Report Advises Employers to Adopt Flexible Workforce Management

By Dipo Olowookere

A new report from Ericsson has recommended the adoption of digitalisation and flexible workforce management to get the best out of their employees.

In the report titled Future of Work Life and obtained by Business Post, the firm disclosed that about 48 per cent of “the employees in the study say that they enjoy increased flexibility at work,” while 52 per cent consider flexible work hours or locations as key requirements, with 25 per cent saying that flexibility remains the top priority if they would start to look for a new job.

The survey concluded that it observed that employees consider doing work as more important than “going to work.”

The workplace was disrupted in 2020 by COVID-19, which forced many organisations to close their physical offices, with employees working remotely because of the lockdown imposed by governments across the globe.

The report by Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab examined how employees and employers navigate the current work environment and their views on the future of work shaped by the pandemic, digitalization and the fluctuating labour market.

It was discovered that for effectiveness, employers need to embrace digitalization and flexible workforce management by creating a workplace of the future that supports human collaboration, simplifies work and values employee input in decision-making.

“Based on our research, it is quite clear that the future of work is going to be increasingly dependent on ICT solutions such as high-speed, globally available mobile connectivity.

“We felt the pandemic could finally be seen in the rear-view mirror, and therefore wanted to take a closer look at what changes in people’s work life had stuck and what was only a temporary adjustment!

“My favourite takeaway is that remote work is clearly here to stay – maybe not exactly at the level as was measured during the pandemic, but still at significantly higher levels than before the pandemic,” the Head of Ericsson IndustryLab, Anders Erlandsson, stated.

Also, the Head of Ericsson ConsumerLab, Jasmeet Singh Sethi, while commenting on the report, said, “Amidst the rapid digitalization brought on by the pandemic, our research highlights a concerning gap between the technology available in the workplace and the needs of employees for flexible working.

“With 6 in 10 companies lacking relevant technology for their staff and just 2 in 10 employees feeling they have relevant tools at the workplace, there is a pressing need for organizations to invest in digital tools and robust connectivity that enable remote collaboration and flexibility, not only to attract and retain top talent but also to stay competitive in the post-pandemic world.”

Business Post gathered that the research was carried out during 2022 within 30 markets globally; 38,000 online surveys of employees plus 3,600 online surveys of decision-makers and 11 in-depth interviews with decision-makers from selected industries within three markets; China, Spain and the US.

The key findings were flexibility is the new work-life currency, digital technologies renew employee confidence, decision-makers and employees are increasingly at odds over technology, flexible workplaces may come at the cost of increased surveillance, and globalized labour markets bring talent and concerns to employers.