Nexthink, an IT service management company, recently conducted a study finding that IT services and employees that factor in the human element can significantly improve employee morale.
Over the past year and a half, more people have been working from home than ever before. And with this constant grind, people working days upon days within the same couple of rooms, virtually, a common sentiment shared throughout the populace was that of burnout.
That is why numerous companies or groups have been making strides to reduce or eliminate burnout within their employees. However, while “mental health days” and mental health resources are good steps to take, these can only go so far. The next step, according to Nexthink, is to improve the digital experience for staff.
The Nexthink Report Findings
Burnout is an increasingly common issue, with a huge 75% of workers saying that they’ve been feeling burnt out within the past year. Despite companies offering mental health resources and days off, according to the report, staff are still feeling tired and drained. While some of this can be attributed to COVID itself, with the constant news updates and lack of variety within one’s day causing everything to sort of blur together, it’s not just COVID.
The Nexthink report states that taking a more human approach to IT leads to both happier, more empowered workers, as well as more respected and sought after IT professionals.
“One key stressor that employers should and can tackle head-on is improving their employees’ Digital Employee Experience (DEX), or the quality of users’ interactions with technology in their work environment. Whether it’s a VPN that won’t connect or a down server, disruptions to our workplace technology lead to employee frustration. The good news is that companies are beginning to emphasize DEX by hiring IT leaders to proactively improve the employee experience.”
While many companies have a dedicated IT department, spring of 2020 saw a massive surge in DEX roles – roles specifically crafted to focus on and improve the employee experience within the company – with 35% of Nexthink’s respondents claiming that they noticed an increase in demand for DEX roles.
This blend between HR and IT is a way to improve and streamline employees, who spend an average of 44% of their week on DEX-related areas. As much as it sounds like a kind thing to do for your employees, a massive 96% of respondents said that senior members in their company viewed it as an intelligent investment.
Salary Implications of DEX-Focused Working
It’s not just businesses and their employees that benefit from the increase in focus on DEX. The report states that IT employees who specialise in DEX make a global average salary of over $100,000.
Any job that can have wide reaching effects on the business’s efficiency would obviously be given its fair compensation, so this salary is not a complete surprise. But for such a new and rising method of work, the fact that the salary is already this steep is a sign of a position that can only grow as working from home becomes more ingrained in society.
The Future of Working from Home
While some countries and businesses are doing their best to return to normal, the reality is that working from home has become much more of a societal lynchpin than it was before. That’s why it’s a good idea for business owners to switch a lot of their systems to software platforms, which are a lot more conducive to remote working.
For example, in the days of office working, it was easy to have a whiteboard with post-it notes to show the progression of a project. However, when no one is in the same room any more, some project management software can fill that hole, as it allows multiple team members to view and map out the progress of a project.
And with the inability to be in the same room, meetings are a lot harder to organise. This means that there has been a wave of video-conferencing software, which help people meet virtually to discuss work when an email just won’t cut it.
It’s not just software for individual teams that help companies run smoother either. Company-wide systems like HR and accounting can be easily expedited and improved through use of software, wherein various employees can access and use the array of tools and features.