There’s no escaping it – today’s modern workplace is increasingly digital-oriented. For employees to survive and thrive in this new highly competitive world of work, it’s essential to have the right skills and knowledge to keep up with the ever-evolving technological landscape. In fact, a survey by Gartner finds 1 in 5 workers consider themselves digital technology experts since the Covid-19 pandemic. An industry expert noting “workers seized on the crisis to improve their mastery of a wide range of technologies and applications in the space of a few months.” So, what exactly is the digital workplace?
The Digital Workplace Explained
The digital workplace is a term often used to describe the current trend of organizations moving away from traditional, fixed workplace arrangements and towards a more flexible, digital-first way of working. This can include anything from working from home or other remote locations, to using mobile devices and cloud-based tools to collaborate and communicate with colleagues.
The digital workplace enables employees to be more productive and efficient by providing them with the tools and resources they need to work wherever and whenever they want. It also helps organizations reduce costs and improve communication and collaboration across teams. Let’s take a look at some of the skills you’ll need to succeed in the digital-first era.
The Right Skills
- Digital fluency – that’s the ability to understand, use, and adapt digital tools for communication, collaboration, problem solving and decision-making. This is essential to those looking to work in a digital-first environment. Additionally, having a strong foundation in modern communication methods such as email, social media and messaging platforms will help you stay connected with colleagues, clients, and partners.
- Digital agility – the ability to quickly learn and use new technologies is becoming increasingly important as technology advances at rapid speed.
- Digital resourcefulness – the ability to find and utilize digital resources to complete tasks efficiently. This is another key skill that can help you be successful in the digital workplace.
- Positive mindset – no one wants to work with someone who is always negative. It’s so important to have a positive mindset when it comes to technology and be willing to take risks in order to explore new ways of working. Digital workplace survival requires creativity, an open mind, and a willingness to learn and adapt to stay ahead of the curve. As a bonus, it also helps organizations reduce costs and improve communication and collaboration across teams.
Organizations Stepping Up
Like their workers, organizations must also adapt to this new way of working. The pandemic left many companies with no choice but to accelerate their transformation. A recent GDS Meet the Boss roundtable in partnership with Slack delved into this issue. Flexibility and culture were top of mind.
According to Karl Nicholson, Director, Executive Programs & Technology Evangelist at Slack, “leading organizations are rethinking the employee experience from the ground up. No longer thinking in terms of where work happens, but how work happens, intentionally building and nurturing culture in a digital-first work environment.” Nicholson says culture is crucial in the new digital workplace as well and probably more importantly, cultural equality.
“Create a digital first experience which is the same for everybody. Make it democratized so that I don’t get a better experience just because I’m in the office than person who is remote.”
-Karl Nicholson, Slack
Employees and the organizations they work for are reimagining the concept of work to thrive in the digital-first era.
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