Modern workplaces are drastically different from what corporations used to look like just a few decades ago. Employee priorities have changed since, especially in the context of an unprecedented global health crisis. For example, adequate salaries are no longer enough to retain talent; instead, workers prioritize aspects like workplace safety, diversity, company flexibility, and, most importantly, modernization.
A key employee concern today is whether the workplace incorporates the necessary modern tools and platforms needed to execute work efficiently. How flexible is an employer when it comes to new tools? Equally important is how firms ensure employees successfully adapt to new workplace technology and add more value to their roles/productivity.
An employer’s attitude and technology strategy will play a key role in how quickly and effectively workers adopt new digital platforms and systems, and by extension, improve employee retention and productivity.
Table of Contents
Eight Strategies to Promote Adaption of New Technologies in the Workplace
Every business acquires new recruits with diverse mindsets, backgrounds, and experience levels, particularly when they expand their hiring capabilities with an IT recruiting agency. Therefore, business leaders and workforce managers are obligated to test various strategies until they find one that delivers the best results for their organization.
There is no fool-proof way that works for every business and/or industry, but the following eight tips can reasonably improve the probability of workers comfortably adapting to the latest technology and adopting it into their day-to-day professional routines:
Research
For both established brands and modern, leaner ones with remote workers and vCISO services, incorporating modern technology and computing is crucial to both growth and survival. However, businesses need to be very careful about the kind of technology into which they invest time and energy. When searching for the right software, programs, or tools, the following list of questions may prove helpful in choosing the right mix:
- What does the tool do?
- What specific problems does it address?
- Is the removal of this problem or obstacle a major success?
- Does this tool have competing technology or alternative platforms?
- What is the ease of integrating and rolling out the new platform/tool?
Trial Phase
If the technology is relatively new and most teams are unfamiliar with its nuances, a trial period offers a useful cushion before actually buying and deploying it in the workplace. Generally speaking, utilizing a free trial period is fairly easy as most business software and programs offer it.
Capitalizing on this can help businesses decide early on whether the tech is worth investing in. In parallel, it can also ensure that managers can guide employees from experience on how to better use it. This can help remove initial obstacles where employees need to familiarize themselves with the new platforms/tools.
Formulation
Successful workplace tech adaptation is a process. In other words, there are several steps to follow before workers get comfortable with the new technology. Inherently, workplaces still remain resistant to change, even when it is essential to their continued functioning. Therefore, workforce managers must formulate a comprehensive plan before making such a significant change to the workplace. In particular, the following points require careful consideration:
- Is it the right time to introduce employees to a new workplace technology?
- Will the new deployment disrupt projects/tasks on which many teams are currently working?
- Does the right mindset to accept and adopt something new exist or do managers need to create it?
- How can different tiers and categories in the workforce access and work with the new platform?
- Will everyone be exposed to the new technology, or is a gradual top-down introduction more feasible?
- What additional training will become necessary? How should the training plan be structured?
Pitching
Instead of abruptly introducing new technology to the workplace, it may prove more efficient to do some groundwork in terms of conditioning and readying the workforce. Employees and teams are more likely to get on board if the change is expected beforehand.
If the employees are not enthusiastic about a particular software or tool, employers will encounter difficulty in encouraging them to successfully adopt it when the technology is deployed. Therefore, pitching the idea and “selling” it to the overall workforce is essential to get the workforce in the right mindset to adopt it. Once workforces are open to accepting the change, a successful deployment becomes far more likely.
Training
Managers and key personnel responsible for specific aspects of the organization must formulate training and supervision for their respective teams as well as for new hires. For decentralized recruitment, it gets easier because one dedicated individual is responsible for the recruits in their own unit only. Therefore, they can include basic training or introduction within the initial onboarding of a new recruit.
Depending on the departments, teams, and individual responsibilities, training decisions may need appropriate reworking to eliminate the risk of confusion and/or inefficiency. In any case, employers must decide who needs training, who will give it, and how long before retraining becomes necessary.
Incorporation
Once everyone has been introduced to the technology and completed their training, managers can begin to incorporate it into workplace routines. Initially, the first few weeks or months may necessitate special attention to repetitive usage. Ensuring that everyone uses it is not enough; managers need to accelerate familiarity and correct use as well. Once workers truly understand it, the need for manager involvement may decrease in intensity and frequency.
Highlight
Breaking down bigger goals into smaller ones is usually the best strategy to keep employees motivated and productive. First, businesses must have clear expectations regarding what they stand to gain from incorporating new technology into the workplace. Then, they must break down that primary goal into smaller milestones. Smaller steps will usually be less intimidating and will help create a map for managers to stick to.
Progress subsequently becomes easier to measure, and workers will find it easier to follow these milestones in a structured way. This will keep them motivated and gradually increase their proficiency with the new technology, instead of presenting a challenging goal with an unfamiliar business tool.
Update And Repeat
All workplace objectives, including technology adaptation and talent acquisition strategies, require frequent updates and reevaluation. If a particular strategy does not deliver the desired results, managers may need to reevaluate it, particularly to identify the need for an update or a flaw that may be inhibiting success. Constantly testing and improving new approaches is the only real way to increase successful outcomes and keep them sustainable.
Conclusion
Most companies and businesses are hesitant about two things: Second chance hiring and big changes! Unfortunately, these are outdated concepts and modern corporations need to assign more value to both these strategies. Especially in terms of how they can help add value to the workplace and boost business success.
The strategies discussed in this blog are fairly consistent with modern business practices. While they may not guarantee success, they can help managers implement technological changes in the workplace with a lower risk of failure.
