HEALTH & WELLNESS Magazine by
Safeguarding Employee Data #Personalization
Social Media Usage At Work A Boon Or A Bane
ISSUE
03 Data And Privacy In A Digital Business Environment
06 Disconnecting From Work In An Ever-connected World
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The 20% Rule Allowing Employees To Pursue Personal Projects / Initiatives
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Social Media Usage At Work A Boon Or A Bane
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Screen-time How Much is Too Much?
20 Forging A Strong
Employee Centric Work Culture
Safeguarding employee data and privacy in a digital business environment
The quantity of sensitive and private data garnered and making it accessible to different hierarchical levels is rapidly growing due to digital advances, myriads of data base management systems and data analytical platforms. However, the rate at which an organization is generating content and data has incremented and so has the risk of security breach and permanently losing existing confidential data. Perhaps, a lot of global companies pay exorbitant price for losing precious data and sometimes leads to a surge in share prices especially for large banking organizations and few other sectors in the financial umbrella. Seeking IT services from a third party gives the room to invade the data privacy of your employees too. It becomes impossible to manage data by your own especially when you are not a data privacy expert and challenges such data control becomes a grueling task. Below are few immediate implications that can be observed: • High expenses to compensate for and instantaneous fix to security breach • Dealing with regulatory affairs and incurring in expensive fines • Economic and political downfall in conducting processes at work
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Continuous data privacy impact assessment of new systems and processes could use collate and store personal data under a safe roof. Here are few ways you can take precautionary measures:
1. Evaluating their current data privacy and protection technologies to ensure the organization is facilitating employees with adequate level of protection: Sometimes predictive analytics may not produce approximate or accurate results, hence triggering the process of proactive risk management. 2. Forging and spreading the importance of data privacy and data protection among your workers and facilitating them with suitable guidance to manage sensitive through trainings and demos etc. 3. Reassessing privacy of data and reinvesting in data protection policies: Prudent investment on data protection strategies and policies could be a wiser approach. Considering the parameters such as people, process and privacy technology platforms that can be compatible with your already existing digital platforms. 4. Find the right sized partner to manage your company and employees’ data for your business.
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Create data privacy and protection as the fulcrum of your employee centric culture The only way to alter the approach data privacy and protection is to make this aspect as the pivotal part in your employee centric culture. Setting guidelines for legal compliance must be paramount element of data protection policy’s value proposition. Due to the inherent characteristic of today’s digitally transformed world, data flow is unavoidable and inevitable. Therefore, it is essential to reckon the fact that there no imperishable hassle-free solution and only constant monitoring could be maximize your investment and render your employees’ privacy unperturbed. Companies who perceive data privacy and concerns as least important and consider it as a C-level challenge or problem, are definitely going to chalk out indigenous and holistic strategy. These organizations are likely to realize maximum benefits and reassures their workforce of the fact that employee centricity is the fundamental principles of working culture. You can also minimize the risk of incurring losses and benefits of lower risk of fines and enforcement action. a consistently high level of protection immaterial of where the data is located, accessed or utilized to perform analytics helps forge and bolster brand voice. Organizations must adopt a supreme approach to security and protection policies through pre-defining privacy rules and regulations before establishing any process. Above all, the quality of taking care of employees’ data itself assures the client of safety without even having to voice out concerns that they would otherwise missed or couldn’t bring up while defining statement of work.
Disconnecting from Work in an Ever-Connected World Back in January of 2017, a new legislation passed in France, now allows employees the right to disconnect from their work post work hours. While, this might seem rather utopian – especially in emerging economies, the fact of the matter is that our world has become so intricately connected that it is really important to have more stringent and practical methods to help employees and society achieve work-life balance. The tenet of work-life balance has never been more crucial for us than in the current, connected world. Today it is almost impossible for us to demarcate, with any degree of success, the spheres of personal lives and professional lives. Mobile phones, unlimited internet connectivity, smartphones & devices, higher data bandwidths and of course the demands of a 24/7 work culture mean that employees currently have very little choice but to be on the “radar� at all times.
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In the industrial age, an employee had fixed working hours, left from work at a particular time, had a structured break/lunch hour, and never really had to worry about work stuff until he was back in the office the next day. While, carrying work/files home was a common practice – it was not widely prevalent or possible for all strata of the workforce. And thus, going back to the example of the legislation in France, it was observed that at the end of the 20th century, employees had a liberal 90-minute break for lunch during their typical workday, which in just two decades shrunk to a meagre 22-minute one. Another case-in-point is the fact that employees in the post-digital business world rarely work less than the 40-hour per week mark. While there surely are benefits of work-from-home or videoconference etc., there are very few sectors that currently allow workers just 40 hours or less per week.
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All of these put together have resulted in a society with an increased squeeze for personal time, which strains family relationships, hampers personal interests and overall is making us a fatigued generation. So, this brings us to the question – is it really time for us to allow employees to disconnect or switch off from work post work hours? And how do we do so in such a connected world. First and foremost, let us begin from what the employees can do for themselves. It is a known fact that with the advent of social media, we are a distracted generation. And there’s plenty to distract us from our work during work hours today than ever before. And largely spill-over of work is the result of excessive distraction during work hours.
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The best scenario for employees is to first inculcate self-discipline and clearly demarcate personal & professional spheres for themselves. And if you take the first step of keeping the private away while discharging your professional responsibilities, it will always help when you expect the reverse to work in your favour. • Procrastination • Tardiness • Inefficient workplace practices Are some of the other habits to be avoided from the employees’ side. Now coming to the employers, how can you help your employees disconnect from work: • Review deadlines periodically • Identify process/personnel bottlenecks • Insist on sanctity of work hours • Reward punctuality & discipline • Do not encourage long hours as extra effort The human mind & body are not designed for 24/7 operation at optimal productivity & efficiency. The more we push ourselves to stay connected, we are only heading in the direction of an eventual burnout. A downtime not just from work, but a digital-detox every once in a while can help recharge and rejuvenate the mind and the body – aiding improved efficiency, thinking abilities and work output.
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The 20% Rule – Allowing Employees to Pursue Personal Projects/Initiatives It was Google that made the 80/20, ever so famous by allowing its employees to devote 20% of their time on creative side projects which may not have anything to do with the employees’ core professional responsibilities. This was seen as the harbinger of innovation, a cradle for quirky projects to evolve into meaningful revenue-spinning pursuits. Since being made famous by Google, other well-known enterprises/start-ups such as Hootsuite have also adopted this model. However, the search-engine giant has now decided to pull the plug on this principle. And that begs the question – did the principle serve out its purpose and had to be retired or did someone find something inherently wrong with the fundamental basis of it. The fact of the matter is that some of Google’s most loved & revenue-generating products have come out of the 20% lab. The Gmail & Google AdSense being the prime examples.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt termed the 80/20, rule as something that gives employees both dignity and choice. Which ensured that employees were empowered to make reasonable choices and the organization then backed them to succeed in their endeavours. Mr. Schmidt points out to two geniuses of the rule that made it such a success – the genius of understanding the fact that freedom to pursue any project would actually result in employees pursuing things that were consistent with the organizational paradigm, and secondly that it gave employees a leeway from unreasonable management expectations.
The freedom & choice meant that employees were willing to go the extra mile and the fact that they were doing so out of their free-will meant that the results were more positive than negative. So then, is there really a negative side to this seemingly all persuasive rule? Well, the first and foremost is that rules or policies are as good as the organization that implements them and the employees that follow them. As companies grow in scale and size, and there are pulls and pressures of the real-life deliverables, things and priorities can change.
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Change of personnel, especially at the top leadership level can also bring about changes in organizational set-up and priorities. One clear change observed at Google was the change of the CEO from Eric Schmidt to Larry Page, one of the founders. It is not to say or judge, whether someone is right or wrong, but it is clear that each individual will have his or her own vision of the organization and its priorities. Secondly, in an organization such as Google (and certainly in its initial stages) employee groups were largely homogenous – that is engineers, specifically software engineers. This meant that almost all of the personal projects being attempted were consistent with programming, development, software and so on. For more heterogenous organizations this may be difficult to monitor and regulate. And somewhere, as Google grew in shape, form and scale – the 80/20 principle has also whittled down. Thirdly, Google had a very successful cash-guzzling product in search – a monopoly of sorts. This allowed the organization some of the luxury which most other red-ocean start-ups will never enjoy. This cushion allowed Google to give employees time & space, while changing business environment and increasing competition has made them go in the other direction. Thus, the conclusion is that it is great to give employees the freedom to pursue personal projects that can one day become revenue-generating products. However, the reality of the day and the everyday business challenges must be kept in mind. Employees also need to have a greater level of commitment and responsibility for the policy to actually come to fruition.
SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AT WORK: A BOON OR A BANE
As much as there is a stirring debate between whether social media is good for employees in the office or a productivity smasher, there is a room full for ample opportunities that can be utilized to an organization advantage or disadvantage. According to research of Harvard Business review, 60% of employees believe social media usage at work can accelerate their decision-making process and 82% of them also believe that, it can enhance relationships at work. One of the greatest mistakes of a company could be undermining the power employees have in marketing your brand voice through real stories. Some organizations have also observed that employees who are active on social media are more motivated than the employees who inherently refrain themselves from browsing through social network.
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Moreover, a lot of news feed pertaining to technology, industries, sports or entertainment is now all over the social media. Social media has now become the goto platform for producing meaningful and informative content. If your employees subscribe to accounts and blogs that are akin to your company’s business and aligns with personal career goals, social media usage would be innocuous. Another creative and prolific idea would be to create groups for team members to collaborate and co-create work. Employee wellness programs are also now adopting a socially collaborative approach with especially the utilization of biometric sensors and wearables for tracking health and physical fitness tasks. Corporate wellness could be the one best excuse for social media usage. Sharing fitness challenges or conducting health and fitness competitions online will not prove counterproductive but will work in favour of your employees’ wellbeing which will directly impact their perception towards workplace environment.
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Ofcourse, sometimes an excuse to explore content on social media could prove futile and counterproductive, leading to the wastage of the productive working hours in the office. According to another recent report, 81% percent of workers reuse passwords across accounts and frequently sharing corporate passwords could lead to organizations’ privacy breach. It could also addiction for long hours. Social media usage at work is a big conundrum among the researchers and leaders as well. So here are some facts(including pros and cons) we gathered on the social media platform utilization during working hours in the office:
Pros Boosting morale indirectly means that you respect your employees’ private space Employer branding through real time experiences and stories. Employee promoting a brand has a high impact Enhances the process of personality development and renders a seamless internal communication among the workers
Cons Social media misuse for defaming employer’s brand Social bullying and harassment Sabotaging content against employer
An clear strategy for effective usage of social media should be devised by the employer, ensuring that employee morale is not perturbed and simultaneously complying to the standards of organisation’s privacy. Additionally, organisations must keep in mind and be meticulous after the duration of usage during working hours especially when in the hour of dire business need.
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Screen-time: How Much is Too Much? Workplaces in the information age, or for that matter, our lives themselves are dominated by screens and screen-time – anywhere and everywhere. According to a CNN survey, the modern-day employee ends up spending around 11 hours on an average weekday in front of a screen – a laptop, smartphone or other devices such. This is almost half of the overall day, and two-third of the awake time. This is now, no longer a borderline challenge, the excessive screen-time is now a very real problem for employers to tackle. Let’s first understand, what exactly are the negative effects of excessive screen-time for your employees. • Decreased cognitive functioning • Vision-related problems • Increased headaches • Insomnia & lack of sleep • Increased risk of heart disease • Decreased metabolic rate • Overall decline in efficiency
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Also, extreme levels of screen-time over a the long-term have been known to increase mental illnesses such as depression, suicidal tendencies, eating disorders, lack of motivation, relationship challenges. In addition to the health & efficiency challenges, all the above factors subsequently increase healthcare costs for the employer, increase propensity of the employees to time-off and ultimately affects the bottom-line of the organization adversely. Now coming to the question of how much screen-time is actually too much, the onus lies not just with the employers but as much with the employees. Firstly, it is important to underline the fact that work-related screen-time is a necessity. And completely cutting down on it may not be always feasible. Thus, employees must also make an effort to ensure they reduce some screen-time from their personal lives to ensure an overall balance.
