{"id":63807,"date":"2021-07-22T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=63807"},"modified":"2021-07-22T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:00:00","slug":"slack-work-from-anywhere-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/uk\/news\/stories\/slack-work-from-anywhere-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly Half of Workers Say Meetings Waste Time: Redefining Collaboration in the Digital-First Era"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Quick take: <\/em><\/strong>As employees and employers embrace hybrid work arrangements, legacy methods and tools designed for a time of synchronous collaboration are coming under scrutiny. New survey data and an analysis of additional trusted sources show the benefits of new approaches built around asynchronous collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Salesforce surveyed nearly 1,300 knowledge workers around the world to understand their expectations and attitudes about the future of work, and what that means for collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey comes as Salesforce celebrates its successful acquisition of Slack<\/a>, which aims to better empower the work-from-anywhere era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With leaders today hyper-focused on keeping employees productive, collaborative, and happy as they work from anywhere<\/a>, the survey’s results also help shed light on how companies can best navigate our collective futures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employee engagement is critical in the work-from-anywhere era<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to the survey, just 23% of the knowledge workers say they must always be in the same location as their colleagues to do their best work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This phenomena is shifting employee expectations, with monumental impacts<\/a> on employers\u2019 ability to recruit and retain staff. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of knowledge workers say they would consider switching jobs for additional flexibility, and nearly half (49%) say they wouldn\u2019t even consider a job without flexible work hours.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Business leaders have received this message loud and clear: a PwC survey found<\/a> that 69% of CEOs agree that remote collaboration is here to stay for the long term, and Gartner found<\/a> that 80% of companies plan to allow employees to work remotely at least part of the time after the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaboration is central to keeping employees engaged<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recent years have shown a steady rise<\/a> in understanding that great customer experience is critical to business success. But ultimately, providing a great employee<\/em> experience is just as critical, given its downstream impacts. A recent study found<\/a> that 70% of executives believe improved employee experience leads to improved customer experience, yet only 33% believed the inverse to be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A natural question, then, is how to keep employees productive and<\/em> engaged in the work-from-anywhere era. The Salesforce survey suggests a focus on communication and collaboration is a logical place to start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Case in point: knowledge workers estimate that they spend an average of 59% of their time working with others, and nearly half (48%) say their ability to collaborate with co-workers directly impacts their career growth.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Indeed, 63% of knowledge workers* say the pandemic has permanently changed how they collaborate with colleagues \u2014 be it in terms of location, timing, or otherwise. At the core of this shift is technology: 78% of knowledge workers say they are using collaboration technology more often compared to before the pandemic, and 73% say they are using collaboration technology in new ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emails and meetings need a digital-first rethink<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before 2020, collaboration was dominated by familiar tools and tactics like email, deskside chats, and formal meetings. While all of those still have a role in the work-from-anywhere era, their relative value for different scenarios is in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take meetings, for example. While face-to-face interactions are useful<\/a> in cases requiring real-time, back-and-forth communication, they can be counterproductive when treated as the default method of collaboration. In fact, nearly half (46%) of knowledge workers say they waste significant time in meetings \u2014 a sentiment that anyone who\u2019s accepted to an agenda-less calendar appointment can identify with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But another familiar tool \u2014 email \u2014 isn\u2019t a cure-all either, particularly given its common and misguided use as an information repository. 38% of knowledge workers say they waste significant time searching for the data or information they need to do their jobs. 25% go as far as to say they\u2019d rather sprint a mile than sift through emails (the same share who would rather do their taxes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distractions from the multiple work technologies used on a daily basis \u2014 nine on average, according to the survey \u2014 can also lead to a lack of focus, productivity, and stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new world of work demands a single destination for asynchronous collaboration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fostering effective collaboration in the work-from-anywhere era requires a mix of organizational mindset and technology. Research from Slack <\/a>shows the benefits of combining high-frequency communication with the ability to focus on work which, when compared to a combination of high-frequency communication and an in<\/em>ability to focus, leads to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n