Employers are facing major challenges: On the one hand, qualified specialists are in short supply and, on the other, the employees of tomorrow – especially the legendary Generation Z (Gen Z for short) – expect the greatest possible degree of freedom and flexibility. Dr. Dorothea Gowin, Head of Human Resources at Materna Virtual Solution, explains what this development means for the corporate culture of companies.
The requirements of the next generation differ considerably from those of the older generation. For companies, this means that they have to set completely new priorities in job advertisements and interviews in order to attract the attention of the younger generations and win the war for talent in the highly competitive job market. If you don’t offer potential employees a work-life balance, flexible working hours or ultra-mobile working, you’ve pretty much already lost the battle.
In order to provide employees with the workplace of the future, companies must not only have the right strategy and the right software and hardware solutions, they must also continue to be prepared to react flexibly to developments in the world of work.
The most important requirements for safe, ultra-mobile working
In times of ultra-mobile working, every employment contract should contain a data protection and confidentiality agreement in the form of an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Furthermore, companies must regularly sensitize and train their employees on the topics of “data protection” and “data security in ultra-mobile working”.
In order for employees to be able to work and communicate flexibly and ultra-mobile, they naturally need the appropriate technical equipment in the form of smartphones, tablets or laptops. In this context, two models are very popular: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and COPE (Corporate-Owned, Personally Enabled). Either private mobile devices are also used for business purposes (BYOD) or business devices are also released for private use (COPE). As practical as these two models are, the risk of mixing private and business applications and data is high. However, with the help of a container solution that strictly separates business data and applications from private data and protects them from unauthorized access, companies can easily eliminate this risk. The major advantage is that the solution can be used on almost any mobile device and that the company only has access to business data and applications when using BYOD models – private data therefore remains private.
Interpersonal relationships must not be neglected
When employees work flexibly and ultra-mobile, it can happen that they live and work in different or changing countries and time zones – keyword: workation. To ensure that the corporate culture and team spirit are not lost despite distance and time differences, uncomplicated and fast internal communication plays a crucial role. Ideally, there should be regular meetings where the team can exchange ideas, new employees can be introduced or news from the company can be announced. However, meetings that are not about work but about maintaining interpersonal relationships are at least as important. In addition to appointments for thorough and intensive induction training, informal meetings and an appreciative welcome culture are essential for the onboarding of new employees in order to integrate them quickly and fully into the team.
If employees want to work flexibly and ultra-mobile and no longer be tied to one place of work, let alone a desk, employers need to rethink and create the conditions for the workplace of the future. On the one hand, they need to equip their employees with the appropriate hardware and software that enables flexible yet secure mobile working. On the other hand, they must ensure that team cohesion is not lost at a distance and pay particular attention to communication and collaboration that is as smooth and low-threshold as possible.