MSPNetworks Blog

We all know the importance of IT maintenance and management when it comes to effectively running a business, but it’s really hard to ensure that your technology is being properly maintained when your staff have one foot out the door. A new survey from Gartner suggests that IT employees are more likely to leave your business than other non-IT employees, and this puts a heavier burden on you to make sure technology is properly taken care of.

What Do the Numbers Say?

Gartner’s latest Global Labor Market Survey indicates that only 29.1 percent of IT employees have solid plans to remain with their current employers. This number seems to be quite low, especially considering the important role that technology plays in most businesses. Depending on where you are looking, the numbers can get even more dire. According to the survey, only 19.6 percent of IT workers in Asia plan to stick with their current jobs. Other numbers include New Zealand and Australia at 23.6 percent, Latin America at 26.9 percent, and Europe at 38.8 percent.

So, as you can see, even the most optimistic numbers are still quite high, with the global average of 10.2 percent of IT staff being less likely to stay at their current job compared to non-IT employees. It’s thought that these numbers have come about as a result of employees reassessing their career choices and priorities in the post-pandemic world. Naturally, they should not be faulted for doing so, but it does put your organization in a bit of a bind, especially if your organization relies heavily on IT, as many do.

Why Does This Matter for Your Business?

Simply put, considering the higher rate of turnover for IT workers within businesses, it makes sense that you would want to eliminate as much of the unpredictability as possible. Therefore, we recommend that you work with a managed service provider like MSPNetworks to ensure that you are not left without the IT talent to keep your business running effectively.

When you work with MSPNetworks, you get several benefits. For one, you remove the task of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding IT staff, meaning that you basically get all of that time back to be productive with your own tasks in the workplace. You also remove the time you might spend without a technician should your current staff decide it is time to jump ship and move on to greener pastures. A lot can happen while you are working to replace a missing employee, and you want as little turnover time as possible. Essentially, what you get is predictability and the reassurance that there will always be someone there to help your organization with IT, no matter what happens in this crazy, chaotic world we live in.

To learn more about our services or how you stand to benefit by working with us, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

For years, we’ve heard about how machines are coming for our jobs. We may even know some people who have been replaced by machines of some sort. This has given workers an overarching fear that once the machines are smart and capable enough to do what they do, that they will be out on their cans with few real options. This is mostly a fallacy. Today, we will explore the notion that machines are out for our jobs and how they may actually work to make our jobs better. 

The Correlation Between Automation and Downsizing

There is no secret that in order to run a business effectively you have to spend less than you take in. It seems like pretty simple math, but unless you’ve worked in management, you’d be surprised how little shifts in business make this possible sometimes. One regrettable way a company cuts their costs is to let their workers go. After all, payroll is still one of (if not the) largest expenses many businesses have. With new technologies being introduced that make it possible to replace the work of certain employees, it can cause some consternation and fear among the workforce. 

Some workers are going to lose their jobs due to automation, that much is true. Some people--mostly those who had jobs that computer-based machines can do much faster and much better--will be casualties of their business’ shift in strategy. A good manager will find the resource that does the job that’s needed more effectively, and in today’s business environment, many times these are AI-driven smart technologies. That’s not to say that smart technologies don’t offer other opportunities for some workers, however. 

Let’s take a brief look at one industry that is primed to be overtaken by automation: truck drivers. Today, several manufacturers are creating technologies designed to ship goods from one place to another using autonomous vehicles. This has been in the works for a while now, and it looks as if the technology is going to be a major disruptor in that industry. For decades, truckers were protected by unions, but as the unions started to lose their power, many became independent contractors. This leaves them no hope if the businesses they currently drive truck for start purchasing and using automated vehicles to move goods.

Furthermore, the aging truck driver may not have the skills necessary to compete for a similarly-paying job. The fear is that as technology becomes a disruptor in industries like this that the people that are cast out won’t have the resources to educate themselves for a new job; leaving those people to work lower-wage jobs, or worse yet, become dependent on the government. The business, which always wants to do more with less, can, but workers that are cast aside by this newfound efficiency become a cautionary tale. This is not ideal for anyone. 

Strange, But True

This us vs. them story is the way of business. Competition is said to make the market economy possible. What isn’t often mentioned is that automated systems don’t have to replace workers. They will to some degree, of course, but the lion’s share of workers can thrive with the use of automated systems; especially the ones that learn as they go. Why is this narrative not observed more? It’s simple, the story of a person whose job responsibilities change with the deployment of AI isn’t as interesting as a story about swaths of workers that are displaced by corporate greed. 

