workplace 2025: is your workplace an asset in the race for talent… · 2020-04-19 · the...

Workplace 2025: Is Your Workplace an Asset in the Race for Talent?

November 2018

Is Your Workplace an Asset in the Race for Talent? 2

© PAC 2018

INTRODUCTION

Mia is a recently graduated developer, with two years of work experience at one of the world’s largest

developers of artificial intelligence platforms.

She has the exact set of skills that a German automotive parts manufacturer is looking for as it looks to run

effective analysis of the escalating volumes of data being generated from its increasingly “smart”

connected products.

Translating this data into actionable business insight is key to the success of the organization’s top

strategic growth initiative, at a time when both existing and new competitors are threatening to break into

its OEM accounts with innovative offerings.

The company arranges an interview, but the HR executive quickly starts to get the sense that they will

struggle to meet Mia’s expectations. Yes, they offer flexible working, but it is only in terms of location rather

than hours, and she is expected in the office at least three days a week. No, they do not offer training

support in the areas that Mia is interested in exploring. No, they do not allocate time in her working week

for her to work on projects with an external start-up, who is actually already a technology supplier to the

organization. She is expected to use one of two work-approved devices due to security reasons, and she

is not allowed to use her personal social media accounts for work purposes.

Forty-five minutes later and as Mia walks out of the door, she gets out her smart phone and accepts an

interview at one of the company’s competitors, a division of an autonomous vehicle manufacturer that is

starting to build its own components in order to maximize safety and performance. The recruitment

process is back to square one and the strategic analytics project is put on hold until another good

candidate is found.

The ability to attract the best and brightest talent will be a defining factor in deciding which businesses can

thrive in the fourth industrial revolution.

With many organizations looking to recruit new and increasingly diverse skills into their ranks to support

their digital transformation initiatives, the winners will be those that can provide the right roles, culture,

environment, technology and experience to meet the demands of an evolving workforce.

Technology in particular is reshaping the strategies, structures and skills of businesses across all industry

sectors. In the age of digital reinvention, organizations are transforming their traditional business models

through automation and making bold moves into new markets as cloud-based platforms, agile

development approaches, smart connectivity, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence smash down

traditional barriers to entry.

This is forcing business leaders to transform the skills profile of their workforce at speed. For example, half

of the 20,000 new positions that German manufacturing giant Bosch added last year were focused on

software development, as it looked to support new initiatives in areas such as connected production lines


© PAC 2018

and connected agriculture. In the retail sector, Marks & Spencer has recently opened a “Data Academy”

with the aim of providing data analytics training to more than 1,000 of its retail staff as it continues its

diversification away from its traditional high street model.

Attracting and retaining these skills is hugely difficult given the limited pools of expertise in some of the

most sought-after areas. And the competition for recruitment now spans across vertical markets. Banks

and government departments may now find themselves up against Amazon or Spotify in the pursuit of a

data scientist or a development expert.

It is already a challenge with which many struggle. Four in ten employers in the European Union already

admit that they have difficulty in finding people with the right skills1. And low levels of unemployment and a

growing appetite for more flexible work styles mean that many are battling with rising staff turnover levels –

which can be as high as 90% in sectors such as hospitality2.

The cost of failing to build an effective pipeline of talent will be high. The German economy will lose out on

€19bn of output this year due to a failure to find sufficient skilled workers3. So what is it that workers look

for from their current and prospective employers to keep them happy and productive? What do they think

their organizations are getting right and wrong today in terms of their approach to the workplace? And

what changes do they think will enhance their experience and motivation in the future?

In order to better understand these issues, PAC partnered with Fujitsu to interview more than 600

employees at large and mid-sized businesses in Europe. This report highlights key findings from the study

and asks whether businesses truly understand what makes their employees tick. Do they have the right

culture, environment, policies and technology in place to get the most out of current employees and also to

attract the best talent in years to come? The report also offers recommendations on how business leaders

can tackle the growing disconnect between the kind of workplace employees want, and what they are

actually being offered.

The study builds on a recent PAC White Paper, “Workplace 2025,” which set out the key changes that will

reshape the workplace in the short and medium term, including aspects such as the impact of intelligent

automation, increasing workforce diversity between younger and more experienced employees and the

need to support more flexible and collaborative working models.

Nick Mayes, Principal Analyst

PAC, a CXP Company


© PAC 2018

CONTENTS

Key Findings Page 5

Is Your Workplace an Asset in the Race for Talent? Page 6

Is Your Workplace Holding Back Productivity? Page 11

Is Your Workplace Ready for the Future Revolution? Page 16

Conclusions Page 24

Research Methodology Page 26

Appendix Page 27

About PAC Page 28


© PAC 2018

KEY FINDINGS

The study found that a significant number of professionals believe their employers are failing to create a

workplace culture that harnesses their full potential, and many state that the current approach is not

making a positive contribution in attracting and retaining the best talent. Here are the headline findings:

Almost half of employees believe their current workplace is holding back their

organization in the race for talent. 46% believe that their organization’s current

workplace environment has a neutral or negative impact on their ability to recruit and

retain the best talent. More than a quarter of participants say that they are disrupted at

least three times a week by workplace technology issues, and half rate the range of

software applications they are provided to support their work as either average or poor.

