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Imagine beginning the day on your well-worn work laptop. You open a browser to sign into the cloud, but all you see is the buffering wheel — for three minutes. Finally, it loads, but the moment you start typing, a window appears saying an update is needed. You click “update.” The computer restarts, and the process takes 45 minutes.
Frustrating, right? Poor technology management, outdated hardware, slow networks, buggy software and poor update rollouts are great ways to crush morale and get people reconsidering their employment.
When it comes to keeping people happily employed, no stone should be left unturned. Every aspect of the working environment counts, including technology as well as its service and support. So, how can technology management reduce employee turnover and boost retention?
What Staff Turnover Can Really Cost
Do you want to keep throwing money at Human Resources and Recruiting to find new workers? Keep spending money and time on training new hires after someone leaves every month? Or would you rather build and retain a strong team so they can get down to business and serve your customers?
Continual staff turnover costs time and money that could be better spent. Losing employees also means losing valuable knowledge and experience you may not find elsewhere. Plus, a working environment with constant turnover where it shouldn’t be is bad for morale — which is bad for the company.
And this isn’t only for tech-based companies. Any business that uses technology (which, at this point, is just about all of them) would be wise to heed this advice.
5 Ways to Keep Your Staff Happy with the Right Technology Solutions
At the core is one key question: What tools and support do your employees need to get their jobs done as efficiently and friction-free as possible in a way that gets them excited about coming into work every day? Here are some important considerations.
1. Have a Flexible and Secure Strategy for Potential Remote Work
Millions of people successfully telecommute in today’s world, with the pandemic making necessary what was already a trending shift. Not every business can implement work-from-home policies, but if you decide this is a road you’d like to go down, you’ll need to adjust your technology strategy to ensure workers remain productive and assets are secured. A clear strategy that’s well communicated can keep employees happy.
Mobility is key even in the office, so when it’s time to order or upgrade hardware for everyone, think laptop, not desktop. Consider what’s required in a mobile or remote workstation. From there, ensure each device is fully secure, especially since anyone working offsite will be logging into a Wi-Fi network that likely won’t have the same airtight security as the office.
Sign up for a Microsoft 365 account and take advantage of Teams for remote calls and meetings, or set up Zoom accounts if you’d rather go that route. Either way, incorporating teleconferencing and other remote-friendly tools into your day makes any work-from-home policy that much easier to implement.
Further Reading: Top 10 Remote Work Tools to Improve Employee Productivity
2. Keep Devices Updated
Updating devices means keeping existing devices current with their operating systems and patches as well as physically upgrading the devices themselves. It’s admirable to get as much out of a laptop as possible, but there comes a time when the functions of the business surpass its capabilities — and your employees will notice.
Consider making a solid investment right out of the gate, with cutting-edge computers, tablets or phones that have a lot to offer from day one. Don’t go overboard, of course, since you still have a budget to consider. But think about what your employees need for smooth sailing and find the devices that deliver.
3. Maintain High Cybersecurity Vigilance
If an employee’s day is full of wondering whether emails they receive are from legitimate sources, they’re putting too much time and brain power toward that instead of their jobs. Obviously, excellent cybersecurity training and awareness is crucial for all your employees, but you’ll need to put in place tight security measures so they aren’t playing whack-a-mole against phishing emails 9 to 5.
4. Keep Employees Educated
Invest time to teach your employees how to use everything they need. How to schedule meetings in Zoom, how to book rooms in Outlook, and so on. We have so many tools at our disposal, regardless of the brand or operating systems, and it would be a shame to let them go to waste as employees try to guess their way through the day. They may wind up guessing their way out the door.
5. Employ a Readily Available Team of Experts
Where can an employee turn with technology or network security questions? If something goes wrong, is it going to throw a catastrophic monkey wrench in their day, or is there a well-known, convenient protocol in place to help?
Having an in-house IT team and/or technology management partner goes a long way to making all of this possible and providing employees with the support they need. At Elevity, for example, we offer fully managed technology services as well as co-managed services. The former is ideal for small businesses, while the latter works for businesses who have an IT team in place that needs a helping hand.
The Right Tools, the Right Experience
Our focus at Elevity is approaching technology with our own 4S methodology: Strategy, Security, Solutions and Support. This four-pronged approach covers all technology bases, and it’s what we bring to the table when you work with us.
One solution we like, especially in today’s telecommuting world, is the right virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI. As a means of helping remote workers stay connected without being at the office, VDI has been around for decades. But how can you find a VDI that’ll give you the strategy, security and support you need?
We’ve put together an eBook that discusses our favorite VDI: Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop. In this eBook, we cover how Azure handles major security threats, how much storage capacity is available and much more. Click the link below to start accessing your free copy today!
