ACS Offi ce Solutions


Out with the old year, in with the new!


I’m pretty sure many of you feel the same way, but as we come to the end of a very unusual year, I did wonder where this left us and do we now have a clear idea of what challenges and changes 2021 will be delivering?


I think by now there is no need to go over old


ground but if we could take a look from a slightly different perspective… simply put, we have seen one of the largest social experiments ever to take place. We managed to develop a truly fl exible workforce within the space of weeks. As a workplace champion, many of the recommended changes which we had struggled to implement were suddenly forced upon us. With a little candour it has been interesting to see what worked… or didn’t.


So, what have we learned? We have all learned how to make a video call, how to chat on Microsoft Teams, even how much of our time is wasted commuting, but ultimately we have all had fi rst-hand experience at being fl exible workers, agile workers, nomads or any number of other terms that describe ‘modern ways of working’. All great steps forward, but like me, did you miss the offi ce, the buzz, the social aspects? I missed seeing my colleagues, even though I was new to the team and only just getting to know them. I could also see fi rst hand how diffi cult it was to learn a new process or explain my processes to others. In fact, I think mentorship has been one of the biggest losers in 2020 and will become one of the most important factors moving forward. As a business set up to deliver most aspects of


the workplace, we can see that the world of work is facing that watershed moment. T e question I put to you now is, how do you want to return to work? Do you want to return to your previous ways or does your new experience suggest we can work in a diff erent way? As an IT business we are aware that


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many technical issues have been surpassed during this period, as an interiors business we can see that many of the human factors have been overcome.


What are the benefits? Our workforces can now be spread over a wide area, recruitment over a video call became a standard in 2020. Could this allow your business strategy to grow, unhindered by recruitment issues? We couriered clients’ laptops then set them up remotely, when they were using a cloud-based telephone system we could just add the software and with a little training you would struggle to know that they were not in their offi ce when you called and were transferred seamlessly. Before 2020 we often eschewed the power of


fl exible working to be a large factor in attracting and retaining talent. As I pour over reports, blogs, webinars and whitepapers some of the numbers seem very aligned. It is noted that just over 50% of your workforce who have worked from home would like to remain doing so for around two to three days per week, and my own discussions with my colleagues would suggest this is correct.


Do you accept these changes, and what do we need to do to support these changes? So, are we now obliged to change the way we work and therefore compelled to change offi ce space to support this? A new way of working with an agile workforce enables them to choose when and where they work and allows colleagues to choose the best place to perform each task – task-based working. T is means your offi ce needs to refl ect this. Have you got a booth so you can make your Teams calls to colleagues working at home? Do you have a training area or auditorium to train and educate, or a collaborative area as your people come together


ALL THINGS BUSINESS


Lee Horsman Design and Marketing Director at ACS Offi ce Solutions


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