Today’s talent is already frustrated, and productivity has stalled. Almost half the

participants in the study state that they are putting in more hours than they were two

years ago. But more than 40% of participants admit that their productivity has either

stayed at the same level or declined during this time. This is a worryingly high proportion,

and it is younger and remote workers that are most frustrated,

Professionals see a better work/life balance as the key to productivity…but their employers aren’t delivering. More than half of participants say that a good work/life

balance, with flexible working hours and practices is “very important” in enhancing their

productivity. But over a third (35%) rate their employer’s ability to support a good work/life

balance as only adequate or poor. More than 30% of professionals also state that their

organization is failing to deliver a stimulating and healthy working environment.

Younger and more experienced employees want different things… but they aren’t what you would expect. Despite all the headlines about the preferences of millennials, it

is more experienced workers that see an improved work/life balance as being particularly

crucial to their productivity with 75% of 31-54 year-olds rating the work/life balance as

“very important” compared to 24% of 19-30 year-olds. More experienced workers also

see a stimulating and healthy working environment as being more important than their

younger counterparts.

Don’t fear the robots...most professionals view AI as a positive force in improving

their workplace productivity. More than 80% of participants believe that artificial

intelligence, in forms such as digital virtual assistants or in the provision of a more

personalized and adaptive user experience, will have positive impact in their daily

working lives. Both younger and more experienced workers share this positive outlook,

with professionals working in the financial services sector the most bullish.


© PAC 2018

1. IS YOUR WORKPLACE AN ASSET IN THE RACE FOR TALENT?

Is today’s workplace culture and environment helping or hindering in the recruitment and retention of new

talent? Do employees believe their current workplace environment is a positive asset in the battle for skills,

and what are the aspects of today’s workplace that most urgently require improvement?

One of the key findings of the study was that close to half of all employees (46%) believe that their current

workplace does not have a positive impact on the recruitment and retention of new staff.

The more experienced staff get, the more critical they seem to be about their workplace’s effectiveness in

attracting the best skills. More than half (51%) of over-55s believe that their current environment does not

have a positive effect, compared to 42% of younger workers (19-30s). From an industry perspective, it is

employees in the transport and manufacturing sectors that were least positive in their opinions, with 51%

and 48% respectively giving a neutral or negative rating.

Fig 1. What impact do employees believe their workplace has on attracting and retaining employees?

The workplace experience can have a massive impact on staff retention, particularly in the early stages.

For example, a major professional services company experienced an above-average attrition rate during

the first month of employment of its new hires due to a highly inefficient and cumbersome on-boarding

process. New recruits at its European business, including new senior appointments, were required to

spend a day in person at a central location in the UK to register for their new work device – even if they

were joining a country operation in mainland Europe. It also frequently took as long as seven days before

new staff were provided with a working e-mail account, which led to as many as 10% of staff leaving in

frustration within the first month of joining.

12%

42%

34%

10%

2%

Very strong Strong Neutral Poor Very poor


© PAC 2018

Bridging the Consumer and Workplace Experience

So what are the specific areas that organizations need to address in order to improve the potential impact

that their workplace can have on ensuring that existing talent remains with the business, and that new

recruits will want to join?

One of the key factors is that today’s workplace is not delivering the consumer-style experience that

today’s professionals now expect. Half of the participants in the study said that the range and quality of

software applications that their employer provides today are either only “adequate” or “poor.” Perhaps

surprisingly, it is more experienced workers that are most critical, with 54% of over-55s providing an

“adequate” or “poor” rating, compared to 45% of 19-30 year-olds.

Fig 2. How do employees rate the quality and range of

their current workplace applications?

Fig 3. What proportion of your daily work do you

deliver using a personal device?

From an industry perspective, it is employees in the manufacturing (55% providing an “adequate” or “poor”

assessment) and transport (53%) sectors that are the least positive. There is a difference in sentiment

between office-based and remote workers, with the former offering a more positive view (52% rate their

applications as “strong” or “very strong”) compared to home-workers (47%) and mobile workers (50%).

One factor may be the impact of latency issues on employees that are removed from the office network.

Bridging the gap between the usability and experience of workplace applications and those that employees

use in their daily lives as consumers is not an easy task, given that many organizations continue to depend

on ageing legacy systems whose interfaces were designed sometimes decades ago. This is driving a

wave of activity from businesses in modernizing and opening up these often critical applications through

re-platforming, interface development and integration.

12%

38%

43%

6%

1%

Very strong Strong Adequate Poor Very poor

15%

25% 24%

20%

16%

0% 1%-10% 11%-25% 26%-50% >50%


© PAC 2018

There are signs that users are trying to bridge the divide themselves. The study found that 85% of

employees use personal devices to perform their daily work, with 36% stating that they perform at least

25% of their daily tasks using a non-work smartphone, tablet or desktop.

As might be expected, remote workers are more inclined to using personal devices with 44% of

homeworkers performing at least 50% of their daily tasks on a non-work issued device, which is more than

twice the level of office workers. Of course, this poses challenges to their employers in terms of ensuring

that the right policies, infrastructure and frameworks are in place to enable essential corporate services

and data to be accessed by an increasingly diverse range of personal devices, while ensuring that security

and compliance demands are addressed.

