Once a pandemic stopgap, hybrid working has fast become the norm in many workplaces due to the work life balance it offers to employees. From a managerial perspective, this has other benefits to business, from increased employee retention to the potential downscaling of offices to cut costs. However, in modern hybrid work environments, a variety of issues still plague employees and managers, particularly around the tech implemented to enable effective remote work.
This is particularly true when it comes to dealing with content in the enterprise. In a hybrid work world, content is everything. From emails to creative assets, everything has a digital footprint and therefore is content. However, too often we don't see businesses putting in place an infrastructure that supports strong content workflows – adding to employee frustration, delays, and negatively impacting happiness and productivity. If hybrid working is to become a truly viable long term working strategy, it begs the question, 'how can employers bridge the tech challenges of managing content in hybrid teams?'
The challenges of managing content in hybrid teams
As hybrid working grows in popularity, we know content is becoming more important than ever before. While working in a hybrid setting, content is often the best way to communicate with others – making it the lifeblood of business. Therefore, content quality directly impacts business performance. However, content is not being prioritised as a business critical component by many organisations.
Today's fragmented content infrastructure results from piecing together several different technologies without proper (or any) integration. This means that to create content workers are forced to jump from application to application to get the latest, on-brand and accurate pieces. And this is only exacerbated by hybrid-working, since employees have to collaborate by virtual means, instead of being able to pop by someone's desk to ask a question.
This results in several productivity issues. In fact, according to a recent survey of over 2,000 office professionals, two-thirds of employees admitted to wasting time tracking down content that already exists somewhere in their organisations. For instance, searching for company compliant messaging or images using Google instead of a company-sponsored database.
This kind of inefficient content workflow not only frustrates employees but also results in poor quality content. In fact, 94% of the same survey respondents said they find mistakes and errors in content after it's already been approved. Which is a major problem considering almost all (88%) of UK employees believe outdated messaging in approved content damages client trust, and over three-quarters (76%) believe that these errors damage employee trust. We can imagine the fallout and challenges to brand reputation if an error results in off-brand documents, for example, receiving 'BT', instead of 'EE' branded letters as the telecoms provider makes EE its consumer facing brand.
Managers need to be confident that employees can locate and use the latest approved content instead of sifting through tabs and accidentally implementing non-compliant company resources. So, whilst hybrid working has been heralded as the future of work, management needs to ensure better, more efficient processes to optimise content workflows and secure brand-integrity.
Reimagining the content creation cycle with automation
Without the right content infrastructure, teams can flounder in confusion and see efficiency hindered by searching for the latest, brand-approved content. However, managers can help reimagine content workflows with the right tech, boosting employee productivity and enhancing the working environment no matter where teams are based geographically. To do this, businesses need to consider technological solutions that standardise and automate content, allowing employees to create it without bottlenecks.
Automated document solutions enable teams to ensure content remains on-brand and compliant. By making it easier to locate and use the latest brand-approved content, employees can create documents easier and faster allowing them to focus on more impactful work. Simply put, employees should be supported with the right technology to allow them to better perform in their roles without the monotonous hassle of browsing for up-to-date documents.
Supporting managers and streamlining workflows
Given the importance of content to businesses, having inefficient processes to manage this vital resource across hybrid teams puts both productivity and employee wellbeing at risk. If organisations want to thrive in the hybrid work world managers and employees alike can no longer waste time when it comes to content.
Companies need to look to solutions that streamline the entire content creation process and empower employees to work more effectively on the tasks that matter most – no matter where they're located. Their business results and employee happiness levels will both be better for it in the long run.
