Your head of human resources wants to build a more connected culture … but your managers are struggling just to get everyone on the same page.

Only half your workforce wants to come back to the office … but you’re staring at a multiyear rental agreement on a commercial property.

With budgets tightening, your teams are trying to make the most of existing approaches, systems, and technologies. But trying to solve 2023 problems with 2019 solutions just doesn’t work.

And while everyone keeps talking about how hybrid work is here to stay, for many, hybrid isn’t actually working. Forty percent of companies will try to undo work-anywhere policies and instruct employees to come into the office more often, according to Forrester.

Creating an ideal workplace experience is the only way to stay ahead, whether employees are working hybrid, remotely, or on the front lines. But the stakes are high, so you can’t afford to make changes that don’t pan out.

Some companies are slashing meetings and even banning those that involve more than two people.

Some are mandating that most employees work from the office—or else.

Others are focusing on equitable flexibility for frontline workers.

​​If only a change in policy were enough to solve all the issues.

The State of the Workplace Experience

While an organization can mandate a return to the office, its people don’t want to return to a physical space if they don’t feel connected to their workplace culture. And they’re never going to feel connected if they’re cut off from the information that plugs them into the pulse of their company—or if simple, necessary tasks like finding a desk, booking a meeting room, or welcoming a visitor become overly complex.

Our 2023 workplace trends and insights research confirms that employees need their tools to be productive:

• 70% say they waste time transitioning between the office and remote-work locations.
• 35% who work hybrid struggle with feeling connected and engaged.
• 29% report that it takes days or even longer to receive important information.

With these challenges as a backdrop, it’s not surprising that 93% of respondents feel their organizations could improve the in-office experience.

This is the workplace experience in 2023, and it is not good enough. The workplace needs to feel alive, but for many, it’s on life support. Organizations need innovative ways to support and engage their employees—the office nine-to-fivers, the stay-at-home types, the critical frontliners, and everyone everywhere in between.

One retail giant we work with faced challenges around employee engagement and delivering consistent communications among nearly 300,000 employees, many of them deskless. The retailer adopted digital signage as a cost-effective way to reach its teams, create a more connected experience for frontline workers, share important safety information, and promote career opportunities.

One Platform for Everyone

Employees don’t need more tools—they need better ones.

While digital signage reinforces must-see messages in physical offices, workplaces need technology that connects the whole organization—its people, places, and spaces—through the communication channels employees use every day.

An employee app and intranet keep the latest information at everyone’s fingertips. Space reservation makes it a breeze to book rooms and desks. Contactless visitor management and intuitive wayfinding ensure people can go where they need to be. When all these valuable solutions and others are on one platform, employees don’t waste time managing disjointed point products. And as many companies look to cut costs and IT teams are forced to do more with less, technology consolidation is one way to achieve that result.

Today’s reality is that some in the workforce don’t want to go back to the office—ever. And others do. The real winners in the future of work are the organizations that can use technology to make siloed tools and systems a thing of the past and unify the physical and digital workplaces to make work a connected and engaging experience—wherever it happens. Because we all deserve a workplace experience we love.

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Learn how Appspace can help your organization connect your people, places, and spaces.