“Creating a compelling workplace environment is a critical factor in

attracting and retaining the talent that will support the next stage of

your digital transformation. Many businesses are falling short, and

the gap between the expectations of the workforce and the reality of

the workplace experience will only widen unless strategy leaders

start to put the right foundations to support future change in place."

Robin Lipscomb, Head of Strategy, Digital Technology Services,

Fujitsu EMEIA

The Search For Data

In a world where services such as Google offers a world of information at the click of a button, another

major bugbear for workers is wasting time searching for the information that they need to perform their job.

Only a third (34%) of employees believe that they have the data they need to perform their job, in the right

context, at their fingertips. The situation is worst in the financial services sector, where only a quarter

(25%) state that they do not have to spend any time searching around the corporate intranet for the

information that they need.

Data management is a critical challenge for organizations, with the digitization of their operations and

automation of manual processes generating huge and escalating data volumes. Effective knowledge

sharing, content management and collaboration platforms are key focus areas for investment, particularly

in the financial services sector, where companies are looking to drive a cultural shift away from traditional

hierarchical models to more open, fast-moving approach. UK bank RBS, for example, is now one of the

world’s largest users of Facebook’s Workplace collaboration tool.


© PAC 2018

A Lack of Trust on Security

Another aspect of the workplace where employees believe their employers need to make significant

improvements is in data security and privacy. Just a third of employees (35%) declare themselves to be

“very confident” in their organization’s ability to protect its data in a robust and effective way, while a

worrying 12% stated that they are either “not very confident” or “not confident at all.”

Concerns are strongest in the transport and retail sectors where just 32% of respondents are “very

confident”. This is alarming, particularly given that we now live in a post-GDPR world where organizations

face significant financial penalties in the event of an inadequately handled breach. Employees have great

insight into weaknesses in defenses as they are at the coalface, and if they sense that their employer

could be doing more to protect its data, then alarm bells should be ringing.

Fig 4. How confident are employees in their organization’s ability to protect its data in a robust and

effective way?

Current approaches to cyber security are slowing workers down. One quarter (25%) of participants state

that their organization’s current approach to cyber security has a negative impact on individual employee

productivity. The problem is felt more acutely by office workers (28%) than home-workers (22%).

The challenge for many organizations is that they have accumulated layer upon layer of cyber defense

technology, both as standalone products and baked in to cloud-based services. There are few things more

frustrating for employees than having to negotiate multiple levels of authentication in order to access the

data and applications that they need to perform their job. This is driving interest in less intrusive

approaches to security, such as behavioral and contextual analytics as well as biometric technology.

35%

53%

11%

1%

Very confident Somewhat confident

Not very confident

Not confident at all


© PAC 2018

Conclusions & Recommendations

It is concerning that close to half of professionals believe that their current workplace does not have a

positive impact on their organization’s recruitment and retention efforts. Unless this is addressed as a

matter of urgency, these dissenting voices will only get louder.

There is a clear gap between the experience that employees get in their professional and consumer lives.

Having grown accustomed to Amazon, Apple and Google, today’s workplace is falling short on the speed,

accessibility and range of services that it delivers.

Data is not at their fingertips, cumbersome security processes slow them down and the large majority are

switching between personal and work devices in order to get their job done. Organizations need to be able

to connect data, their people and their personal lives. So what steps can employers take now to ensure

that the workplace environment becomes an attraction for both existing and prospective employees?

Break down the security barriers: Adaptive security with pervasive access to our data on any device has

been driven by a thirst for social connectivity in our personal lives and is now expected in our corporate

lives. Artificial intelligence is already playing a critical role in helping businesses identify potential cyber

threats, but it will also be an important aspect of ensuring that the right people have the access to the right

company data and applications. Start to explore how contextual and behavioral analytics tools can identify

users based on their role, behavior and historical use pattern, such as the way that they type their

password. This will help your organization to adopt a much less intrusive and more effective way of

identifying the characteristics of a valid user, beyond multiple username and password barriers.

Open up your data: The challenge of making decades of corporate data accessible to employees,

management and relevant external stakeholders is one that businesses have wrestled with for years. Most

large and mid-sized organizations have accumulated a tangle of different application platforms through

years of custom development and M&A activity. Those companies with deep enough pockets have tackled

this through complex, multi-year standardization programs, but most businesses today have neither the

time nor the budget for this approach. Instead, many are taking more iterative steps to quickly unlock and

open up key data through APIs or by migrating critical workloads onto more agile cloud platforms.

Enable user-centric choice: The study suggests that professionals manage too many devices, but don’t

have enough apps. Organizations have for several years attempting to offer more choices to their

workforce, but typically this has meant standing up a more diverse set of work-approved options, rather

than providing the frameworks that enable them to make their own choices. The gap between the

corporate and consumer experience will not close unless businesses approach this challenge with a user-

centric mindset and start to put in place the appropriate security and service management policies (such

as today’s thorny issue of WiFi access to corporate systems) that harnesses the full potential of their

workforce.


