In this episode of Collaborative Tech Talks, Tyler Kern hosts Mike Ehlenberger, Vice President and General Manager of ScreenBeam. With nearly a full year gone by in the world’s efforts to adapt to COVID-19, professional careers have been impacted in major ways. Ehlenberger shared important elements that professionals have lost due to COVID and how to move forward into 2021.
Technology has been crucial in connecting team members. Teams and Zoom have been useful to keep up productivity. Camaraderie, morale, well-being and productivity have been impacted the most. Online routine workloads have been met, but there have been creative blocks in this time of isolation.
The bandwagon effect is also lost. It is the sociological phenomenon in which group energy and the emotion of the crowd inspires team members, resulting in an uptick in activity. Company culture has been difficult to build during this time. Ehlenberger has hosted Teams happy hours to help facilitate a social environment, but it hasn’t been the same.
People are ready to return to the office. In fact, Mike even shared that “he misses his commute,” and, for many, life away from the office is taking a toll. According to a survey conducted by HP in October, “one in three employees admitted that being away from the office had lowered their morale, with respondents reporting that they feel distracted during their workday and easily stressed out at work.”
In the 2020 Gensler Work from Home Survey, the primary reason workers want to return to the office is interaction with colleagues. Enabling this interaction safely will require a reframing of what the office is.
Ehlenberger said that returning to work will look different, as a reduction is contact is crucial for the public health. Especially after COVID-19, people are not going to go back to the office in and act in the same way. There will be a demand for contactless technology, which means offices will need to reconfigure meeting spaces for easier and smarter collaboration.
Wireless display technology is already proven to be a very effective tool for workplace collaboration. To truly succeed, “users [won’t] have to touch anything but their own technology,” and that need has never been more apparent.
By putting the employee experience and safety first, companies can create new spaces in order to transform the office into a safe, more community-oriented workplace.
To learn more about ScreenBeam’s newest technology, visit https://www.screenbeam.com/.