technology
embracing this change, through gains in attracting talent and improvements
in employee productivity, satisfaction, retention and
satisfaction in communications tools.
Most Canadian companies are only beginning to move into the
digital workplace; the Avanade study says “employees at only one
in four companies can access software and applications seamlessly
outside of a physical office location today.”
And there are challenges, like maintaining privacy for the employee
and security for the corporation. This risk can largely be
addressed through existing tools, like good password habits; a
more complicated matter, and one that has particular relevance for
HR professionals, concerns the new definition of the working day.
REDEFINING THE WORKDAY
While the ability to work from remote locations at any hour of
the day provides enormous scope for accommodation of staff with
caregiving responsibilities, for example, it also opens up a host of
questions regarding how to account for hours worked outside the
normal schedule, and whether or to what extent staff will be held
responsible to be “on call” during what was once considered purely
personal time.
These considerations have a very different feel at different levels
of an organization. A senior legal counsel may find it normal
and reasonable to respond to urgent queries at odd times of the
day, but is the same true of a casual labourer earning minimum
wage? Who pays for the phone, or maintains the data plan? Are
smartphone ownership or skills part of the job description, like car
ownership and a driver’s license?
“There’s a lot of discussion and debate on this topic; there’s
risk, but there’s also a tremendous amount of opportunity,” said
Kaytek Przybylski, Avanade Canada Inc.’s vice president, Canada
Service Lines.
For companies looking to take the first step into the digital
workplace, he says, there is no single tool or function that wins
out over all the others in every case. There will be shopping decisions
to be made (like whether to adopt a Microsoft or Apple
suite), but each innovation and every purchase should flow out
of a thoughtful analysis of corporate processes and policies.
“If I were an organization wanting a better digital workplace
environment, that’s the first step I’d take,” said Przybylski. “It
starts with having a clear idea of what you want to achieve
and why.”
HR professionals will most likely play a key role in the discussions
around digital workplace innovation. On the one
hand, it can be a major driver of employee satisfaction, since
workers tend to respond with enthusiasm to systems that
streamline their workplace communications. It also makes
HR’s job easier, since the smartphone or tablet can become a
primary way to connect people to company policies, payroll records
and safety information, among many other items, and
it opens up far-reaching new possibilities for accommodating
employees with caregiving responsibilities. But these tools also
pose challenges relating to privacy and data security, and may
end up redefining the shape of the work week for some types
of workers.
“HR plays a critical role,” said Przybylski. “Let’s say you want
to digitize the workplace of a courier company or law office;
the HR team needs to help make sure that the people who are
ultimately the stakeholders in the systems are well represented
in the process of designing and implementing these systems.”
Many companies will turn to consultants to implement the
new systems.
“But HR needs to wave the flag to say, ‘Hey, let’s not forget
about the couriers.’ And ‘Let’s also consider the policy implications
of what we want to do,’” said Przybylski. “It’s an exciting
time, and a lot of change is happening. The expectations of
customers and employees are changing. We all need to figure
out what that means and help organizations respond.” n
“THERE’S RISK,
BUT THERE’S ALSO
A TREMENDOUS
AMOUNT OF
OPPORTUNITY.”
– KAYTEK PRZYBYLSKI, AVANADE CANADA INC.
Sfio Cracho/Shutterstock.com
34 ❚ JANUARY 2016 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL