Whether the goal is to stay relevant to customers, employees, or another party, companies have shifted focus to provide intuitive experiences on mobile. Here's why that is.
For the last decade, more and more companies have gone mobile to better engage with customers and stay connected with their employees. It's remarkably similar to how intranets came onto the scene and continued to make waves for the last 20 years, driving information-forward experiences.
When the iPhone launched in 2007, the growth of mobile truly began. It was driven by the fact that smartphones finally enabled a good web browser experience on the go. As more companies became more competent at building mobile apps, usability improved. A host of useful applications launched which contributed further to mobile's rise.
But the last three years changed the dynamic. Hybrid work increased movement velocities towards a mobile-first mindset. If mobile was the dominant force before, it's completely uncontested now. Being in a hybrid setting requires a mobile or dynamic experience. With it, employees and employers alike can access content, and experiences, any time.
Most companies have had no choice but to prioritize a mobile experience, or mobile app, to meet employee needs, provide greater accessibility and improve workplace experience. It has changed the landscape, but what does that signify for the greater workforce?
The Benefits of Mobile-First Workplaces for Employees
Managing Hybrid Work
Since most employees are working in a hybrid environment now, they're in and out of the office, and inherently on-the-go. To help manage their work-life balance, employees in turn need access to workplace information at their fingertips. This is where having a mobile app really lends itself well, enhancing employee experiences by offering capabilities to:
- Book desks and rooms before visiting the office
- Planning office visits around colleagues' schedules to foster collaboration
- Navigate around the office and to new desks/spaces
- Easily access corporate resources or IT support
Improving Hybrid Workplace Accessibility
The phone is the first thing that most people look at each day and it's the last thing they look at each evening. So, with your phone always nearby, having access to resources makes a huge difference -accessibility takes on a new meaning. Just like when you're at the airport — people don't open their laptops to access flight information. They have a mobile app that tells them their seat number, if their flight is running late, when it's time to board, and if the gate has changed.
So, it only makes sense that employees have the option to quickly answer a Slack message, check when their next meeting is or book a conference room for a team meeting all on their phone. Mobile apps are also more engaging. Companies can increase adoption of new tools and technologies this way, as employees tend to see stronger value directly out of apps.
Seamless Collaboration and Engagement Channels
With mobile apps, employees also tend to interact with colleagues and company initiatives more, as they have so many more opportunities to do so. Being mobile-first allows employees to:
- Engage more naturally on a familiar and user-friendly employee experience platform.
- Stay up to speed on the latest and greatest of what's going on from executives and other leadership.
- Keep informed by reading blogs, announcements, and news.
- Interact with the company and share their feedback through surveys and polls
- Follow upcoming events and activities the company is hosting
The Benefits of Mobile-First for Employers
Meeting Gen Y and Gen Z Workplace Expectations
Generations Y and Z make up 40% of the workforce (35% and 5% respectively) and with Generation X included, that number is even higher at 73% of the workforce. And before taking a seat at the table, they expect mobile-first, app-like experiences. These generations demand a certain level of access and resources on-the-go to stay engaged. Offering the experiences they want creates a highly competitive resource for retaining, and attracting new and better talent, especially amidst the Great Resignation.
Integrating with Existing Workplace Tools
These platforms, ours especially, are integrated with multiple enterprise apps to deliver a seamless and more coherent experience. Mobile automatically acts as a hub, connecting with other tools like Microsoft Exchange for meeting rooms and beyond. The Workplace SuperApp is integrated with over 95 enterprise-level platforms and acts as a fully comprehensive hub for the workplace, meaning employees can schedule numerous activities like parking, appointments, ordering coffee, viewing company Slack channels, joining in-progress meetings, finding corporate resources, and so much more — all in one place.
Increasing Employee Participation
Organizations not only get an engagement boost but can also track and quantify those levels of participation and adoption. While adoption and engagement numbers for intranet solutions have decreased consistently over the last decade, support for mobile has done the opposite during that time. Apps can be centrally managed, including tracked data, to significantly reduce time and effort spent on building out insights, especially for large organizations. The more campuses, even when they're spread out, the more effective managed mobile solutions can be. So, even if an organization has over 100 offices globally, they're all centrally managed from one city, very easily.
A Worthy Workplace Investment for Today, Not Just the Future
To remain competitive and attract the strongest and most talented employees, companies need to provide mobile experiences. Mobile apps cater to the priorities of younger generations, Gen Z and Y, but also satisfy the needs of every worker. Mobile access keeps employees engaged and offers better accessibility for a healthier work-life balance.
If you want to take advantage of the growth that's happening, adopt the modern technology that's now requested by over 50% of your workforce. A mobile app provides so many strong incentives and amenities for everyone — you included. It's worth the investment.
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