Tech In The Work Place: A Love Story

Job satisfaction is a tricky balance to attempt to maintain. Unless you were born independently wealthy, working is a fact of life but enjoying your job is unfortunately not a guarantee. Not only that, the sad truth is that most people do not enjoy the job that they have. In the UK a few years ago, a survey was conducted which found that of the people who work in London, 55% wanted to change careers. This number was slightly reduced (47%) when people from all over the country were included. One perhaps more positive finding was that how much you enjoy your job increases with age: a massive 68% of 18 to 24 year olds wanted a change while only 19% of people over 55 said the same thing. A cynical reading of this would suggest that the older people are now mostly bereft of the ambition and energy required to take a new direction in life. In any case, with many people looking to move to what they imagine will be a better job, the onus falls to their employer to convince them to stay.

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The desire to keep the people you have is rooted in financial common sense. A report by Oxford Economics estimates that the cost of sourcing a new employee is as much as £30,614. This is for two reasons: the employer loses revenue as they train the new person to the competency of their predecessor and the process of finding them costs money itself, from advertising the vacancy to conducting interviews. This is why you should try to make where you work as conducive to happiness and contentment as possible (besides, employees are 12% more productive if they are happy). Here are a few ways that tech can help you do that:

The environment in which a person works plays a big part in whether they want to spend their life there. Designing an office that is both functional and attractive is difficult but it is worth the investment. While Office Furniture Installation may be an expensive undertaking, you may as well do it right and make sure that you do not need to improve it as you go along, which could be even more expensive. One cool idea is getting desks that adjust themselves when your employees have been sitting for too long. Being seated for extended periods is bad for a person’s health and standing at work has been found to make people happier and more productive.

While your computer can sometimes be frustratingly slow or uncooperative, one of the most difficult aspects of working in an office is not the machines but the other people. Communication is key to any relationship and this is no different in business. To prevent any potential misunderstandings and to make your office more efficient, you should consider completely digitising your calendars. Sending emails to everyone that they may not read or telling people in person can be time intensive and not that effective. Using resources like Google Calendar is a great way to avoid any potentially annoying mishaps.