In this day and age of ever-evolving communication strategies, it’s not enough to know or stay on top of the latest trends of communication or the “silver bullet” approaches to connecting to others. Sometimes it’s also important to look around at the world around us and how it’s changing, which allows us to better understand how our prospective customers and future clientele are changing as well.
A recent analysis by the virtual workplace platform Slack provides us some insight into just that. In an article in Fortune Magazine (Fortune.com), Slack surveyed 4,700 “knowledge workers found not only in the U.S., but Great Britain, Germany, Japan, and Australia. Each respondent focused on providing feedback in five areas:
- Productivity
- Work-Life Balance
- Managing Work-Related Stress and Anxiety
- Sense of Belonging
- Satisfaction with Working Experience
So, what have we learn? These workers, generally, were more satisfied because it was being performed at home versus the office. Also, satisfaction from each respondent was highest in the work-life balance, with their working arrangement, and in managing their work-related stress anxiety. Additionally, respondents reported a positive increase in productivity.
The only areas that rated worse, however, was a worker’s sense of belonging. Of course, that was based on the averages.
So, what can small businesses gain from this knowledge? Workers who continue to work from home MUST do so digitally. Meaning, they’re still connected at home, checking email for both work and for personal reasons. After all, you know people’s Gmail accounts are opened in separate tabs. Not to mention their social media as well. With workers so infused into electronic connections at home, this further proves that both an established digital marketing strategy and effective online communication should be at the forefront of your business’s outreach efforts.
This is probably “gee-whiz” info coming from a digital marketing and public relations business on their blog. We know. But what do we also know? Employees, whether at work or at home, waste an inordinate amount of time on the internet doing non-work related things.
Did you know that, on average, companies lose an annual average of nearly 17 days a year to time spent on YouTube? How about almost 15 business days to Facebook use. Swiping left … or right? Tinder eats up more than 10 business days of work productivity. This is all documented from a Salary.com survey taken just a couple of weeks after the COVID lockdown. 53% of respondents said they spent up to 2 hours a week at work doing “non-work related” things online. And with workers continuing to enjoy the freedom of working from home, as captured in the Fortune Magazine article, it’s safe to assume more down time is being spent online — doing “non-work” things.
Don’t miss out on catching these workers online and having their eyeballs glance over your product or service via Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or simply through a dynamic website presence. Drop us a line at J Collier Communications and let’s talk about what we can do for your business!
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
