Nederlands
The term has been used more and more lately, especially throughout the pandemic: the mobile workforce. What exactly is such a mobile workforce? And, what advantages does it offer? In this blog, we explain why the mobile workforce is the future.
A shift to remote working
We have become very familiar with working remotely over the past two years. After the global pandemic erupted in early 2020, we in the Netherlands too – where possible – switched en masse to working from home. And still now, many office workers work remotely for a considerable part of the week, certainly since the number of infections is rising again.
The traditional office environment is not expected to return to the way it was before the coronavirus. After all, we have discovered the practical advantages of working remotely: from fewer trips and therefore less stress to higher productivity. And applications such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom have shown that it is also possible to consult each other remotely.
From home to mobile working
Many companies and organisations are therefore thinking about new ways of working together, combining on-site and remote working; so-called hybrid working. The term ‘mobile workforce’ is often used. In this case, employees do not work from one fixed location, but choose for themselves when and where they want to work.
The big difference with remote working is that the location of the employee within a mobile workforce no longer matters at all. The combination of mobile devices such as laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices and a smartly equipped digital workspace ensures that everyone can organise their work as they see fit. More and more advanced connectivity for instance, wireless 5G, does the rest. Live streaming of images and sending large files will become increasingly possible in the near future.
Benefits of a mobile workforce
All in all, a partnership based on a mobile workforce offers quite a few advantages. What are the most important?
#1 Improved communication and collaboration
One of the biggest advantages of mobile employees is the improvement in communication and collaboration. The reason? Employees who always work in the same room feel that there is plenty of time during the day to communicate with each other.
However, in order to work well together, it is not necessarily required to meet physically on a regular basis. If everyone works from the location of his or her choice, there is less time for distractions and colleagues automatically take more account of each other’s agenda. The result: less time wasted, less ‘noise’, and more efficient communication and collaboration.
#2 Your employees become more productive
As an extension of the previous point, a mobile workforce often makes employees more productive. They no longer spend unnecessary time commuting and travelling to and from appointments is also a thing of the past.
The time that employees have left over can be put to good use. Thanks to a well-equipped digital workspace such as that offered by Workspace 365, they can access their applications and documents from anywhere. This means they can share ideas and take part in meetings remotely, no matter where they are.
In other words, employees have more usable time, and they can use the time they have more efficiently.
#3 Satisfied employees
Employees usually do more work as part of a mobile workforce, but are they also happy with their work? That seems to be the case. Because people spend less time commuting, they often experience less stress. Moreover, thanks to all the mobile technology, employees are much more flexible in organising their time and in choosing their work location: at the office, at home or anywhere else. As a result, mobile employees often experience a better work-life balance.
#4 You save costs
Working with a mobile workforce results in cost savings in several ways. To start with, your employees will travel less and you will therefore spend less on travel costs. And because your office building is rarely or never fully occupied, you also save on energy and things like coffee and office supplies.
If your office occupancy rate is structurally much lower, it may even be interesting to look into the possibility of moving to smaller premises. Or, if your company is growing, it may no longer be necessary to move to a larger building.
#5 Better service provision
Not only your employees, but also your customers will start to notice the benefits of a mobile workforce. Because the mobile workforce is centred around a digital workspace, employees always have all the information, documents and applications relevant to them at hand. As a result, they can answer customer questions and requests faster, wherever they are.
In addition, as an organisation you can share updates quicker, making you more agile and able to respond faster to changes in the work.
#6 It makes you more attractive as an employer
If employees can easily work remotely, the distance to your office location(s) is less relevant. This makes you geographically more attractive to a larger group of people.
Besides, the mobile workforce offers opportunities for attracting talent that might not otherwise apply to you. For example, people with a disability, or young parents who want to be as flexible as possible in where and when they work.
In addition, we can’t forget the group of people for whom mobile working in itself is a big plus. For example, the people who find the flexibility attractive, or those who like to travel.
Do you want to get started with a mobile workforce?
So, plenty of reasons to explore the possibilities for a mobile workforce. Our digital workspace Workspace 365 forms a solid base for a remote and mobile workforce. Our digital workspace gives your employees access to all information documents and applications for optimal efficiency. Because users no longer experience distractions from things that are irrelevant to them, they can work more productively and enjoyably – wherever and whenever they want.
