2020 has shown us what the new normal can be. It has made us entirely dependent on technology and without proper technology, one cannot operate their business in a long run. Covid-19 crisis has made the companies and even the entire world go digital which is in a way have benefitted most of them. Technology has become the lifeblood of the businesses without which one cannot think of their existence. Today, 80% of the workforce is dominated by millennials and keeping them engaged is the most challenging job. Therefore, going digital will speed up the workflow ensuring proper assignment of work and increasing the productivity of the employees. 85% of the workers say that they don’t have the proper resources to do their task and blames lack of technology for not being productive. Employees are the greatest asset for a company and investing in them will give you high ROI. Therefore investing in technology will help you in engaging your workforce effectively and measure their performance efficiently.

Knowledge is the most important factor for success because it gives you the ability to make entrepreneurial decisions. As a team leader one should have a strong opinion and the ability to take their own decision in the favour of the company irrespective of what everyone says. It gives you the power to be cognizant of what’s right and what’s wrong. There will be times when you face a crisis as a team leader and you have to take a hard decision for your company then knowledge comes at rescue. Here, knowledge also means to know your job well and if the manager has the correct knowledge then it gives him/her the freedom of taking decision on their own otherwise they will be reliant on others which takes the company on the road to organisational mishap. Sound and in-depth understanding is the trademark of the successful business.

Here are 7 ways in which a company can use its technology to maximize the investment in their workforce:

• 1 Group Discussions through video conferencing

Multinational companies have people working around the globe and it can happen that some people work remotely. Video conferencing enables every individual to come together and discuss on key areas important for business. This improves communication efficiency and boost employee engagement by minimizing emails that wastes upto 24% of working hours of each individual. This technological invention helped entire world in 2020 where everyone is working remotely and physical meet-up is restricted.

• 2 Document Sharing

People tend to waste a lot of time in sharing documents, sometimes they forget or sometimes they misplace the file. The electronic document system enables to bring all the information under one roof and sharing also becomes easier by giving access to folders for a particular document. File- sharing tools can be used to make sharing easier and seamless. There are instances when these files contain sensitive information, so digital sharing helps to maintain the confidentiality of the information which can only be accessible to particular people only. Paperless HR solution avoids misplacing of documents and keeps the office clean.

• 3 Project Management

While working remotely, it becomes difficult to keep a track of tasks of what other team members are working on which creates confusion and wastes a lot of time. Imagine 2 people working on same task and at the end of the day they came to know that they have done the same job which waste their entire day. To avoid this, companies should invest in project management software that will clearly indicate who is doing which task thus making it easy to work on projects that are not been assigned to anyone else. These softwares indicate the deadlines, task allotment and upcoming projects which increases the productivity of the employees through strong project management.

• 4 Enabling Remote culture

In 2020, everyone is working remotely due to uncertain situations caused by pandemic. This smooth functioning of organization from distant working has only been possible because of technological advancement adopted by companies. In times, when everything was at pause the companies didn’t stop its working for a single day as everyone was working staying at their home. In near future, 54% of the companies are planning to continue working remotely as it saves the cost of infrastructure and its maintenance. Employees are getting time and flexibility what they ever wanted and wished for, making them happy and engaged thus willing to work more for the growth of your business.

• 5 Online Training

According to a survey, 87% of the training becomes futile as the knowledge imparted cannot be retained for more than 30 days. This happens because the trainings are provided just for a formality and large chunks of information leads to overloading that creates the problem of retention. These trainings also become quite tiring and time consuming which becomes difficult to work after the training process. To avoid these problems, companies should offer online training programs so that the trainees can attend the sessions from anywhere they want and at any time. This also saves company to spend huge cost on infrastructure and physical programs. This helps the employees to learn according to their will enabling them to retain the information which boost their morale.

• 6 Time tracking

Time is the most precious asset and if utilized well can make you achieve anything. The most common mistake which an employer does is maintaining the timesheets manually. This leads employees to commit time theft which cost company thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours. Even in the era of developed technology, manual time tracking will keep you far behind your competitors. Companies should use automated time tracker to have a significant insight of the time allocated by its workforce to measure actual productivity. This also saves a lot of time of HR manager as they don’t have to manually track the records from timesheets which takes enormous time and effort.

• 7 Remote Hiring

Hiring an employee is a crucial part because getting right people for your workforce is rare. During Covid-19 crisis, when physical meet was not possible it became necessary to hire employees virtually. Earlier it was difficult to hire people virtually but now with the ease of video conferencing everything has become possible. Now the companies can hire their employees worldwide getting right talents from the corners of the world without having a physical office globally. Technology helped companies to have a virtual office around the globe and penetration into new markets. Everything is shifted to digital world thus enabling new joinees to get full information and mentorship on their device.

According to a survey, employees prefer workplace well being over salary benefits which suggest that the manager should focus on improving their workplace in accordance to their workforce and changing time. Therefore workplace productivity should be your first priority but without overworking your employees. This can be only achieved with the help of technology. As technology is ever evolving and with change in time it comes up with solutions and easier methods of managing workplace. So it is upto you, how you take the utilize technologies to increase your productivity.