The Future of Work: Employees Want to Work Their Own Way

(Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to
you by  our
friends at Kronos , a leading provider of workforce
management and human capital management cloud solutions. Managing your
workforce just got a lot smarter with  Workforce
Dimensions, a solution designed to provide both a world-class employee
experience and unprecedented levels of operational insight .
Enjoy the article!)

In
this series about the future of work, we’ve talked about how employees
want to work smarter through the use of chatbots that
can personalize responses (like “What’s my schedule next week?”) and work
in the modern cloud  to learn about an opportunity to pick up an open
shift. There’s one more piece to this future of work series and it has to do
with everyday interactions. Because when it comes to communication, employees
want to “work their own way”.

So,
what does it mean for employees to “work their own way”? It starts with giving
employees excellent tools – like technology – that’s able to help them get the
work done. Honestly, on some level, that’s the easy part. Then, it means for
management to trust
employees and get out of the way
so they can get the job done. I believe that’s the hard part.

The Future of Work

Organizations that allow
employees to “work their own way” aren’t promoting workplace anarchy. They’re still
responsible for setting expectations, providing training, coaching performance,
and giving employees timely information. The purpose of allowing employees to
“work their own way” is to help employees make their work lives easier and more
productive using modern technology tools. Because if organizations can make the
day-to-day stuff employees have to do less cumbersome, then employees can focus
on the real work. You know, the big goals that are going to keep the
organization competitive. Which is work employees want to spend their time on
and what the business ultimately wants. Here are a couple of practical
examples:

Example #1: Allow employees to
access work-related information where they already spend a lot of time.

During a future of work presentation at KronosWorks, I heard that by the year 2020, 25% of internet users will be mobile only. Mobile is no longer a nice to have. It’s a need to have business strategy. And what do people do on their mobile devices? Check Facebook.

Workplace by Facebook allows organizations to send messages like
company announcements, recognition, learning/training, etc. through an
employee’s newsfeed. It also gives employees the ability to collaborate in
terms of sharing content, conducting polls and surveys, and participate in work
chats.

Workforce
Dimensions from Kronos can be accessed from within Workplace by Facebook. This
partnership allows employees to work their own way by picking up extra shifts,
requesting time off through a chatbot, or making a shift trade all within the
business version of the social network that they use regularly. No more using
multiple apps to coordinate schedules and collaborate on projects. Kronos has a
similar partnership with Microsoft Teams, another popular enterprise
collaboration platform.

Example
#2: Allowing employees immediate access to earned wages

Did
you know that 78%
of Americans live paycheck to paycheck?
 According to a survey from BankRate, 29%
of Americans have more credit card debt than they do emergency savings.

You can see where I’m going with this one.
I’ve read all the same reports you have that money isn’t a primary motivator,
and that might very well be true. But money still matters. And somedays, money
matters a lot – when a family member has to go to the emergency room or when
the ‘good’ car needs repair. Even what may seem like a good situation on the
surface, like the opportunity to pick up an extra shift at a time-and-a-half
pay rate, can be stressful if there isn’t enough cash tucked away to pay for a
sitter for a few hours. Workforce Dimensions has partnered with several
organizations like Even, Branch, FinFit, PayActiv, SalaryFinance, WageStream,
and Hastee that provide financial wellness and earned wage access, meaning that
employees can work their own way can get paid on the same day.

For example, Walmart gives their employees access
to an earned wage app as a benefit. Over 76% of employees use it weekly to help manage and
budget their money. They can get paid on demand as well as set up an auto
savings deduction. And according to Walmart, participation has helped to drive
employee participation in the company 401(k) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

And while the
concepts of financial literacy and wellness aren’t entirely new, what I like
about Workforce Dimensions is how they’ve taken it to the next level by integrating
financial wellness with timekeeping. It seems logical to me that connecting
earned wage access directly to timekeeping could simplify program
administration for companies. If organizations can create a way to reduce an
employee’s financial stress off the clock, in theory, will allow them to
be fully present at work while they are on the clock.

Employees
Want to Own Their Careers … And Work Their Own Way

What I love
about these two examples is that they put the employee in control of their work
life. Just the simple notion of being able to request time off in real time
without waiting weeks for an approval, or to swap out of a shift at the last
minute without having to jump through hoops to find a replacement and inform
the manager, goes a long way to employees.

While
everyone wants to be able to disconnect from work, the notion of “work is work,
home is home, and the two shall never meet” is an antiquated concept. Employees
don’t want separate phones, apps, and multiple systems to do the simple stuff.
They want to have control over their personal and professional lives. That
includes having greater control over their finances, regardless of how much
money they make.

Bottom-line:
Organizations can’t tell employees that they need to “own their careers”
without giving them the proper tools. Owning your career is about more than
simply training. It’s about being able to get work done the way that works best
for you.

P.S. If you want to learn more about the Workforce Dimensions solution and how it can help your organizations and employees work smarter (and I know you do), visit the Kronos website and request a demo. Organizations that start using artificial intelligence and analytics to manage their workforce will have the clear advantage in the war for talent. That’s the real future of work. The organization wins through reduced administration, more effective scheduling and staffing, and better employee knowledge and skills.

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