Why HR Pros Should be Involved in Technology Decisions in the Modern Workplace
When the first waves of the pandemic began to subside, and “WFH” (work from home) gave way to “RTO” (return to office), many businesses settled into a hybrid work schedule. As collaboration began among in-person and virtual meeting attendees, many of those same businesses realized their technology was lacking. A single webcam stuck at the far end of a conference simply wasn’t cutting it — it gave remote employees a “view down a bowling alley” look at their colleagues. For the remote worker, this diminished expressions, gestures, and all the other non-verbal cues that make for proper collaboration. This is borne out from data from the Crestron report “Tackling the Modern Workplace by the Numbers:” “Over 60% of survey respondents say being unable to fully see and engage with in-room or remote participants negatively affects their meeting experience.”
The situation called for a new understanding of the concept of “meeting equity” — ensuring that every individual can see and be seen, giving each collaborator “equal pixel real estate.” There are various ways to accomplish this, from intelligent video solutions that track and frame collaborators when they speak to rethinking how conference rooms are aligned (simply placing videoconferencing displays on the longer wall of the space, for example).
But along with technological considerations came other concerns — the business of creating a hybrid work model meant that IT and HR departments had to work hand-in-hand. That was true even for firms that make the very solutions that make hybrid work possible — companies such as Crestron.
The First Step: A Comprehensive Audit
Crestron’s VP of HR Operations, Marcos Negron, sums it up: “We were really setting foot into the unknown.” Negron and the rest of the team charged with drafting hybrid work policies had three areas of focus: collaboration, culture, and community. Could a hybrid blend of staffers collaborate effectively? Could the company maintain its culture while some employees were fully remote? And could a sense of community be maintained digitally?
To ensure the transition was smooth (not to mention equitable), Negron and his colleagues hired a consultancy firm. Their first step: a wide-ranging, comprehensive audit that covered every topic one could conjure. A great many questions focused on tech: Who had access to what devices, how was the technology used to communicate, how much communication was happening via email, and so on. This was truly where the “rubber met the road” when it came to the cooperation of the HR and IT departments. The company leaned on both departments to answer two questions: How do we leverage technology to keep our remote workers engaged, and how do we “make the commute worth it” when in-office attendance is required?
Some answers went well beyond finding the right hardware/software packages. One example: Crestron hired a two-person team tasked with focusing on internal comms to keep virtual employees in the loop. More amenities were offered to those who had to come into the physical building several times a week. One day per week — Wednesday — was slated as an “all hands in office” day, where everyone within commuting distance was asked to come in for face-to-face collaboration. (Wednesdays are also “food-truck days” at the company’s main campus, which has proven to be a big hit.)
Connection Everywhere
From a tech standpoint, however, there’s a growing realization that every space needs connectivity in a hybrid world. From the smallest huddle niche to the largest conference room, the ability to communicate, collaborate — and yes, even socialize — with remote colleagues at a moment’s notice keeps staff engaged and reinforces a culture built for the uninterrupted exchange of ideas.
From an HR perspective, there are other benefits that come with a hybrid work model. Recruitment and retention are two of the biggest. While it’s true that some employees prefer a five-day-a-week face-to-face schedule, the majority prefer the flexibility of having some portion of the week spent in the home office. For those companies that are comfortable with a segment of their workforce fully remote, the potential pool for new hires is literally global.
Additionally, there’s a growing body of evidence that hybrid meetings are superior to every other mode of collaboration. Studies undertaken by Joseph R. Allen, Ph.D., at his Center for Meeting Effectiveness revealed that hybrid meetings generated more participation from attendees, limited counterproductive meeting behavior, and reduced “meeting recovery time,” to name just a few.
Ultimately, the right technology coupled with equitable hybrid work policies is the “secret sauce” that will help this scheduling model succeed. A truly successful hybrid company will ensure that its HR and IT departments are working closely together to achieve that goal.
Authored by Sam Kennedy, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Crestron