The truth is that many businesses will be using automation to make their employees’ work experiences better. There are a lot of procedural tasks that need to be completed, there are emails to be written and sent out, there are reports to be run. This is true whether you are a Fortune 500 company or a mom-and-pop pizzeria. The truth is that as it stands today there are a minimal amount of tasks that can (or should) be completed by smart tech. Automation can actually have an extremely positive impact on people’s ability to do work. It can allow businesses to cut costs while also providing a pathway to get their workers to focus completely on revenue-growing tasks. So the dichotomy between automation and the modern workforce doesn’t necessarily have to be disruptive, it can also be good for both the business and the worker. 

For the company that is making the choice about increasing the prevalence of automation over the next few years, their workforce will be at the forefront of this shift, not left behind like many have projected. Let’s go back to the automated trucks. Every automated truck so far has required there be a passenger (driver) in the truck at all times to ensure things go smoothly. These shipping professionals may not be driving the truck as they did in the past, but they are still employed and with the benefits that automation brings to the industry, they will still be paid in line with what they were making when they were the operator of the vehicle. Companies will save money on logistics, fuel costs, and more, but as of this writing there aren’t many plans to cut out these professionals, just alter the job a bit. 

What are your thoughts about automation and smart technology’s effect on the modern worker? Do you think that these smart systems will eventually replace the skilled labor fields, or do you think that people and machines can work in concert to provide better work environments and stabilize rising costs? Leave your thoughts about this issue in the comments section below. 

For the past year or so, most workers around the world were forced to work remotely in order to adhere to the strict social distancing guidelines imposed by governing bodies. Now that the time has come to return to the office, many workers are finding that their expectations are a bit different than they were previously, forcing business owners to respond.

A new study released by Qualtrics titled the Future of the Workplace Study examines the perks that employees expect from the new office environment, as well as topics such as dress code and the drawbacks of remote work moving forward. This study focused its efforts on 1,000 United States full-time and part-time workers--not a particularly large sample size, but enough to get a snapshot of the landscape as we move into the post-pandemic workplace.

Concerns About Returning to the Office

According to the study, workers have several concerns about returning to work in the office environment. The top two concerns were social awkwardness from meeting coworkers and following proper social etiquette. But wait… weren’t these two things routinely done before the pandemic? While most workers are comfortable working with others in an enclosed space, the rate varies significantly by age, with about 25% of employees aged 55 or older being uncomfortable with the notion and 13% aged 18-34 being more comfortable with it.

Surprisingly, dress code also plays a significant role in employees’ returns to the workplace. People always joke about wearing pajama bottoms to work, as long as the top half of their body is presentable, but there might be more truth to this statement than you think. About a quarter of respondents suggested that “dropping leisurewear” would be a major challenge; 37% of respondents claimed that they would be dressing casually in the office moving forward, while 35% plan to dress business-casual. 

What Employees Want

With the workplace landscape having changed so dramatically over the course of a year, employers must now find new and inventive ways to make the return to the office more enticing. Similarly, employees will be looking for offices that incentivize remote or hybrid work in some capacity, or offer benefits to those who choose to work on-premises. Some of the most commonly requested benefits that employees request include offices with more natural light, access to fitness centers or gear, and outdoor spaces for collaboration. After a year of being shut in and forced to socially distance themselves, it’s no surprise that these are at the top of the list.

Other requests have to do with the way that the office is designed. If employees are working remotely at least part of the time, the question then becomes how the employer can accommodate this without wasting available space. Some businesses have experimented with the idea of assigning workplaces to employees as they are needed rather than having designated spaces for everyone. This level of flexibility allows employers to constantly assess their workplace usage and make changes as needed.

We know that the return to normalcy, whatever that looks like, will likely be fraught with many new challenges that you must address. Technology should not be one of them. MSPNetworks can help your office make the adjustments needed to either return to an in-house operations infrastructure or work toward a hybrid option. To learn more, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Generation Y (or Millennials, as they are more commonly known) have a rough reputation in the business world. Whether they’re being blamed for the death of entire industries or mocked for their fondness for avocado toast, it isn’t often that millennials are taken seriously - especially in the workplace. However, if nurtured correctly, this group has the potential to produce some of your top performers. Here, we’ll get into how to do so.

Millennials are swiftly becoming the majority of today’s workforce. As such, there has been plenty said and written about the differences between them and the other workers that you have employed. Generally speaking, the millennials you have on staff will be the ones with the most education, and as a result, will also be under considerable (if not ludicrous) debt. The degrees that cost these millennials years of their lives and tens of thousands of dollars will often only qualify them for an entry-level job.

