6 Ways to Adapt to the Digital Workforce in 2023

Will the dust finally settle as we welcome 2023? It's safe to say that the world is adjusting to post-pandemic life this year. But what about businesses? Are organizations adapting to better support the newly evolved workforce?

“Working smarter, not harder now that everything is virtual will be really crucial.” - Sasha Townsend , Senior Recruiter

We can't help but look back at the insights from Sasha Townsend, Senior Recruiter at Slack , during our live webinar, where she analyzed the effects of the Great Resignation and gave organizations tips on how to better support their talent pool.

6 Ways Organizations Should Adapt to the Virtual Workforce

1. Be innovative with Tech

“When the pandemic hit, we forgot how to communicate. My inbox was insane,” recalls Sasha With the shift to remote work, the way we communicate and build organizational culture has drastically changed. Technology is the most effective resource for companies to adapt to the new ways of communicating and promoting culture among employees.

2. Be inclusive and champion diversity

Sasha calls on the civil rights movement as inspiration for this new focus for organizations to give equal opportunities. “What I think has been phenomenal is competence-based hiring. We’re looking for people who can do the job, not just people that have done this job before,” she explains, “Everybody is different and needs to be celebrated.”

3. No more 9-5s

“I’m big on this. I like to blend my day with work and life,” says Sasha who recounts going to work then to a yoga class and back to the virtual office, possibly working more than 8 hours a day but feeling thankful for the flexibility. She advises managers to clarify expectations with their team but encourage them not to sit at their desk all day because that isn’t healthy or productive. Organisations should be flexible in finding a harmonious balance between work and life.

4. Workplace flexibility

Sasha recounts a day at work in the summer, sitting by a pool then back indoors for some meetings, and then working at a coffee shop to round out the day. The focus here is both mental health and productivity. Letting your employees work from wherever they feel most productive and happy helps achieve a healthyl life balance.

5. Listen to your teams

“People will tell you what they want, and they aren’t unreasonable,” Sasha puts emphasis on the need to listen to the sentiments of employees and finding a way to better support them. Mentioning the top reason for quits: lack of career advancement, how can HR help provide more development so employees feel valued and rewarded? Is it adding a new role?

6. Have some fun!

Sasha cites creative examples from Slack, like a virtual event where a medium predicts the future and guesses what’s on your mind, giving colleagues shared experiences even while working online. They’re also prompted to send GIFs to describe the weekend they had.

“Working smarter, not harder now that everything is virtual will be really, really crucial,” Sasha advises. At the end of the day, we all have to roll with the punches and forge a new path to a healthy–and fun!--workplace in the new, post-pandemic environment.

The biggest evolution? Communication.

We must learn how to communicate better and more efficiently.?She says, “One of the reasons I joined slack was because there was that aspect lacking of ‘how do I streamline this so I don’t feel like I’m purely responding to emails?’”

Sasha mentions the benefit of little nuances like sending emojis instead of having to write an entire response. She tells the story of using the eye emoji to a followup message to let them know she’s working on, then adding a check emoji once it’s done. She also mentions sending video or audio messages, maybe even getting on a huddle on the Slack platform as new, quicker and more efficient ways to communicate.

She says, “I’m already talking to a hundred people a day. I don’t have to have a conversation about this, but I want you to know I’m on it.”

The final takeaway for 2023? Don't lose the human connection.

Even in the virtual world, we need to find that human connection in our teams and we find that when we have fun and laugh together.

As Sasha says, “You really got to feel that human connection. If it’s all business all the time, no one will have any fun!”

Want to learn Sasha's analysis of the Great Resignation and the reason for mass quits? Check out the full article with slides and video links!