Transformation In The Workplace Q&A

Transformation In The Workplace

Introduction-Transformation In The Workplace

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Task 2: Research Findings

2.1 Findings

Structured interview

A structured interview has been conducted among three managers of top three international companies to analyse how transformation in workplace tends to impact employee productivity as well as the operations of the organization.

Q1. Do you feel workplace transformation is necessary for organizational growth?

R1: Employers may reap a variety of advantages from workforce transformation, including increased productivity and morale among their staff. Improved communication and cooperation, which results in new ideas and a more effective use of available resources.

R2: Our personal experience has shown that a serious workforce transformation project improves people's feelings about their employment, their organisation, and themselves. In the past, technological automation was seen as a threat to mankind. Now, it is recognised as a means of enhancing humanity.

R3: It is essential that a firm undergo workplace transformation to ensure its success and growth in the future. It is our mission to become more efficient and better serve our clients via specialised centres of excellence as a result of the change. As a result, we will be able to supply new and enhanced goods more quickly than ever before.

Q2. What are the challenges organizations and employees face owing to remote working?

R1: There must always be a delicate balance struck when it refers to verbal exchanges. I've observed that remote working has a significant impact on organisational communication. You don't want your remote employees to feel overwhelmed by too much communication. Similarly, you don't want your remote workers to feel isolated and alone because of a lack of contact between them and their co-workers.

R2: Remote workers may not be as productive as those in the office, but many corporate executives don't realise this. Remote employees are 20% to 25% more effective than their counterparts in the office since they don't have to deal with the exhausting commutes and coffee breaks. For many people, it is difficult to separate their professional life from their private one, which may lead to overwork and tiredness. Due to this epidemic, I believe remote working decreases employee productivity.

R3: It is indeed difficult to form a deep relationship with your co-workers if you only meet them once a week on a video conference. In the absence of in-person meetings, video conferencing is a suitable substitute. However, it is far from flawless. As a result, communication breaks out, resulting in decreased output. Remote workers may feel like they aren't a member of the team if they don't get the same treatment as their office-based colleagues.

Q3. What is the impact of workplace transformation in employee productivity?

R1: Productivity improvements are common when businesses become digital in all aspects of their operations. It also facilitates more effective use of available resources. As an added benefit, it promotes cross-departmental exchange of information and cooperation, as well as increased employee ownership and participation.

R2: I'm having a hard time describing how as a result of not having to go to and from the office, remote workers tend to be more productive since they have more time and less distractions. Companies and their workers benefit much from remote work when it is executed properly.

R3: Successfully navigating the challenges of remote work requires a rethinking of traditional competencies, such as self-motivation and the capacity to effectively communicate and collaborate with others. Even while this may not be a problem for pre-pandemic personnel, entry-level recruits may need a more hands-on approach to learn the ropes in a mostly virtual workplace in order to be inventive, align with an organization's structure, and perform well on the job.

Secondary Findings

Progress in the workplace may be facilitated by having an optimistic outlook and developing excellent working connections. Working from home has the drawback of making it more difficult to demonstrate one's professional accomplishments. Employees would have to put in more effort in 2021 to increase their virtual involvement if they want to take advantage of new prospects (Wang, et al., 2021). Workers and employers both have a difficult time conveying their level of interest in a remote work environment when most communication occurs through email. Employees that participate in virtual events, participate actively in online meetings, and maintain a high level of excitement while working from home will be acknowledged as leaders. For the year 2021, more than 4 million workers in the United Kingdom have flexible work schedules, making it the most frequent flexible practise (Statista, n.d). In the second most common form of flexible arrangement, an employee works a predetermined number of hours throughout a year, rather than working the same number of hours every week or month. Flexible working arrangements with nine-day fortnights were the least frequent in this quarter, with roughly 122 thousand workers on such contracts.

Figure 1: “Number of employees in flexible working contracts in the United Kingdom as of 3rd quarter 2021”

(Source: Statista, n.d)