© PAC 2018

2. IS YOUR WORKPLACE HOLDING BACK PRODUCTIVITY?

Much has been written about the failure of major European economies to enhance their productivity

despite favorable economic conditions in recent years. But how do workers rate their own levels of

productivity, and do they think they are becoming more or less productive over time?

Some 38% of participants in the study admit that their productivity has either stayed at the same level or

declined during the last two years. From an age group perspective, it is more experienced workers that are

most frustrated, with 47% of over-55s believing their productivity has stalled or declined in the last two

years, compared to approximately one third of 19-54 year-olds.

Fig 5. Do employees believe they are more or less

productive than they were two years ago?

Fig 6. Do employees believe they are working more

or less hours than they were two years ago?

Interestingly, it is the home-workers that believe that their productivity has suffered the most, with 41%

stating that it has either stalled or declined in the last couple of years. But despite this stagnation, home-

workers also believe that they are working longer hours than they did previously, with 49% stating that they

work harder than they did two years ago. This puts them slightly ahead of mobile workers (45%) and office

workers (40%), and underlines the difficulty that many homeworkers face in managing working hours and

time around other commitments. They feel that they are working harder, but not in the most effective way.

16%

23% 23%

33%

2% 1% 2%

20% m

ore

10%-2

0% m

ore

Up to 1

0% m

ore

Sam

e Leve

l

Up to 1

0% le

ss 10

%-20%

less

Ove

r 20%

less

2% 1%

5%

47%

20%

15%

10%

20% m

ore

10%-2

0% m

ore

Up to 1

0% m

ore

Sam

e Leve

l

Up to 1

0% le

ss 10

%-20%

less

Ove

r 20%

less


© PAC 2018

This disconnect between working hours and productivity is clear at an overall level, with 45% of all

respondents stating that they are investing more of their time in their job than before. From a regional

perspective, respondents from the UK and Ireland (55%) and Spain (53%) are most prominent in suffering

longer working days. So what are the factors behind this?

What Really Makes Employees Productive?

The study explored the areas that workers see as being the key to maximizing their productivity.

The number one driver identified by respondents was having a good work/life balance, underpinned by

flexible working hours and practices, with 53% citing it as “very important” to their productivity. This ranked

ahead of a stimulating and healthy working environment (49%) and access to the right productivity tools

(40%) as the most important drivers for productivity.

Fig 7. What do employees see as the main factors in enhancing their workplace productivity?

There were some intriguing differences across the age groups. More experienced workers perceive a

work/life balance as particularly important with 75% of 31-54 year-olds citing it as “very important”

compared to 24% of 19-30 year-olds. Younger workers on the other hand view technology issues as being

more critical, with 41% viewing the ease-of-use of workplace technology as being “very important” to

productivity. They also cited other factors such as access to training and development, and being given the

time and resources to foster new ideas and innovation as being very important to their productivity.

But to what extent do professionals believe that their employers are supporting them in these areas?

One third of participants in the study rate their current work/life balance as either adequate or poor, while

32% give their working environment a similar rating. It is office workers that are least satisfied with their

53%

49%

40%

40%

34%

38%

45%

52%

51%

46%

9%

6%

8%

9%

20%

A good work/life balance

A stimulating & healthy workplace environment

Access to the right productivity tools

A positive workplace culture

Ease-of-use of technology

Very Important Somewhat Important Less Important


© PAC 2018

environment, with 39% stating that their current set-up is either adequate or poor, while home workers are

much happier, with 75% giving a “strong” or “very strong” rating.

There is clear room for improvement on the technology topics as well, with 36% stating that the level of

access to the right productivity tools is only adequate or poor, with employees in the transport (38%) and

retail sectors (36%) the most critical. Mobile workers appear to be the most poorly served in this regard,

with a huge 78% rating their access to tools as either “poor” or “very poor,” compared to an overall

dissatisfaction level of 50%. This reflects the challenge of disrupted connectivity, and with a growing

number of corporate services becoming cloud-based, having offline access to key applications is going to

become an important factor in tackling this issue.

Fig 8. How effective is your organization in enhancing your productivity in these key areas?

Technology is a key part of the equation, but it is an enabler, it is not

the whole answer. Deploying many point solutions adds complexity

for both IT and the employees, rather than making people more

productive. You need a view of how you want your organization to

work and consider the impact of this on your systems, processes and

employee behavior, in line with technology capabilities.

Bryan Janes, Architect Director, Citrix

66%

68%

65%

69%

66%

30%

28%

33%

26%

31%

4%

4%

2%

5%

3%

A good work/life balance

A stimulating & healthy workplace environment

Access to the right productivity tools

A positive workplace culture

Ease-of-use of technology

Strong Adequate Poor


© PAC 2018

Interrupting the Flow

One of biggest frustrations for employees is when technology actually prevents them from doing their job.

Service outages are a reality with which all businesses have to contend, but the study found that many

workers are suffering unacceptable numbers of disruptions. More than a quarter of participants (26%) said

that their productivity is negatively impacted by technology issues such as outages or non-working devices

three or more times every week, with a further 49% hit typically one or two times per week.

