What are the 6 Pillars of a Connected Workplace?

Building a connected workplace is not just embracing the future of work – after all, a connected workforce will be utilizing digital transformation in a way that we have only dreamed of – but it’s also ensuring that your organization is operating at its peak efficiency. According to Zippia, on average, companies lose 18% of their workforce to turnover each year. In 2022, the overall cost of voluntary employee turnover amounted to over $1 trillion. Highly engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave

So, how can you turn your organization into a connected workplace? How can you ensure that you have a connected workforce to reap the benefits in your own company?  

That’s what this blog is all about! Read along to learn how these six pillars of a connected workplace are the foundation for your organization’s digital transformation and how Workplace from Meta (Workplace) can act as the guiding principles. 

In this blog, you will find: 

🌐 What is a Connected Workplace
🚪 Openness: The 1st Pillar of a Connected Workplace
🏃‍♀️ Mobility: Embracing the Future with the 2nd Pillar of a Connected Workplace
👁️ Visual Communication: The 3rd Pillar of Modern Workspaces
🔗 Integration: The 4th Pillar and the Key to Streamlined Workflow
🌍 Ubiquity: The 5th Pillar of a Connected Workplace
👤 Personalization: The 6th Pillar of a Digitally Evolved Workplace
🎯 Conclusion

What is a Connected Workplace

A connected workplace is not a mere buzzword; it embodies a futuristic work ecosystem that leverages digital transformation to operate at peak efficiency. Its foundation rests on six core pillars that, when combined, create a vibrant, effective, and collaborative workplace. These pillars are:

• Openness
• Mobility
• Visual Communication
• Integration
• Ubiquity
• Personalization

Openness

A connected workplace is open by default – it thrives on breaking down the organizational silos and boundaries that are a major hindrance to getting work done. In a connected workplace, it’s all about openness. How you can get the necessary information to the people who need it the most, as quickly as possible, and also help them to feel more connected, not only to the company’s overall mission and objectives but to their co-workers, too.  

Workplace fosters a radically open culture of transparency and smashes down those organizational silos that have been erected over your organization’s lifetime – in short; the Workplace is connected! With a platform that encourages open and seamless two-way communication, anyone in your organization can like, react, and comment on posts they see on their News Feed, or they can post their own ideas to the Groups they belong to. This improves company-wide communication, allowing everyone, from C-Level to frontline workers, to have their say and share their ideas. 

Mobility: Embracing the Future 

With such statistics as 80% of time spent on the Internet globally will happen on a smartphone, and 80% of the global workforce is now desk-less, it’s no wonder that a connected workforce will be focused on mobility. Every organization, therefore, needs to understand how they can make their workforce mobile by design – allowing their employees the opportunity to perform tasks and stay connected, no matter where they are or what device they’re using.  

Workplace provides a mobile-first solution for organizations interested in embracing the future of work. Workplace Chat, for example, doesn’t just allow your employees to chat with their teams and colleagues – it also provides text messaging, voice and video calls, and even video conferencing, all at the touch of a button!  

Visual Communication

Video, emojis, GIFs, photos – all of these have found their way into how we communicate with one another. A connected workforce needs to be able to include this visual world with any text or written communication that’s being sent out.  

Of all of these visual representations, video is seeing a massive streak, and it’s becoming clear that video will be the natural language of the mobile era we’re entering. In fact, on Facebook, they’ve noticed a trend that people will spend five times longer looking at videos in the News Feed compared to the amount of time they spend looking at photos or posts with just text.  

That’s one of the reasons that Facebook has spent so much time building world-class video products and making them available on their Workplace platform. Using Workplace’s Live Video capabilities, anyone in your organization can “go live” from their mobile device to share what they’re doing in an immediate and authentic way and garner reactions in real time.  

• Does your CEO have an announcement they want to make? Go Live!  
• Does the VP of Customer Experience want to talk about quarterly results? Go Live!  
• Does a line worker know a new and ergonomic way to do their job? You guessed it… Go Live! 

There’s no doubt that visuals will play an important role in the future of a connected workplace – are you ready?

Integration: the Key to Streamlined Workflow

There’s absolutely nothing more frustrating than having to sign into multiple tools to do a task – it’s cumbersome, the tools don’t often “talk” to each other, and the overall experience does not lend itself to effectiveness. This leads organizations to search for ways to make things more efficient, which, unfortunately, leads to downloading Software-as-a-Service solutions that your IT department doesn’t always know are in your environment (it’s known as Shadow IT).  

With its multiple integration capabilities, Workplace bypasses the need for your departments to download new software that may or may not be supported by your IT environment. In fact, Workplace can be integrated with over 50 popular enterprise tools, like Microsoft SharePoint, HubSpot, Zoom, Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, and Dropbox, so that you can remove the burden of learning different systems and interfaces while bringing everything and everyone together into one convenient place.  

When done right, Workplace’s integrated platform can help you create higher engagement, which in turn can lead to greater employee adoption, retention, and satisfaction. Plus, your IT department won’t need to worry about what might be added to their environment without their knowledge.  

Ubiquity

We’ve already mentioned the rise of a global desk-less workforce, so it’s no surprise that organizations nowadays are demanding solutions that can be everywhere, ever-present, and connect everybody across the organization, no matter where or who they are. Simply put, a connected workforce gives a voice to everyone, even those who have, until now, been beyond the reach of traditional IT (like frontline workers, for example).  

And giving people a voice is important – employees who feel that their voice is being heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work! 

Workplace connects everyone within your organization, no matter where they’re physically based or what their position in your organization is. Not only this, but Workplace also has the capability to connect teams across different companies, too! Multi-Company Groups and Chat capabilities can dramatically increase how you work with your partners, suppliers, parent, or dependent companies.  

Personalization: A Digitally Evolved Workplace

The final pillar, Personalization, is a countermeasure to the deluge of content we face in our digital age. With an estimated 347 billion emails projected to be sent per day by 2022, it's easy to see why email communication is often deemed ineffective by 77% of companies. The solution lies in personalizing the content each employee interacts with daily.

Workplace by Facebook is at the forefront of this innovation, harnessing the power of Machine Learning to revolutionize user experience. Machine Learning models analyze past behavior and interaction with various posts and products, constantly learning and evolving to improve content delivery. As a result, the Workplace can anticipate user preferences and offer content that aligns with individual interests and requirements.

In simpler terms, Workplace uses its sophisticated Machine Learning algorithm to create a uniquely tailored experience for each user. It reorganizes the News Feed by showcasing content in order of relevance based on previous interactions on the platform. This approach ensures that every piece of content you see is not just more noise, but a significant, pertinent piece of information that adds value to your workday.

Conclusion

As we navigate through the digital age, the connected workplace is no longer a futuristic concept but a tangible reality shaping the way we work. The pillars of Openness, Mobility, Visual Communication, Integration, Ubiquity, and Personalization collectively form the foundation of this paradigm shift, each contributing unique aspects to the transformation.

Workplace from Meta emerges as a powerful tool in facilitating this evolution, offering a platform that brings together these six pillars under one roof. It not only connects everyone in your organization, regardless of their location or role, but it also provides an integrated, mobile-first platform that promotes openness, visual communication, and personalized user experiences.

Transforming your workplace into a connected one is not an overnight process. It requires a strategic approach, a willingness to embrace new technologies, and an understanding of the six pillars and their implications. But this transformation can be a rewarding journey with the right partner by your side.