From the point of hire onward, employees want to feel well-equipped to do their job. Access to clear, obtainable information paves the way for workers to find their place in a company, cut down on wasted time and hit the ground running.
According to an October survey from Glean, an AI-powered platform that allows employees to seamlessly search across all apps used at a company, the beginning stages of the employee experience are crucial — and this is where the largest groups of workers say their employers fall short. Out of the 2,000 hybrid and remote office workers surveyed, 81% admitted to feeling overwhelmed with information during the
"Hybrid and remote are the new work models," says Arvind Jain, CEO of Glean. "If you're remote, you're at home, and there's no one sitting next to you. You basically have two different workforces, and from a software perspective you need to build tools that enable them to be on a level playing field."
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It takes the average American worker a year and seven months to feel like they're "thriving" in a new role, according to the survey, but the way that term is defined depends on the employee. For 43%, it means the ability to help other coworkers, while 42% identify it with knowing where to look for information and 40% said it means having strong relationships with fellow employees. The telling statistic is this: 76% of respondents said the ability to access information they're looking for without having to ask for help would empower them and allow them to be more
"Things are constantly changing, even for experienced people," Jain says. "In our sales force we have a periodic enablement session. There's an onboarding session, but then there are sessions where we go and actually talk about things so that we can reinforce what we've learned and improve our retention. It's good to remind people that, 'Hey, this is how we do things.' Any kind of change management is accompanied by this."
So where is the information disconnect? The survey reported that respondents use an average of 11
"There is an increasingly large number of tools that companies are using," says Jain. "Overload is universal, people are struggling, and newer workers are finding it very hard to onboard."
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When it comes to feeling connected with coworkers, hybrid and remote employees can feel a greater strain. However, a strong company culture can still be achieved with the right employer effort — getting and keeping employees connected is key to avoiding early departure, increasing productivity and is applicable to all work environments. Here, Jain stresses, is where tech can help.
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"It all starts with awareness of employee needs," he says. "Business environments are increasingly complicated — companies will always have more data and more tools over time. Employers need to not only build tools that make it easy to stay connected to information, but also bring people together and build relationships."