The frustration is deepest among mobile workers, with 37% having to contend with three or more issues

on a weekly basis, compared to just 17% of office workers and 26% of home workers. One aspect that this

highlights is the importance of providing non-office based workers with easily accessible, self-service

support to help them tackle these issues as quickly as possible.

As we saw earlier, many employers are failing to provide their employees with the work styles,

environment or tools that meet their personal requirements to maximize their productivity. One key group

that can benefit from tailored workplace support are professionals with disabilities, but to what extent do

employees believe that their organization is leveraging the growing range of assistive technologies to

support their colleagues?

The picture painted in the survey is not a positive one. Close to half (45%) of participants stated that their

organization’s use of assistive tech is only either “adequate” or “poor”, with 3% describing current adoption

as “very poor.” It is a particular problem in the retail sector, where more than half provide a “poor” or

“adequate” rating, including 5% offering a “very poor” rating. This needs addressing as a matter of some

urgency, particularly as many organizations are taking positive steps to harness the potential of individuals

with disabilities in their business. For example, ONCE social Group, Spain’s largest employer of people

with disabilities, recently secured €35m in financing from the European Investment Bank to create close to

1,000 new jobs – many of whom for candidates with disabilities - in areas such as the development of

energy efficient technologies.

Conclusions & Recommendations

The workplace is, in many areas, preventing rather than enabling employees to maximize their

productivity.

There is growing frustration, with longer hours not being translated into clear gains in productivity.

Homeworkers in particular are struggling to manage their working days, putting in longer hours but with no

positive impact on output.

Today’s professionals expect their work life to keep up with their personal lives, and view striking a good

balance between the two as being the top factor in harnessing their full potential. Technology has been an

enabler for the increase in remote and flexible working patterns, but businesses have not moved fast

enough to ensure that they adapt their culture, policies or processes to truly make it work.


© PAC 2018

Workplace IT can also be a barrier to productivity, with technical issues a common hurdle for mobile

workers in particular. The proportion of professionals that will at some point in their working day become

mobile workers will increase exponentially, as organizations harness the potential of IoT connectivity

through wearable devices, particularly in sectors such as manufacturing and transport. Ensuring a smooth

and seamless service will be key to leveraging its full potential.

Rethink remote and flexible working. There is an unstoppable shift towards flexible and remote working,

and while many organizations have put the technology tools in place to support this, there is clearly work

to be done in ensuring that workers remain truly connected, motivated and happy. Develop a clear strategy

or set of policies to ensure that workloads and productivity are measured and managed in a meaningful

way to avoid the risk of key talent becoming overloaded.

Keep workplace IT simple and consistent. Users view the ease-of-use of workplace technology as a

key to their productivity. Develop simplified models and services that are delivered consistently with the

end user in mind. Build services, which support user activities rather than being seen as barriers and

create a consistent environment that is simpler and easier to use. Take advantage of the available

technology to ensure that the workplace provides an experience that is inclusive and enhancing for the all

talent in your ranks.

Evolve IT support. As technology becomes more and more embedded in our working lives, the potential

for disruption due to service or device issues will increase. Remote workers in particular already suffer far

too frequent interruptions, and it may be time for many businesses to reassess not just current network

performance and availability, but how they tackle these issues when they arise. Can they do more in terms

of offering self-service remedies, or in leveraging easy-to-use video content to show them how to sort out

common problems, without the need for an often time-consuming call to the service desk? Outages or

other technical issues will always occur but organizations can make the resolution process a much less

painful experience than it can be today.


© PAC 2018

3. IS YOUR WORKPLACE READY FOR THE FUTURE REVOLUTION?

Businesses are struggling to deliver a workplace environment and experience that truly supports the needs

of today’s employees.

But as the shape and profile of the workforce rapidly evolves, are they laying the right foundations to be

able to meet future demands?

In PAC’s “Workplace 2025” White Paper, we set out a vision of the key trends that will reshape the future

requirements and positioning of the workplace in the near future. The Paper set out five key aspects that

current workplace strategies need to address now, in order to be ready for the future impact of significant

social, technological, environmental, economic and demographic change. However, our survey found that

while some progress is being made, most organizations need to pick up the pace if they are to avoid the

gap between what employees expect from the workplace versus the reality, becoming ever wider.

The Intelligent Workplace

We are entering an age where technology is becoming embedded in every aspect of working life.

From helping workers to dynamically manage their calendars and commutes around schedule changes, to

automating mundane but essential tasks such as filling in time sheets and expense forms, connected

technology underpinned by the power of artificial intelligence carries huge potential to transform the

working day.

AI is already starting to make an impact on the enterprise, but we have barely scratched the surface in

terms of how areas such as digital virtual assistants or contextual and behavioral analytics can

fundamentally reinvent daily working lives.

“Workers clearly see the potential benefits of AI in the workplace in

terms of how it can free them from the more mundane, repetitive

aspects of their job, while providing a more compelling, personalized

experience. Businesses need to move quickly to support this by

putting in place the right policies and platforms to a transparent and

effective use of data across the organization.”

Martin Smithen, Head of Offerings and Capability, Digital Workplace

Services, Fujitsu EMEIA


© PAC 2018

There has been a stream of headlines about the threat that AI or advanced automation poses to

employment levels – for example, a recent report by PwC4 warned that 2.25 million jobs were at high risk

of being replaced by robots in the UK wholesale and retailing sector, with a further 1.2 million under threat

in manufacturing. So are employees fearful or optimistic?

