Businesses no longer have employees strictly working within office facilities. In fact, today, the deskless workforce accounts for 80% of the world’s population or around 2.7 million people. As businesses try newer trends and tactics to explore uncharted territories, it is critical that their deskless workforce is well informed, engaged and provisioned. It is the field employees who work remotely on the field, interact with the customers directly and share insights on real-world problems. However, most businesses struggle to keep their deskless workforce well-connected. In times when technology lays the foundation for every process, it is crucial that deskless workers are provisioned with the right technology for communication and to reduce manual workload.
Who Is a Deskless Worker?
Any employee who works outside traditional office spaces is called a deskless worker. Think of fleet drivers working for transportation companies, construction workers or mine workers working at remote locations. Even employees that work at manufacturing units, production lines, retail outlets, and hospitality businesses such as the ground staff at hotels, airports, etc. These employees do not operate from secure office spaces and need the right technology to keep them well-engaged.
What Are the Common Challenges Faced by Deskless Workers?
One cannot compare the challenges faced by an employee who works from an office and an employee who works in remote sites and is constantly migrating. The set of challenges encountered by deskless workers is unconventional in comparison to office workers.
The first and the biggest challenge that deskless workers, as well as their employers face, is that of seamless communication. Despite the advances in technology, the latest means of communication such as emails, phone calls, or video conferencing do not cater to the urgent and quick communication needs of the field. Walkie-talkie radios are largely used by field and frontline workers to communicate with their on-site crew members, but radio communication itself has several limitations including low coverage, poor audio quality, expensive radio devices, etc.
The inability of a business to communicate with its deskless workforce further gives rise to additional challenges such as disengaged employees and lowered team productivity. When employees working in remote locations are unable to communicate seamlessly with their line managers, supervisors, as well as other distributed teams, it impacts operational efficiency negatively.
Not having the proper technology to communicate the organizational news, team updates, course changes, etc. leads to the formation of information silos and directly affects the team’s performance. Reports suggest that 85% of the employees report feeling motivated when they receive regular company updates.
The next major challenge that businesses struggle with, is to reduce manual efforts for their deskless workforce. Deskless employees are generally involved in labor-intensive manual tasks which are hard to automate. Reducing manual efforts and getting the work done fast and efficiently is a complicated task.
Unfortunately, most businesses lack the tools to help their deskless workforce overcome these challenges. While some businesses invest in the wrong set of technology, some others don’t think that it is necessary to invest in technology.
Top Reasons Why Deskless Workers Need the Latest Technology
The technology that you plan to adopt for your business doesn’t just have to be the latest, but it needs to be highly functional. Consider the push-to-talk technology for example. It can be easily integrated into employees’ smartphones in the form of an app. This tool allows employees to turn their very own smartphone into walkie-talkie. Besides, these PTT apps also bring a plethora of other features to the table such as multi-media sharing, geofence-based policies, corporate directory integration and much more. This is the perfect example of an ideal modern-day tool, which allows employees to ditch bulky walkie-talkie radios, saves costs on expensive dedicated devices for businesses and provides multiple functionalities using a single platform.
How does this help your deskless workforce?
- Offers Anytime, Anywhere Connectivity
None of the conventional modern-day means of corporate communications do justice to the instant communication needs of deskless workers. Businesses that opt for the latest communication tools such as walkie-talkie apps, remote file sharing software, real-time location tracking tools, etc. allow employees to stay connected with diverse teams, collaborate easily and provide enhanced visibility on the mobile workforce to the supervisors.
- Caters to Urgent Situations
Businesses need to understand that their deskless employees do not have the same privileges as the employees who work from offices. Neither are their surroundings as secure and high-tech as the modern-day office facilities. Fleet drivers, mine workers, firefighters, etc. have to deal with extreme dangers as a part of their job. Even deskless employees such as delivery agents, retail executives, airport staff, etc. are the ones to face your customers directly. In case of emergencies, or in times where quick decisions are required, your workforce needs an ultra-fast and reliable tool.
- Attracts the Younger Talent Pool
Almost every millennial owns a smartphone today and uses a plethora of mobile apps for a variety of personal operations. Expecting your deskless workforce to use outdated technologies is likely to drive them away. Empowering your deskless workforce with the latest technology not only keeps them interested in their work but also attracts young talent to come and work for your business.
- Reflects Positively on Productivity
When your employees are motivated and happy with their work, it shows. Statistics show that 46% of employees feel that digital tools make them more productive. Providing your deskless workforce with the right tools that reduce their manual work and help them to collaborate with their distributed workforce easily is a way to improve their job satisfaction. The higher the job satisfaction, the better the productivity.
Closing Lines
Your deskless workforce is the one that gets the physical tasks done so that the rest of the organization can function smoothly. If you haven’t empowered your deskless workforce with the latest tools that can keep them connected on the go, and automate tedious tasks, it is time you do.
Content dump <do not refer>
Blog outline:
Introduction –
About deskless workers, numbers & stats
Talk about the lack of dedicated technology for deskless workers
Common challenges faced by deskless workers
Let’s talk about the various challenges faced by deskless workers and what companies need to do about them:
- Improper communication
- Lack of engagement
- Difficulty in being trained and managed
- Lack of proper technology
- Loss of producitivity
Results – High turnover rates, dis-satisfaction in employees, lowered productivity.
Why is it a good idea to empower your deskless employees with the latest tech?
- Better retention
- Attract better talent
- More productivity
- They face your customers directly
The deskless workforce deserves the best tech (closing lines)