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What Employers Can Do? • Allow for distraction-free breaks • Promote fewer post-work email/notifications from work • Encourage personal interactions & huddles • Have regular offsite meetings • Plan for device-free sessions
What Employers Can Do? • Mute notifications at night • Keep your devices away at least half-hour before you get to bed • Make it a habit to refrain from using a device for some time during the day (say lunch or dinner or for an hour after reaching home) • Do not give post-work hour deadlines to your colleagues/clients • Inculcate self-discipline
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The concept of excessive screen-time is a necessary evil in our times. There are no conclusive methods to completely wish it away, however, there are definitely ways to curb its prevalence in our lives. How it is achieved is a personal choice. Should you really wish to reduce screen-time from your lives and adopt a healthier lifestyle, it is possible. From the employers side, they ought to encourage employees to be more active, promote a work culture that aids improved efficiency – and this includes finding innovative ways to curb down on some of the screen-time their employees currently expend.
FORGING A STRONG EMPLOYEE CENTRIC WORK CULTURE
Employee disengagement is arguably the fact of today’s fast growing work environment and digitally ahead world. What organisations and humans are losing the real time relationships at work, with both colleagues and personal level respectively. A lot of companies still comply by the old and conventional bureaucratic style of dealing with both work and people. The fact that employee and their career and mental wellbeing comes first is often overlooked in the process of generating numbers for the business. Additionally, this leads to low employee retention rate and low employee satisfaction. Virtual connection and virtual economy are adversely impacting employees in companies. A shift or a gradual unusual shift in the motivation and communication levels from the time they onboarded until present.
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Two in four employees complain that they don’t feel engaged with the other teammates at work. Employee centricity is pivotal to steering a harmonious work culture. As much as humanizing customer experience is a paramount aspect in client sustainability, the same implies for establishing an deep empathetic professional camaraderie with your workers or colleagues. Dissatisfied employees can most probably only indicate that your work culture is not aligned in keeping up with the present reality of the corporate world. Yes, it is true that big companies have huge scale budgets to extend an amiable HR support, but that doesn’t refrain any small-scale firms from doing whatever they can in the meagre funds or time available. Employee replacement may seem very feasible and convenient, however each time you consider replacement, you are also increasing the employee attrition rate. Believe it or not, happy employees feel innately responsible and endeared towards the mission and vision of the organization. Furnishing a seamless and interactive culture among workers could be a fantastic idea! In today’s digital era, it is even more feasible to provide a nimble platform to get connected on every level (professional, personal etc.)
Tips to create a harmonious workplace Pre-emptive communication and care: Dynamic within workforce environment reinforces broader perspective. Proactively unlocking employee’s needs and concerns will give space for employees to voice out their challenges. Establish a community or group for social purposes: Bring people together to bind relationships for a common social cause which enables them to stand for a motive unitedly. This replenishes the professional camaraderie they share and helps empathise with each other’s personal challenges Employee wellness: Healthy employees are both mentally and physically happy. This will directly impact in the way they work. It will be more proactive and will prove productive
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Don’t probe but pay enough heed: Let your team members choose their own method to approach problem solving solutions. Refrain from giving away too many commands or sounding bossy but also keep an eye on the progress of the approach they choose Commitment: Above all, dedication and perseverance towards forging a strong work culture is utmost critical. Stay committed in every strategy you adopt in changing the environment. Like they say, change does not take place over night.
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Undoubtedly, organizations cannot succeed without employees valuable contribution to the table. The more you prioritize your employees and focus on their goals and well-being, the more proactive or automatic will they reciprocate in dedicating time to achieve your goals. Tentative rewards or a once a blue moon awards are short-lived and hence, you cannot reap any instant benefit. Anticipations from these common awards and rewards are unimaginably high from employers but what companies fail to comprehend is that tentative plans are non-sustainable. Entrench the culture of employee centricity deep into the roots and DNA of definition of your business. Re-establish your brand as a unique and meaningful experience for whoever is a part of the journey to voice your brand discreetly.
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