The response in the study was overwhelmingly positive. Some 81% of employees say that artificial

intelligence in the workplace will have a positive impact on their personal productivity, with workers in the

financial services (89%) the most positive in their outlook. UBS is one bank that is now using robots in

front office roles, helping traders to develop more effective strategies to manage market volatility and

speeding up their response times to client requests on how they would like to allocate their funds.

Participants are also positive about the potential impact of the increased use of automation and rapid

deployment mechanisms. Cloud-based services such as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and software-

as-a-service (SaaS) are already mainstream in Europe, with the region’s companies set to spend €37bn

on the two areas in 20185. Their adoption has been driven by a need for greater agility and flexibility, and

this is now starting to build up interest in emerging areas such as desktop-as-a-service (DaaS).

Fig 9. What impact do employees think that AI will have

on their personal workplace productivity?

Fig 10. What benefits do employees believe

they would get from increased automation?

More than two thirds (67%) of participants expect a beneficial impact from the increased use of automation

and rapid deployment mechanisms in their workplace. Mobile and home-workers are particularly positive,

with 34% and 39% respectively seeing “strong benefits” versus 27% of office-based employees. The

growing interest in the desktop-as-a-service model, where traditional desktop productivity suites and

applications are hosted in a private or a public cloud, is being driven by the appeal of being able to switch

18%

63%

17%

2%

Highly positive

Somewhat positive

Somewhat negative

Highly negative

33% 34%

25%

6%

2%

Strong benefits

Some benefits

Neutral Some limited

benefits

No benefits

at all


© PAC 2018

to a pay-per-use model, which is particularly attractive for organizations employing significant numbers of

freelance or seasonal workers. PAC expects European companies to increase their spending on cloud-

based desktop services by 25% during the next few years.

The Low-Impact Workplace

The impact of the organization on the environment will be something that is much more closely scrutinized

by investors, regulators and customers in the years ahead.

By 2025, many organizations will have taken significant steps to reduce the number of commutes or non-

essential travel. And the most successful will have implemented platforms that don’t just allow workers to

communicate from any device or location, but also provide an experience that enhances the conversation.

Fig 11. How do employees rate their organization’s ability to support virtual teams by promoting

collaboration and cross organization processes?

But do employees feel that their organization has put in place the infrastructure, tools and processes that

support effective virtual working? More than one third (37%) of participants rated their organization’s ability

to support virtual teams by promoting collaboration and cross organization processes as only “adequate”

or “poor”. Workers in the retail sector were particularly negative in their assessment with 41% giving their

current approach this rating.

It is home-based and remote workers that are the most positive about the progress that their employer has

made in supporting virtual working. More than three quarters of home workers describe their organization’s

current approach as either “strong” or “very strong,” compared to 68% of mobile workers and 46% of

office-based staff. This is surprising given the patchy quality that many of us have experienced when trying

to participate in a group videoconference or digital collaboration session from a remote location.

17%

46%

29%

6%

2%



© PAC 2018

However, it shows that many organizations have been proactive in ensuring that remote workers do not

become disconnected from the rest of the business. The new challenge for them is to use today’s

collaboration infrastructure as a stepping-stone to creating virtual collaboration environments that are not

just voice- or text-based, but create an even more compelling experience by incorporating multimedia.

The Boundary-less Workplace

Most businesses will not operate in their current shape by 2025.

Traditional industry models will be broken down, driving new models of collaboration. This will require an

approach to the workplace that supports more effective and richer collaboration on both a small and

industry-wide scale.

Fig 12. Do employees believe that their current workplace culture and approach encourages them to

engage and innovate with partners outside of their organization?

But do employees believe that their organization is giving them a platform to harness the potential for

innovation that sits outside the walls of their department or organization?

The answer appears to be “no”. Only 28% of respondents state that their current workplace culture and

approach encourages them to engage and innovate with partners outside of their organization. Worryingly,

it is workers in the financial services and manufacturing sectors, two of the most dynamic markets in terms

of engagement with non-traditional ecosystem partners that are the most critical, with three quarters of

participants stating that their current approach does not fully support external innovation.

The crisis in the banking sector during the last decade has forced many traditional players to be bold and

to try and build ecosystems that help them explore new business models, create new services or test new

technology such as Blockchain. Financial services is the most heavily regulated of all industry sectors, and

28%

51%

21%

Yes Somewhat No


© PAC 2018

concerns over security and data protection are holding back the pace at which some organizations engage

with external partners. But others are making clear progress. For example, Deutsche Bank is opening up

its core IT systems through an ecosystem of application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable fintechs

and other collaborators to develop new services using the bank’s client data.

The Cross-Generational Workplace

The structure of the workforce in 2025 will be radically reshaped by demographic shifts. There will be a

collision of generations as millennials become the dominant presence, and Generation Z digital natives

work alongside Generation X employees who will remain in the workforce into their late 60s and beyond.

Fig 13. How do employees rate their organization’s ability to provide a workplace experience that supports

the needs of a multi-generational workforce?

