed electronically without the need to physically write reports and presentations. This resulted in less time needed to be spent completing many work-related tasks, but also inevitably led to increased workloads for staff.
This article seeks to offer insight as to how modern technology can be harnessed to improve working lives and allow more freedom in how employees undertake their routine tasks.
Work/Life Balance
In recent years, the topic of achieving a healthy work/life balance has become commonly discussed in and out of the workplace. It is now recognized that two-thirds of the working population will experience some form of burnout during their working careers. In severe cases, this can lead to staff members taking extended periods away from work on sick leave and can also make them far more likely to choose a completely new career or job. It can be difficult to achieve a healthy work/life balance when you work in a job that requires you to manage a heavy workload with conflicting demands on your time.
In some cases, it can lead to not having enough time or energy to focus on your home life. However, there are several ways in which the intelligent use of technology can improve workers’ work/life balance. For example, millions of workers now benefit from remote or hybrid models of work by using cloud-based business systems that can be accessed from the internet. In addition, video conferencing software has enabled meetings and presentations to take place without the need to travel to a business site or be physically present in one space.
These two types of technology can allow workers to complete tasks from the comfort of their own homes, often with the ability to fit personal or family responsibilities around the working day.
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Dedicated Workplace Space for Relaxation
An increasing number of leading employers are beginning to recognize the value of offering workers space in the office to take time out to relax and unwind during their working hours. Relaxation rooms, as they are now known, are becoming increasingly common across a range of organizations, as managers and leaders start to recognize the value of offering their staff space to unwind and reflect during the working day. These rooms often feature some of the latest technology to enable relaxation to take place.
For example, voice-activated bluetooth speaker units are often incorporated and allow workers to access mindfulness and meditation apps or listen to relaxing music in between their daily tasks. This can allow workers to return to their desks with renewed focus and can lead to improvements in workforce productivity across the working day. Voice-controlled LED mood lighting can also be installed in these rooms to allow tired minds to unwind and gain clarity on how to approach their next batch of tasks.
Faster Design Processes
Many organizations use complicated components or printed circuit boards in the production of their consumer or business goods. Designers and engineers are required to plan out these schematics and prototypes to extreme levels of detail and accuracy. In the past, this meant spending immense amounts of time designing printed circuit boards by hand using highly developed technical drawing skills. This was a strenuous task and required high concentration throughout the process.
Today, the task is made immeasurably easier and more efficient by using specialized design software that is intuitive to use and can be modified easily without needing to re-draw all the components and linkages. In addition, recent apps have allowed stakeholders to view Gerber files (which is a file format commonly used to design printed circuit boards on) and share them over the internet with a few mouse clicks. This can dramatically reduce the time spent designing complex circuitry and allows stakeholders to collaborate on these projects effortlessly without needing to be in the same physical workspace.
Using Tech for Employee Engagement
It is recognized that a highly engaged workforce is a happy and productive one. Workers are more likely to identify with a company that actively seeks their views, feedback, and opinions on a range of working practices. When done effectively, employee engagement can result in lower levels of employee churn, a more satisfied workforce, and lower ongoing recruitment costs.
Improving employee engagement by using technology is remarkably easy to achieve for most companies. In some cases, it can be as simple as using employee survey software to request feedback on a range of employment topics. These surveys can be completed online and instantly submitted back to a dedicated mailbox so that the results can be compiled into meaningful reports and statistics.
Improved Collaboration
Building high levels of teamwork and collaboration in the workplace can also be achieved by utilizing the latest technology. This can be incredibly important if teams do not work in a shared physical workspace (with remote or hybrid workers) but there is a need for all stakeholders to be aware of the progress on each stage of a project or complex set of tasks.
Today, many organizations use dedicated software packages, such as Trello or Slack, that are designed to promote collaboration whilst being regularly updated with project and task progress. This type of software can be extremely effective in allowing larger teams or a mix of stakeholders to collaborate without experiencing silo working practices that result in the duplication of tasks or actions.