Tech giants still have one-size-fits-all rules

In spite of Apple's well-publicized opposition, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft intend to continue requiring most workers to come to work 50 to 60 percent of the time. Generally speaking, companies are willing to make exceptions. According to a statement made by Facebook in June, any employee whose position allows for remote work may apply for it (Galanti et al., 2020). Employees were notified in August that Google has granted 85 percent of the approximately 10,000 requests for long-term remote work. The business estimated in May that around 20 percent of its employees would be able to work from home. The "Hybrid Workplace Flexibility Guide" published by Microsoft in a May blog post suggests that workers may seek manager clearance to remote work more than half the time. Microsoft employees can access this guide. These businesses haven't said they'll change their mind about mandating a 50-60% in-office work schedule by default (Radovi?-Markovi?, Stevanovi?, and Milojevi?, 2021). This original mission of office work for LinkedIn has been retracted by Microsoft subsidiary, LinkedIn, however. When LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky announced that the firm will no longer require workers to work in the office at least half of the time, he remarked "we trust each other to perform our best work in which it works best for ourselves and our teams." Leaving remote work planning to teams may make sense for organisations like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple. According to Lana Peters, vice president for the Americas at HR software supplier Hibob, "it's more reasonable why they would do it team by team since their teams might be the size of small enterprises” (Tanpipat, Lim, and Deng, 2021). Workers who choose a more flexible work environment and the option to switch to a company that allows for remote working are also exerting significant pressure on organisations.

AMAZON

Even if the constraints imposed by COVID are lifted, Amazon's corporate and technological staff will no longer be required to work full time in an office (Charalampous, Grant, and Tramontano, 2021). When Amazon revised its return-to-work guidelines after the outbreak of the Ebola virus, it noted, "We're handling this epidemic for the first time, discovering and developing as we go."

FACEBOOK

Behemoth of social media Employees will be able to continue working remotely for a lengthy period of time, according to Facebook's announcement today. In addition, the corporation has promised to assist its workers in relocating to certain other countries so that they could work from home (Embrett et al., 2021). On June 15th, Facebook said that it will enable employees moving from the United States to Canada and from other areas of Europe to the United Kingdom through remote work. Additionally, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declared that he expects remote work to be a long-term trend at Facebook, which plans to recruit workers who can work from anywhere in the world.

APPLE

At least three days a week, Tuesdays, Mondays, and Thursdays, are required by Apple for certain of its workers in September. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an internal message that employees would be able to work from home on Wednesdays and Fridays(Yang et al., 2021). According to this message, workers will be able to work from home for up to two weeks each year in order to be "near to family and loved ones, discover a change of scenery, handle unforeseen travel, or a different cause of your own.".

GOOGLE

It was previously reported that Google wants 20% of its employees to continue working from home, while 60% would work a hybrid schedule that includes three days at the office and two 'wherever they work best'. The remaining 20% of Google employees have the option of moving to a new office site. It will also provide Google workers the opportunity to work from any place other than their main office for up to 20 days a calendar year (Green and Riley, 2021). In an email to staff, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that employees would be required to come to work based on the team they belong to. "Workplaces of the future will be more adaptable. As a starting point, the modifications above will enable us perform at our highest level while having a great time doing it "Pichai sent an email to the company's staff explaining his position.

SAP

As a result of the excellent response to remote working as during COVID-19 epidemic, business software firm SAP has implemented flexible working arrangements for 100,000 workers worldwide (Embrett et al., 2021). Nearly half of SAP employees intend to spend just one or two days a week in the office in the future, based on an internal survey of the company's employees. For the sake of cooperation and collaboration, the corporation is reorganising its offices. SAP's chief marketing and services officer Julia White remarked, "It allows workers 100% freedom." While trying to get to know the co-workers on a personal level is crucial, White says she loves the freedom that comes with being a single mother who can balance work and personal obligations.

2.2 Analysis of Findings

From the above analysis of the findings, it can be evaluated that workplace transformation in organisations inevitable, however, it tends to create both negative and positive impacts. A structured interview has been conducted among three managers of top three international companies to analyse how transformation in workplace tends to impact employee productivity as well as the operations of the organization. When the question was asked to the interviewers regarding if they consider workplace transformation is necessary for organizational growth, it was noted that the interviewees stated Employers may benefit from workforce transformation in a number of ways, including greater productivity and morale among their employees. Improved communication and collaboration result in the generation of new ideas and a more efficient utilisation of existing resources. Additionally, the second company claimed that a significant workforce transformation initiative enhances employees' attitudes about their jobs, their organisation, and themselves. Historically, technological automation was seen as a danger to humanity. It is now acknowledged as a tool of advancing mankind. It is critical for a business to undertake workplace transformation to guarantee future success and development. As a consequence of the transformation, it is our objective to become more efficient and to better serve our customers via specialised centres of excellence. As a consequence, we will be able to provide new and improved products faster than ever before.

