{"id":500645,"date":"2021-06-24T10:58:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T08:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=500645"},"modified":"2021-06-24T10:58:43","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T08:58:43","slug":"innovation-is-key-to-effective-hybrid-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/500645\/innovation-is-key-to-effective-hybrid-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovation is key to effective hybrid working"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The events of the last year have accelerated the uptake of hybrid working \u2013 not just in South Africa, but globally.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/worklab\/work-trend-index\/hybrid-work?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=SponsoredArticle&amp;utm_term=June2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Microsoft\u2019s Work Trend Index<\/strong><\/a> shows that over 70% of workers want flexible remote work options to continue.<\/p>\n<p>However, 65% are also craving more in-person time with their teams.<\/p>\n<p>The solution to this dilemma is clear \u2013 hybrid working \u2013 and this is why 66% of business decision makers are considering redesigning their physical spaces to support hybrid working.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/mea\/newcultureofwork\/?utm_source=MyBroadband&amp;utm_medium=SponsoredArticle&amp;utm_term=June2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here to learn more about Microsoft\u2019s hybrid working solutions.<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">The challenges of hybrid working<\/h3>\n<p>However, there is more to hybrid working than reimagining physical spaces \u2013 employees need to be provided a comprehensive remote working experience so that they can remain as productive as they are when they work from the office.<\/p>\n<p>In its 2020 Work Reworked report, which comprised insight from 610 South African leaders and employees in large enterprises, Microsoft highlighted five key reasons employees in a hybrid-working situation feel they are not making the most of their work day:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Seeking approval from managers<\/li>\n<li>Unnecessary interruptions from colleagues<\/li>\n<li>Tracking down team members for ideas<\/li>\n<li>Searching for information<\/li>\n<li>Unnecessary communications<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The research also found that 60% of South African managers had not effectively learned how to delegate and empower their virtual teams.<\/p>\n<p>However, innovative companies that have embraced the new way of working have been significantly more successful in implementing hybrid working.<\/p>\n<p>77% of South African employees from companies that were found to be innovative said their manager protects their work\/life balance, as opposed to 36% in companies that are not considered innovative.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, 56% of employees at innovative companies believed it was okay to make decisions without their manager, as opposed to 35% at non-innovative South African companies.<\/p>\n<p>These results just reinforce the importance of companies taking innovative solutions on board \u2013 as evidenced by 97% of surveyed leaders citing workplace innovation and flexibility as a top transformation priority.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Microsoft hybrid working solutions<\/h3>\n<p>Microsoft offers an extensive suite of hybrid working tools that can help you and your employees to work at peak productivity levels from anywhere and at any time.<\/p>\n<p>Its \u201cFuture of Work\u201d solutions include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Reimagine Employee Experience<\/strong> \u2013 products such as Viva Topics, Viva Connections, Viva Learning, and Viva Insights can make life easier for your workforce.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reimagine Collaboration<\/strong> &#8211; Microsoft 365 Business Voice turns Teams into a fully-fledged replacement for traditional telephone systems, while Microsoft 365 also helps you develop team hubs and knowledge-sharing solutions to improve work flow.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reimagine Simplicity<\/strong> &#8211; The Microsoft Teams platform makes it possible to simplify tedious processes and get in contact with fellow employees instantly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reimagine Security<\/strong> &#8211; Microsoft Azure provides comprehensive security and compliance when it comes to your data management and processes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/mea\/newcultureofwork\/?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=SponsoredArticle&amp;utm_term=June2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here to learn more about Microsoft\u2019s hybrid working solutions.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft is focused on helping organisations reap the full benefits of hybrid working.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":500655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[169],"class_list":["post-500645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-microsoft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500645"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":500819,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500645\/revisions\/500819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}