by Brianna Crandall — August 28, 2019 — Your office makes an important statement about your company to both visitors and employees. But are you giving the right impression? If you’ve got a cluttered reception area, clunky visitor management system, or outdated workplace technology, it might be time to reimagine your workplace experience, says workplace technology provider Envoy.
Envoy builds workplace technology with the aim of making workplaces work better, and wanted to understand what people expect from their offices. What do they want that they’re not getting? What delights them? And what drives them crazy? To find out, Envoy commissioned Wakefield Research to conduct a study of 1,000 US office workers about their workplace experience.
Despite the rise of remote work, the social aspects of work keep people coming to the office: 54% of respondents said face-to-face social interactions with colleagues motivate them to work from the office, rather than remotely, found the survey.
The findings revealed what people actually value in their work environment, which type of workplace technology can boost efficiency, and what areas need improvement. In fact, when it comes to workplace experience, it turns out first impressions are even more important than you might think, notes Envoy.
Overwhelmingly, survey responses clearly indicate two trends due to lack of adequate workplace technology:
- Significant time and productivity loss
- Negative impact on overall workplace experience
Envoy’s top takeaways from the workplace experience survey, as well as suggested solutions to ensure your workplace isn’t falling behind, appear below.
Workplace technology is falling short
Over a third of respondents (34%) described their offices as having outdated tech and in need of a complete makeover. Printer malfunctions and spotty Wi-Fi topped the list at 46% and 44% as the most common workplace technology inconveniences, with email issues (35%) and conference room technology (26%) following close behind. This represents a real loss of productivity, points out Envoy.
On average, office workers waste 24 minutes a day dealing with workplace technology problems, and 37% of respondents spend at least half an hour a day dealing with office inconveniences, revealing a need for reliable, modern office tech to ease people’s workplace experience pain points.
First impressions matter to the workplace experience
The workplace experience not only affects employees but also people visiting the office, since first impressions matter.
As Envoy explains it: imagine going into an office for a job interview. The lobby is piled with packages, and the receptionist hands you a pen to sign in. The pen doesn’t work. The receptionist hands you another pen. This type of visitor management is uninspiring for you as the interviewee and cumbersome for the receptionist.
What’s the main takeaway? You might be a little less impressed with the company now. This inefficient sign-in experience has risked losing you as a job candidate, and wasted valuable company time and resources on a subpar experience.
This is an unfortunately common scenario, says the company. The Wakefield study found that 75% of respondents have negatively judged an organization based on their first impression of the lobby. So what can you do to avoid leaving a negative impression on interviewees? Nearly a third (32%) of respondents listed technology — such as new or sleek-looking office tech, as one of their top factors.
Having a sign-in app streamlines visitor registration and upgrades the workplace experience. Instead of signing in with pen and paper, guests use a sign-in app on an iPad kiosk, revealing modern visitor management.
In addition, a cloud-based visitor management system can easily be tailored to your company’s custom branding. If you have an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), your guest will be asked to review and sign it right in the sign-in app. A sign-in app can also take the guest’s photo and print a custom name badge, then send an alert with the photo so employees know who to greet.
The latest workplace technology can help
Can any workplace technology tackle the mountain of packages cluttering reception areas these days? The survey results show that there is clearly a need:
- 69% of office workers have had at least one personal package delivered to their office (76% of Millennials, compared to 54% of Baby Boomers).
- 63% percent cited convenience and not being home during delivery windows as the reason they like to have packages sent to work.
- 50% listed security as a concern, saying they’re afraid their packages might get stolen at home.
With so many people having personal packages delivered to their office, the deliveries can pile up in reception.
Fortunately, a deliveries app can help your receptionist handle deliveries quickly. The receptionist simply scans each package with the mobile app. The recipient is alerted and confirms pickup on an iPad. A deliveries app improves workplace experience by:
- Making delivery management more efficient for the receptionist
- Helping keep packages secure
- Encouraging employees to pick packages up faster, keeping reception tidier
The right workplace technology can make a real, tangible difference in improving the workplace experience for your employees and visitors alike, concludes Envoy. Employees can do their work more efficiently, and visitors get a great first impression of your company.
For more information about Envoy’s visitor management system or delivery management system, or to learn how leading music discovery platform Pandora uses Envoy to create positive, lasting impressions and improve their workplace experience, visit the Envoy website.
Article derived from Envoy blog