Supporting this diversity by providing the environment, culture and infrastructure that supports individual

requirements will be a major challenge. Two areas that the White Paper identified as needing urgent

investment are knowledge management and training, where the one-size-fits-all approach that many

organizations have in place today will soon become obsolete. But how well do employees rate their

organization’s ability to support the different generations that already exist within their workforce?

Again, there appears to be a lot of room for improvement. Some 41% of participants rated their

organization’s ability to provide a workplace experience that supports the needs of a multi-generational

workforce as only “adequate” or “poor.” It is the more experienced workers that have the most negative

perception of the current approach, with 44% of over-55s giving a “poor” or “negative” rating, compared to

just 35% of 19-30 year olds.

13%

46%

36%

4% 1%



© PAC 2018

Harnessing the talent of both younger and more experienced workers will be critical to driving the business

forward, and technology will be a key enabler. Workers in the transport sector were the most positive

about their current workplace’s ability to support multiple generations, with close to two thirds (61%) giving

a “positive” or “highly positive” rating, and there is a growing body of examples in this industry where

companies are using tech to capture and share knowledge between both ends of the age spectrum.

Spain’s high-speed rail network operator Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) also uses both augmented and

virtual reality to provide a more immersive experience for trainee engineers with consultation on the course

content provided by 40 experienced employees on a full-time basis.

The Lifestyle Workplace

For the majority of organizations, the concept of the traditional five-day, nine-to-five working week will have

been consigned to history by 2025.

Employees will have a very different kind of relationship with their employer, with many individuals

identifying themselves as providing a particular skill or being a member of a particular professional

network, rather than as an employee of one specific company.

These changes in lifestyle are already starting to reshape traditional workplace environments. Banking

giant RBS is just one company that is in the process of rationalizing its office estate in order to support

more flexible working patterns. Meanwhile, co-working office space operator WeWork has secured more

than 26,000 tenants in the UK since its launch in 2014 and has also expanded into Spain, Germany,

France and the Netherlands.

As we covered earlier in the report, employees believe that their organizations have a distance to travel in

providing their workforce with the flexible working frameworks that they need to maximize their

productivity. One third of participants in the study rate their current work/life balance as either “adequate”

or “poor,” which urgently needs improving.

On the bright side, there are clear signs in 2018 that many of Europe’s employers are embracing flexible

working as a critical part of their talent recruitment and retention strategies. Professional services firm PwC

has enabled 2,000 staff at its UK operation to choose their own hours as part of its “flexible talent”

initiative. Employees and new recruits will be able to apply for specific jobs, stating their skills and

availability, and will then match them to relevant projects on which they can work shorter weeks or work for

only a few months a year. German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which is having to recruit as many as

7,000 new workers every year to replace more experienced employees on the verge of retirement, now

offers workers an annual bonus package choice between six days extra annual leave, a 2.6% pay rise or a

reduction in working hours.

This shift towards flexible working will require a major shakeup of management structures, HR processes

and workplace technology. Today’s workplace IT infrastructure needs to be rethought to focus on


© PAC 2018

supporting a workforce that is rapidly changing in terms of size and location. For example, as part of

PwC’s shift towards more flexible working, it has taken the decision to get rid of landline phones in its

offices, as workers spend less and less time in situ at the same desk.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Professionals believe that their employers need to speed up in terms of laying the right foundations for the

future workforce.

The study identified a major shift towards a much more positive perception of AI in the workplace from

employees and businesses need to move faster to take full advantage. There is also strong appetite for

more automated delivery and cloud-based services as a way to overcome some of the productivity

blockers that have already been highlighted.

There is plenty of room for improvement in enabling effective collaboration between virtual teams, which

will become more of an issue as fewer and fewer meetings take place in a physical office. And with three

different generations working in the same workplace, there will need to be much clearer thinking about

how knowledge is shared and how individual work style preferences are supported.

Many businesses remain at an early stage in harnessing the potential of co-creating as part of wider

ecosystems. However, the study found that many do not have the right tools or culture in place to

encourage their workers to fully tap into external innovation and growth opportunities. So how can

organizations address some of these issues today?

Build an AI data strategy: There is great potential for AI to take on the burden of mundane, repetitive

tasks and enabling employees to refocus on more stimulating, higher-value tasks, while providing a more

personalized experience. But in order to achieve this, businesses will have to gather much more data on

their employees, potentially covering location, task, context and wellbeing. Organizations should seek

advice on best practice, and their approach will depend on the culture of the organization, between what

employees consider to be too private (their movements outside of the office space for example) and what

they are happy to share. While the study showed strong user interest in leveraging AI in the workplace,

many will still need to be sold on the benefits for them in order to get buy-in.

Rethink virtual working. While it is true that many organizations have put the communication tools in

place to connect workers across different locations, much of today’s technology does not provide a

stimulating, engaging environment that supports effective collaboration. Virtual meeting spaces can be

enhanced by the use of white boards or 3D sketching tools such as Google’s Tilt Brush technology that

enables team members to bring ideas to life through illustration,

Open the doors for innovation. There are huge cultural barriers in many organizations to increased

engagement with external ecosystems. Yes, there are technology hurdles to overcome in terms of putting

in place the right collaboration and data sharing platforms, but the biggest change is a cultural one. Many


© PAC 2018

will need to re-think their approach to R&D and innovation, and rather than focusing on individual service

or product innovations think instead about open co-innovation within an ecosystem of partners. Be aware

that the strategic technology decisions taken today can have major impacts on future options for building

or joining these ecosystems.

