Straits Times: Bosses Need to Adjust to New Hybrid Model: Experts
The Straits Times featured perspectives from 3E Accounting’s management on how the company successfully adapted to post-COVID hybrid work arrangements.
With more Singaporeans returning to the office, employers are reinventing the office environment in response to the new normal – hybrid working arrangements. Employers need to address employees’ concerns on measuring productivity levels and fulfilling their need for direct human interactions with many employees continuing to working from home.
Measuring Employees’ Productivity Levels
Speaking to The Straits Times, management highlighted that with most employees working from home, clear performance indicators are necessary to track productivity levels. One example is monitoring the number of letters processed each month by administrative staff. When both employees and management clearly understand the relevant performance indicators, this can improve productivity while reducing employee anxiety by providing reassurance that performance can be managed effectively and remotely during work-from-home arrangements.
Fostering Stronger Connections Within 3E Accounting
Work from home arrangements can result in the absence of direct human interactions and more difficulty in building rapport and communication among employees. Therefore, it is crucial for employers to hold regular internal engagement initiatives to forge stronger connections within the firm. At 3E Accounting, we are continuing with our year-end dinner and dance event, but taking it online due to COVID-19. This signature event is the key highlight of our employee engagement calendar and fosters stronger connections and rapport with many employees looking forward to the annual lucky draw.
Investment in Technology for Business Resilience
With the future of work continuing to evolve, management stated that businesses would be unlikely to return fully to pre-COVID working arrangements and would need to embrace hybrid work moving forward. The company also emphasised the importance of investing in technology, particularly as employees increasingly work from home.
Because remote employees rely heavily on existing data servers, any disruption or system failure could significantly affect business operations and workflows. To strengthen resilience, 3E Accounting invested in a new offsite data centre to serve as a backup should the existing system fail or be adversely affected. The offsite data centre was scheduled to launch the following year in conjunction with 3E Accounting’s 10th anniversary celebrations.
