Either you are ready or not, the wearable future lies ahead of us. Popularity of wearables and its acceptance by the MNCs at large has helped make multitasking easier, practical, and efficient. You no longer have to rely on tablets, smartphones, and laptops to perform your daily activities. While you are having lunch, you can still reply to your client’s email through your smart-watch’s voice sensor technology.
Your jogging routine could be more organised, because now you can control how much calories you burn during the exercise. While the benefits of wearable is apparent, the question is, how can you take advantage of wearables to revolutionise your company culture?
Typically taking the shape of electronic devices integrated on clothes or accessories, wearables are usually aesthetically-designed to support the wearer’s appearance. Coupled with a variety of features and facilities offered, wearable technology has become increasingly popular, especially among the younger generation.
In general, wearable is still widely used for fashion trends and wellness purposes donned by fitness enthusiasts and in the gym. However, as more business leaders learn the benefits and utility of this tool, it is only a matter of time when wearables reign the workplace of the future.
According to a survey conducted by PwC, 49 percent respondents believe that the use of wearables at the workplace will help improve efficiency and increase productivity of employees. For this reason, 67 percent respondents expect that the company is willing to allocate some of its budget to purchase wearables that will support their workings.
Nonetheless, there is demographic disparity among people who favour wearables foraying into the workplace. Another PwC survey also reveals that compared to older generations, 73 percent Millennials are most likely to share data and use new technologies in the office.
If you implement the right strategy, wearables can also be used as a medium transform the way your organisation works and leverage the way your employees connect with each other. If you are wondering how this could happen, here are some ways wearables will revolutionise your workplace culture:
See: Impact of Wearables on the Workplace of the Future
Boost employee wellness
We all know that healthy employees are happy employees. Wellness is one of the keys to improve employee performance, while encouraging their satisfaction and engagement with the organisation. Therefore, enormous amount of data gained from use of wearables will help the employer make improvements to factoring in employee wellbeing.
Bridge smooth connectivity
The presence of Smartphones and tablets helps stay digitally connected with everything that matters to us. With wearables, workers can keep in touch with each other regardless of time difference and long distances.
With GPS technology implanted in wearables, now employers can easily monitor whereabouts of their employees, with more open and smoother connectivity. Additionally, geographic limitations will no longer be a challenge or barrier to the spread of information within the organisation.
Increase productivity
Presenteeism is one of the major challenges that HR department often has to face. Presenteeism is dangerous for your workplace culture, since this behaviour has direct influence on employees’ productivity and efficiency. Therefore, wearable technology is useful to help monitor employees workings, performance and progress levels in the workplace.
Using health tracker, you can know immediately when your employees are not in their best state. So rather than making employees drag their feet to work and being unproductive, you can suggest them to take a break and refresh their body and mind.
Encourage better communication
PwC The Wearable Life Survey reveals a positive trend, wherein more and more people believe wearables will increase social interaction. In 2014, only 10 percent respondents believe that wearable tech would help realise better communication. But in 2016, this number is tripled to 33 percent.
No doubt, wearables enable two-way communication between the employer and employees to make the process seamless than ever before. Beyond business discussions, wearables encourage interpersonal relationships among employees. For example, employees can build and engage into a conversation, where they can share information about their own fitness achievements, according to data accumulated through wearables.
Streamline onboarding and training
Wearables will change much of your company’s strategy to manage onboarding of new hires and implement employee training programs. Employers can take advantage of this advanced technology to boost company’s bottom line, by starting with providing orientation for new employees, giving real-time feedback and instructions, as well as enabling training on the go.
Sooner or later, the impact of wearables is predicted to touch various aspects of business and industry. PwC survey notes that by 2020, more than 75 million wearables will come to the workplace. Business leaders will see a dramatic change in the workflow processes and how these high tech will impact the company culture.
However, to remain competitive in the future, it is imperative for businesses to prepare themselves and welcome the next wave of wearables. The key here is to design a human-centred strategy and leverage on benefits offered by wearables to boost competitive business advantage.
Read also: Will HR Departments Welcome Wearables Technology?
