Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 12

20 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 12 GUEST SUBMI SS ION average of only 11 days to move to remote working – 40 times faster than they thought possible. Companies also adopted digital technologies for advancements in operations and decision making 25 times faster than expected. The pandemic disruption removed (sometimes artificial) barriers to adopting new technology and made it imperative that companies keep investing in technology to sustain, grow, and thrive. Now let’s take it a step further: If we can leverage technology to get our businesses through a global pandemic, we can absolutely do the same to keep our people happy and engaged. Here’s how. 1. Dig into the tools you already have Businesses jumped into collaboration tools out of necessity over the pandemic with a very practical goal of keeping operations running remotely. With that hurdle cleared, it’s time we refocus our efforts from pure functionality to connection, culture, and engagement. My team has been using Slack for nearly all of our internal communication and collaboration since 2017. Back then, our primary goal was to lessen email fatigue (which 38% of office workers say is likely to make them quit their jobs). Once the pandemic hit, we needed that platform to do some heavier lifting for us. Some changes we’ve made include: • Creating new forums (channels) for conversation around everything from the pandemic itself, to how we can best deliver value to our clients remotely, to social injustice and unlearning bias. • Adding new integrations including more practical HR tools that “show” who is out when you can’t physically see your team, Heinan Landa