IT plays a crucial role in attracting and retaining employees.

IT plays a crucial role in meeting the expectations of new and current employees. The Experience of Work: The Role of Technology in Productivity and Engagement, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) among 628 directors and executives from the Netherlands, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Poland, and supported by Citrix, shows this.

In the battle for talent, several factors are decisive in attracting or retaining employees. This includes, for example, salary, terms of employment and career prospects. According to the study, however, the ability to be easy and flexible is of crucial importance, and technology plays a crucial role in meeting this need.

For example, organisations that use technology to innovate work models and give employees tools to make their work more efficient and meaningful are better able not only to attract the right people, but also to keep them engaged and productive. These organisations improve their own business results.

Good coordination between IT and HR is a prerequisite. By removing the separation between this department, the involvement and productivity according to the research will be further increased. However, only 26% of European decision-makers say that they very much agree with the statement that the experience of employees in their organisation over the past two years has been clear. 42 per cent of the so-called high performers among the respondents saw a clear improvement.

Main incentives

According to the study, the most important technological incentives for greater employee involvement and commitment are the ability to work from anywhere (44 percent) and easy access to information needed for the job (43 percent). 40 per cent say ease of use is an important stimulus. The top five are rounded off by a ‘consumer-like’ experience (33 percent) and a choice of devices (31 percent).

It also asked about the main technological incentives for increased productivity. This includes easy access to information needed for work (44 percent) and ease of use (39 percent). Other popular responses were cost-effectiveness (36 percent), choice of devices (32 percent) and the ability to work anywhere (32 percent).

“Employees today want the freedom to work when, where and how they want. They also expect it to be as easy as it is in their personal lives,” said Tim Minahan, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer of Citrix. “To attract and retain talent in today’s tight labour market, companies need to think carefully about what a workplace actually is and create a digital environment where both employees, external specialists and freelancers find the tools and information they need to do their job in the best and most simple and uniform way.