Offices today are totally different from past few decades.  All the information you need is available at fingertips. Generations today are digital natives and traditional work systems do not match their expectations. Everyone is connected by technology online. Technology has both its positives and negatives and so does the technology connected workforce. With help of technology many people are able to work from home and able to balance both their personal and professional life. It has also cut down the need of business travels saving a lot of time and money. On the contrary tech connected employees also has its downside. So let’s discuss a few tips on managing today’s hyper-connected workforce.

1. Realizing the Importance of Real Communication

In the shuffle of Skype, emails, chats, and video conferencing people are forgetting the importance of face to face communication. People have misunderstood the whole concept of communication. Words are not the only thing required for it. It is a compendium of small gestures, expressions and emotions that humans tend to interpret unconsciously and these can never be replaced by virtual expressions called emojis. You can learn a lot many things about a person from personal interaction rather by digital communication. So if you wish to turn back disasters before it happens try to find time and get your employees in same room as often as possible. Weekly meeting or one on ones can also be effective.

2. Digital Detoxification

We all are aware of the fact that a detoxification show positive result on human bodies and same does the digital detox. For people who do not understand the term digital detoxification it is time period during which during which a person abstains from using electronic devices. This is to reduce stress and focus on improving social interaction in the physical world. Motivate your employees to take a digital vacations every now and then. A team outing can turn out to be really fruitful. Encouraging a digital detoxification is one of the best things you can do for your employees and your business because wealth of a company depends on the health of workers.

3. Encouraging Employees to Pull the Plug

It is a motivating problem that usually businesses expect their staff to be accessible throughout working hours. On the contrary, the requirement to be reachable at all times could cause employees to be less productive. A recent study showed that employees spend most of their time in cooperative activities with their managers leaving them very little to no time to actually complete their work. Permitting and encouraging your staff to turn off their phones or place them on “do not disturb” mode will result in more productive workforce.

4. Setting and Enforcing Boundaries

These days it is lot more easier to reach out to people wherever they are. But once it involves business, this same accessibility might create a riddle. Seeing boss’s emails in the evening might be tough for several employees to ignore till the following day. This can be wherever setting boundaries can be extremely necessary. Simply because you can send emails or direct reports to your employees at 10:00 pm doesn’t imply you must. If it’s not an emergency situation or you seek an immediate response, it’s always better to send it the next day.

5. Using Preferred Mode of Communication

It’s likely that you would prefer a certain mode of communication and there are chances of you unknowingly force everyone else in your company to use it. Different people are comfortable using a different means of communication. For example Gen X will prefer email communication; Millennia’s and Gen Z are more likely to want to video conferencing, IM or text. Older people will definitely like a face to face convo or connecting over a phone call. Using their preferred mode of communication with your employees will help you connect with them better in terms of understanding and establishing a rapo. Doing so will definitely take you much further with your workforce

Conclusion

Irrespective of your business type, your employees being on site or offsite technology and digital communication plays an important role to connect. But these two if not managed carefully can lead to devastation. Managing your hyper connected workforce will help you in long run helping you and you employees to achieve and maintain good work life balance.