The pandemic has dramatically accelerated a work-from-home (WFH) trend that had been on the rise for many years. WFH is here to stay. As a large number of businesses have no plans to bring their people back into an office for the foreseeable future, the focus now shifts from “Will we allow our people to work remotely?” (a question that has been largely answered) to “How can we ensure they have everything they need to be productive?”
“The numbers show time and again that offering a remote work option will bring about a lower rate of employee turnover,” said HP Partner Business Manager Kin Ho. “Smart companies will have set their minds to increasing employees’ happiness and sense of well-being as a path to higher productivity.”
Anticipating employee needs
From an HR perspective, employee happiness and well-being can come from any number of elements, including flexible hours, regular salary or wage-rate reviews, and health and wellness perks. However, employee happiness levels are further increased when employers work to find solutions to problems employees have “on the job.”
“This is the point at which a business leader will have to ask questions of and to employees,” said Ho. “In the case of people working out of home offices, you start there. Notice their problems are often related to having access to high-performing tools and a feeling that their work and data (and thus yours) is secure.”
Three key elements
To Kin Ho, employee happiness from a technical perspective boils down to:
- Performance – Seventy-eight per cent of business leaders interviewed in a recent Microsoft-Harvard Review study considered empowering frontline workers to be critical. An empowered employee is, in most instances, a more happy and productive employee than they would otherwise have been.
- Communication – Findings like this one by Gallup lend credence to the idea that employee engagement is comprised of concrete behavior as opposed to a vague, abstract “feeling.” Employer-provided tools that improve communication are tools that make for a happier and in the long run more productive employee.
- Security – A disengaged and/or low-morale employee is more likely to represent a bona fide security risk to companies. But sometimes the employer’s apathy has led to the bad result. However, an organization that invests in solutions that help employees work more securely invest in both their future and that of their workers.
“So you end up with three basic questions,” said Ho. “‘Are employees empowered to do their work?’; ‘Can they communicate effectively?’; and ‘Is their information secure?’”
A compelling combo for the 2020 workplace
HP Inc.’s new Intel 10th Gen processor — “The Power of 10” — offers employers a number of benefits that tie directly to WFH-era employee satisfaction:
- Boosted productivity – Built-in intelligent performance features learn and adapt to what you do, dynamically directing power where you need it most. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processors with Intel® Optane™ memory deliver the responsiveness to get more done. Benefit to employees: Great performance, better performance
- Outstanding security – Multiple features that make employees’ workstation a secure-station:
- HP Sure View Reflect guards screens from prying eyes with an integrated privacy display.
- HP Sure Start provides advanced “Below the OS” protection to client devices that use hardware enforcement to ensure the system will only boot Genuine HP BIOS.
- HP Sure Click isolates key applications in their own virtual containers, trapping malware and deleting it as soon as the application is closed.
- Best-in-class connectivity – Integrated Intel® Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), Intel® Ethernet Connection I225, and Thunderbolt™ 3 technology, 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processors. Benefit to employees: Great connectivity, reliable communications
“The 10th Gen processor packs an impressive punch, making a lot more possible from a work perspective than ever before” said Ho. “At a time when so many employees are offsite, ‘The Power of 10’ makes for a compelling offering. It’s especially critical now that companies have the right technology working for them. More often than not, it’s down to these raw elements like speed and power. This is where Intel’s 10th Gen processor wins.”
As one of the biggest resellers in Canada, CDW designs, orchestrates, and manages customized services and solutions for organizations of all sizes. CDW focuses on customers’ IT, leaving customers free to focus on servicing existing clients and securing new ones.