Enable generation fusion. Leverage the wisdom of more experienced workers by developing more

effective knowledge sharing and management platforms and approaches that enable them to share insight

in real-time, such as augmented reality. Put the right incentives in place to encourage knowledge sharing,

such as bonuses for the most utilized content. With employees spending less time at a single employer,

knowledge management needs to be automated to ensure that the company does not lose the expertise or

experience the moment that someone walks out of the door.


© PAC 2018

4. CONCLUSIONS

For many organizations, access to talent has become the biggest constraint in the growth and

development of their business.

The workplace plays a critical role in attracting and retaining the best staff, and it is alarming that the study

found that so many workers believe that their current workplace environment, culture and infrastructure are

far from ideal.

Successful businesses need to develop a mindset of needing to re-recruit their best employees every

single day, and there are many issues that need addressing – from a less-than-perfect work/life balance,

to a lack of support for disillusioned remote workers and regular disruption from basic IT issues. All are a

source of frustration today, and are costing organizations millions of euros in lost productivity.

But the pace of change is frightening, and even a workplace experience that is deemed adequate today

will very quickly become unacceptable as flexible working models, the potential of AI, and increasing

generational diversity become the norm.

In the fight to win and retain talent, professionals increasingly want to work on their own terms.

Organizations need to respond quickly by creating a workplace approach that has the ability to support the

specific requirements of each individual, which may change depending on their context, in order to

harness their full potential.

This will be a difficult undertaking, not just for IT executives, but also for other business leaders across the

organization in human capital management, facilities and strategy planning, who must join together to build

a plan of action to support these future shifts.

The most difficult part of this change will be cultural, rather than technological. Technology has enabled

employees to work from remote locations, but the organization has not caught up in developing policies to

ensure that they manage their workload in a way that gives them the balance they crave. Companies are

bringing more devices and apps to their workforce, but they aren’t putting the frameworks in place to let

them make the selections themselves. It is counter-intuitive to start with the way we experience

technology, and then make changes. Transformation only works if it is embedded in culture first.

It is imperative that businesses provide their current and prospective employees with a workplace culture

and experience that is geared to their preferred ways of working and how they engage with technology in

their personal lives. And the winners in the race for talent will be those that don’t just attend to what isn’t

working today, but start to lay the foundations to support what is to coming on the horizon.


© PAC 2018

5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study is based on an online survey of employees at large and medium-sized business is Western

Europe, undertaken during September-October 2018. Here is a breakdown of the study participants:

Company Size (employees) Geography

Industry Workstyle

Age Group

>5,000

1,000- 4,999

501- 999

Belgium 17%

France 17%

Germany 17%

Nordics 17%

Spain 17%

UK & Ire 17%

25%

25%

25%

25%

Financial services

Manufacturing

Retail

Transport

33%

33%

33%

Home-Worker

Mobile Worker

Office Worker

33%

33%

33%

19-30

31-54

Over 55


© PAC 2018

6. APPENDICES

1. European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, 2018

2. Gallup/Deloitte, Dec 2017

3. IW German Economic Institute, June 2018

4. PwC UK Economic Outlook, July 2018

5. PAC Market Forecast, Western Europe, Jan 2018

ABOUT FUJITSU

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 140,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.1 trillion yen (US $39 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

About Fujitsu EMEIA

Fujitsu promotes a Human Centric Intelligent Society, in which innovation is driven by the integration of people, information and infrastructure. In the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region (EMEIA), our 27,000-strong workforce is committed to Digital Co-creation, blending business expertise with digital technology and creating new value with ecosystem partners and customers. We enable our customers to digitally transform with connected technology services, focused on Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and Cloud - all underpinned by Security. For more information, please visit http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/about/

ABOUT PAC

Founded in 1976, Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) is part of the CXP Group, the leading independent

European research and consulting firm for the software, IT services and digital transformation industry.

The CXP Group offers its customers comprehensive support services for the evaluation, selection and

optimization of their software solutions and for the evaluation and selection of IT services providers, and

accompanies them in optimizing their sourcing and investment strategies. As such, the CXP Group

supports ICT decision makers in their digital transformation journey.

Further, the CXP Group assists software and IT services providers in optimizing their strategies and go-to-

market approaches with quantitative and qualitative analyses as well as consulting services. Public

organizations and institutions equally base the development of their IT policies on our reports.

Capitalizing on 40 years of experience, based in 8 countries (with 17 offices worldwide) and with 140

employees, the CXP Group provides its expertise every year to more than 1,500 ICT decision makers and

the operational divisions of large enterprises as well as mid-market companies and their providers. The

CXP Group consists of three branches: Le CXP, BARC (Business Application Research Center) and

Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC).

For more information please visit: www.pac-online.com

workplace 2025: is your workplace an asset in the race for talent… · 2020-04-19 · the...

Documents