Additionally, the inquiry inquired about the obstacles that firms experience throughout workplace transition. In answer to this issue, respondents noted that when it comes to linguistic engagements, a fine balance must constantly be achieved. Remote employment, as I've experienced, has a huge influence on organisational communication. You don't want to overburden your remote staff with too much communication. Similarly, you do not want your remote employees to feel isolated and alone as a result of a lack of interaction with their co-workers. While remote employees are not as productive as office workers, many company leaders are unaware of this. Remote workers are 20% to 25% more productive than their office counterparts because they are not subjected to tedious commutes and coffee breaks. For many individuals, it's tough to compartmentalise their professional and personal lives, which may result in overwork and exhaustion. As a result of this pandemic, the respondent believes that remote work negatively impacts employee productivity. It is true that developing a close connection with your co-workers is tough when you only see them once a week through video conference. When in-person meetings are not possible, video conferencing is an acceptable option. It is, however, far from perfect. As a consequence of this breakdown in communication, production is reduced. Remote employees may feel as if they are not part of the team if they are not treated equally to their office-based colleagues. Therefore, from the above analysis it can be seen that workplace transformation tends to impact employee productivity as remote working presents significant communication barriers, team-working challenges as well as remote working creates work-life balancing issues in employees that in turn creates mental health issues for employees which in turn impacts employee productivity.

The secondary findings also suggest that by 2021, the United Kingdom will have more than 4 million employees with flexible work schedules, making it the most common flexible practise. The second most prevalent kind of flexible arrangement is one in which an employee works a fixed number of hours over the course of a year rather than the same number of hours each week or month. Flexible work arrangements with nine-day fortnights were the least common in this quarter, accounting for around 122 thousand people. Despite widespread criticism from Apple, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft aim to continue forcing the majority of employees to report to work 50% to 60% of the time. In general, businesses are prepared to make exceptions. Even if COVID's limits are loosened, Amazon's corporate and technical workers will no longer be obliged to work in an office on a full-time basis. The social media behemoth According to Facebook's statement today, employees will be allowed to continue working remotely for an extended amount of time.

Additionally, the firm has committed to assisting its employees in migrating to particular regions in order to work from home. Apple requires some employees to work at least three days a week, Tuesdays, Mondays, and Thursdays, beginning in September. In an internal memo, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that staff will be permitted to work from home on Wednesdays and Fridays. Google previously said that 20% of its workers will continue to work from home, while 60% would work a hybrid schedule consisting of three days in the office and two days 'wherever they work best.' The remaining 20% of Google workers have the option of relocating. Additionally, it will allow Google employees to work from locations other than their primary office for up to 20 days each calendar year. SAP has adopted flexible working options for 100,000 employees globally as a consequence of the good response to remote working during the COVID-19 outbreak. According to an internal study of SAP workers, over half want to work just one or two days each week in the future. The business is reorganising its offices to foster cooperation and collaboration. "It gives employees complete independence," SAP's chief marketing and services officer Julia White observed.

2.3 Report

Research Procedure, limitations, Justification and Communication

Qualitative methodology was incorporated for doing the research as structured interview was conducted among three global managers to analyse the impact of workplace transformation on employee productivity as well as organisational operations. The data and information were stored in database as well as in laptop for storing the information. Content analysis was used for analysing the secondary findings that in turn helps to analyse the findings.

Structured interviews were used to collect qualitative data, which would be used as the main approach for quantitative analysis. Additionally, pertinent PDFs, credible websites, magazines, and other secondary sources will be consulted. Analysing and synthesising data exposes links between the study's aims and perspectives, as well as with other data sources (Dos Santos et al., 2017). An interview of the world's three biggest firms will be done to get primary data on the barriers to remote employment. Since a consequence, the study's mixed-methods design is justified, as it will provide more trustworthy and valuable data. When researchers use a variety of approaches, they enhance the trustworthiness of their findings, which supports their approach to a study issue. Without conducting a poll, employee perspectives could not be gathered, restricting the scope of this research and paving the way for further examination.

The researcher used the secondary qualitative approach to collect data from a range of sources, including academic papers and non-linear data forms such as PDF files (Nadal et al., 2015). Structured interviews were the primary type of quantitative analysis utilised to elicit information on respondents from companies that use remote workers. This is why it is critical to use a mix of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The research makes use of primary and secondary sources of information and data. Structural interviews have been used to elicit information on the difficulties associated with remote work in the workplace. More qualitative approaches may be employed to elicit additional data (Meshram and Pandey, 2018.). The researcher conducted the study using secondary sources such as academic journals, PDF files, and other academic resources. Analyzing and synthesising data demonstrates the relationship between research objectives and points of view and additional data sources. The study's results were analysed using content analysis. The project will collect qualitative data from secondary sources such as academic journals, PDFs, and scholarly publications. A comprehensive interview with the top three global corporations was conducted to elicit primary data on the issues associated with remote work in the workplace. Since a result, the study's use of a hybrid approach is justified, as it will result in more reliable and useful results.

