Digital Wellbeing at Work

With the new digital workplace tool soon to be in place, Anord Mardix is on track to streamline internal communications and enhance departmental transparency. Before launching the new intranet, our very own Head of HR, EMEA, Danielle Walker has written an extremely important and informative piece to remind us all about the importance of digital wellbeing when working remotely or in a hybrid scenario.

Whether working digitally has been a new adjustment in the last year or has always been a more long-term arrangement for you, there’s no doubt that the spotlight in recent months has been placed firmly on our increased reliance on technology. With it has brought many advantages; allowing us to work with increased flexibility, reduce or eliminate commuting time and costs, as well as adding more focus to our work.

However, the increased reliance and usage of this technology means that employee digital wellbeing needs to be just as important. With the majority of employees now working from home or in a hybrid situation, it’s become clear that working remotely has no real boundary.

Research has given an indication that technology can encourage work presenteeism and many employees face difficulty ‘switching off’.

An employee’s home has become their workplace, with a sense of guilt being a big issue; those who weren’t always physically present in the office at one point, now feel the need to be constantly digitally present and responsive. The change has also challenged managers in communicating and measuring team performance, which has meant they instead must empower their teams and rely on trust.

Digital wellbeing is all about ensuring we have a healthy and balanced approach to digital working. Adapting to this new culture and way of working that means it can be beneficial to everyone.

Allianz did a study of their employees, with 46% of respondents saying they felt isolated working from home and 61% saying they have not had a good conversation with their manager about mental health during lockdown. It’s clear that the overuse of technology can lead to stress and burnout.

However, if we consider digital wellbeing throughout our day-to-day schedules, we can ensure our devices play an enhancing role and help us to continue to do our best and thrive in what is likely to be an ever-changing future for many. Used in the right way, technology can help us feel connected, empowered and more productive.

TOP TIPS FOR DIGITAL WELLBEING

The digital workplace is no doubt here to stay in some form and with everyone being mindful of digital wellbeing and embedding this into workplace culture we can really utilise this tool to enable collaboration, communication, and productivity. Using technology in healthy ways can contribute to positive mental health and digital wellbeing!

By implementing the new digital workplace, Anord Mardix hopes to combat any potential risk to an employee’s mental health and reduce exhaustion from a fragmented workday, via the use of a seamless system that houses internal company communications.

With the resulting impact of using a cohesive digital workplace significantly reducing non-essential communications and meeting fatigue, we hope that employees will find their workdays more engaging with team members and certainly more productive. Therefore, our employees will be able to switch off properly after work to enjoy some well-earned downtime – which, as Danielle mentions, proves instrumental to our mental health and digital wellbeing.