New report reveals 63% of businesses prioritising team engagement

The report was launched at the Engaging Employees Conference in London last month and provides insights on where businesses find themselves 2 years on from COVID. 

Just 8% of colleagues in the office 5 days a week

80% of businesses surveyed in the report confirm that staff working practices have permanently changed since COVID in favour of more Work From Home (WFH), with just 8% of desk based professionals required to attend the office 5 days a week.

“It’s a seismic shift, a revolution", says Simon Fenn, Director at HUB, "and while the surface analysis is that things are pretty good and companies have done well to adapt, scratch deeper and you can see red flags emerging for business leaders.”

Productivity upsides, collaboration downsides

Continues Fenn, “Clearly WFH has had productivity and work-life balance benefits for many desk-based professions, but these upsides are coming at the expense of team connection and innovation and this is combining with internal efficiency issues that have dogged corporates for years.”

The Brave New World report indicates that over half of business leaders are now voicing concerns about internal collaboration with operational innovation also an issue for some.

On top of this, there are worries about team connection, colleagues’ sense of belonging and personal development - 40% cite challenges with the latter. 

Team engagement and collaboration the top priorities

Says Fenn, “Two years on from COVID, it looks like the boardroom view on remote working has evolved, and continues to evolve.” 

“There’s definitely an awareness of the cultural and operational downsides of WFH and the negative commercial implications of these if not addressed.” 

“Action is required, and many leaders seem to be mobilising,” says Fenn. “It’s why we see team engagement and better collaboration as the top priorities in 2024.”

Evidence of changes in communications

The Brave New World report indicates that new communications channels have been embraced and established tools reimagined. It identifies a 23% uplift in social platform usage since COVID with intranets also experiencing a resurgence - over 60% of businesses are planning high to medium use of intranets in 2024, up 17% from pre-COVID times.” 

Concludes Fenn, “the uptick in intranet usage ties in with our experience as an intranet provider; we’ve seen a trebling in demand for our HUB product over the past 4 years.”

For a free copy of the full report, visit
https://www.hub-intranet.com/brave-new-world-report