Ethical Considerations

While conducting the study, it is critical to address ethical concerns in order to assure the safety and security of the data. In general, ethical concerns require that researchers follow a set of criteria while doing their research, which is the core of the problem. To aid researchers in accomplishing their research objectives, they may find it beneficial to refer to the following principles. Ethical concerns enable the performance of acceptable research, which decreases the chance of violation. It is vital that the research be conducted ethically and that the findings are presented objectively. It is vital to keep ethical considerations in mind while establishing the study framework in order to get the best results. Strict privacy and security requirements were observed during the inquiry. The researcher adhered to additional data security requirements throughout the data collection procedure in order to protect the privacy of the information obtained (Connelly, 2014). Researchers have felt secure that their data has been properly referenced in order to avoid academic dishonesty and plagiarism on the part of others. Ethical issues may be more effective in steering this study's aims in the proper direction than other factors. To avoid any breach of privacy, adequate oversight of the processes used in ethical research is necessary. Due to the fact that technique is the most critical component of research analysis, it must comply to the strictest ethical standards currently accessible in the area (Saltz and Dewar, 2019). To get the desired findings, the study framework must be developed in compliance with a set of ethical principles. The study's basic objective is to avoid interfering with respondents' and researchers' views throughout the procedure. As a consequence of these considerations, it is vital that research be conducted in accordance with recognised standards and ethical norms. The information obtained via the use of personal computers and a database system will be retained and secured.

 References

Charalampous, M., Grant, C.A. and Tramontano, C., 2021. “It needs to be the right blend”: a qualitative exploration of remote e-workers’ experience and well-being at work. Employee Relations: The International Journal.

Connelly, L.M., 2014. Ethical considerations in research studies. Medsurg Nursing, 23(1), pp.54-56.

Embrett, M., Liu, R.H., Aubrecht, K., Koval, A. and Lai, J., 2021. Thinking together, working apart: leveraging a community of practice to facilitate productive and meaningful remote collaboration. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 10(9), pp.528-533.

Galanti, T., Guidetti, G., Mazzei, E., Zappalà, S. and Toscano, F., 2021. Work from home during the COVID-19 outbreak: The impact on employees’ remote work productivity, engagement, and stress. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 63(7), p.e426.

Green, A.E. and Riley, R., 2021. Implications for Places of Remote Working. In Handbook of Research on Remote Work and Worker Well-Being in the Post-COVID-19 Era (pp. 161-180). IGI Global.

literature review and proposed project framework. Ethics and Information Technology, 21(3), pp.197-208.

Meshram, P. and Pandey, B.D., 2018. Advanced review on extraction of nickel from

Nadal, K.L., Davidoff, K.C., Davis, L.S., Wong, Y., Marshall, D. and McKenzie, V., 2015. A qualitative approach to intersectional microaggressions: Understanding influences of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion. Qualitative Psychology, 2(2), p.147.

primary and secondary sources. Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy

Radovi?-Markovi?, M., Stevanovi?, M. and Milojevi?, N., 2021. Remote Working in Terms of Covid-19. International Journal of Entrepreneurship, 25(1).

Review.

Saltz, J.S. and Dewar, N., 2019. Data science ethical considerations: a systematic

Statista. (n.d.). Flexible working in the UK 2021, by type. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/415888/number-of-employees-flexible-working-contracts-uk-by-type/. [Accessed on: 29.1.2022]

Tanpipat, W., Lim, H.W. and Deng, X., 2021. Implementing Remote Working Policy in Corporate Offices in Thailand: Strategic Facility Management Perspective. Sustainability, 13(3), p.1284.

Wang, B., Liu, Y., Qian, J. and Parker, S.K., 2021. Achieving effective remote working during the COVID?19 pandemic: A work design perspective. Applied psychology, 70(1), pp.16-59.

Yang, L., Holtz, D., Jaffe, S., Suri, S., Sinha, S., Weston, J., Joyce, C., Shah, N., Sherman, K., Hecht, B. and Teevan, J., 2021. The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers. Nature human behaviour, pp.1-12.