While this might not sound like the ideal situation for a millennial, it can be just as much of a problem for a business. Generally speaking, millennials are known for seeking challenges in the workplace, striving for rapid vertical movement. If this isn’t the environment that their workplace offers, a millennial typically isn’t afraid to seek opportunities elsewhere, and can sometimes become disengaged with their current employment and create operational wastes.

Why Millennials Can Be Difficult

While the negative characteristics of millennial employees have been written about extensively, they aren’t inherently a massive issue for employers. Having said that, some behaviors that are fairly typical of this group are often frowned upon by employers. For instance:

1. Millennials are notoriously connected. While some level of connection can be beneficial to a business’ operations, there is definitely the opportunity for this connection to become a distraction. Whether its social media, some interest-based website, or the news, millennials can certainly be susceptible to the distractions of the Internet.
2. Millennials can be overconfident to the point of entitlement. As referenced above, millennials are enthusiastic about vertical movement within their organization. It isn’t unusual for these employees to overestimate their value to the business, at least early on, and expect unrealistic perks from their employer.
3. Millennials are opportunistic, sometimes to your disadvantage. Generation Y is notorious for seeking upward mobility, and if that isn’t something that you can offer them, they likely won’t have an issue seeking employment somewhere that can - assuming that they ever stopped seeking other opportunities in the first place.
4. Millennials demand a healthy work/life balance. In addition to finding fulfillment with their employment, Generation Y also needs the opportunity to step back and recharge through their own interests - and “needs” is the right word. One of the most important considerations for a millennial is finding someplace that enables them to exercise this balance.
5. Millennials expect to use technology. As the first age group with Internet access for the majority of their lives, constant access to information through their smartphones, and automation to make many of their processes easier (if not effortless), millennials have come to take this access to technology for granted. Lacking access to this technology in the workplace can easily be enough to send Generation Y elsewhere in their search.

How to Better Leverage Your Millennials

Business owners need to find employees that are committed to the company’s goals, without bringing in potential issues. There are enough examples of overconfident (dare we say arrogant) and uppity millennials out there that many of the stereotypes associated with the generation are at least founded in truth. Having said that, there are just as many - if not more - examples of millennial workers who want to contribute to your business and its team.

If you find yourself needing to manage this group, we’ve provided a few tips to help you do so:

• Give them a culture to get behind.  Millennials tend to be purpose-driven employees, who want to see their work contribute to something. Creating a company culture that acknowledges their efforts and hard work will help to show them just that.
• Be flexible in work and life. While millennials may be known for committing to leisure activities, they are just as willing to commit time to work as well. Offering remote connectivity, integrations, and other forward-focused solutions allows your staff to work as they do best.
• Be a leader. Millennials need more than just a boss to bark orders at them… they are looking for a mentor to guide them. Instead of micromanaging them and making them feel as though their efforts are unappreciated, give them some autonomy in their workday.
• Provide them with technology. Millennials are used to working with technology - since they were raised with it, it’s their preferred method. If you aren’t giving them the tools they work best with, they’re apt to find someone who will.
• Give their work purpose and transparency. With the right leadership, millennials will work tirelessly to build a better organization… all they want to see is that they have a place in this organization moving forward in their career. Remaining open with them is crucial to building trust.

Millennials are making up more of the workforce all the time. Understanding these workers will only help your business adapt to working with them, and adopting the opportunities that Generation Y has to offer.

What are your workplace experiences with millennials? Share them in the comments!

The right technology can be a catalyst for change. While the right kind of change can be enough to drive innovation and push the limits of your business, the wrong kind of change--namely, employee turnover--can put a halt to productivity and force you to trace your steps back down the old, familiar path of onboarding and training. How can you use technology to retain top talent and reinforce the right message amongst your employees?

Today we’ll examine some of the biggest business technology innovations that can help your organization keep its talent happy and its culture healthy. These recommendations will take into account the physical workspace of your company and how technology will influence the user’s satisfaction.

Provide the Technology to Fit the Workspace
Depending on the business, you might have a space that is conducive to a more mobile type of working style. Give your employees the technology to take advantage of their workspace, whether it’s a desktop or laptop. While the traditional work desk is still quite common in the workplace, open offices are gaining traction, and open areas where employees can work when they need to get away from others to focus or hunker down on a task can be provided to ensure employees can work on their own terms while still maintaining productivity.

Make It Easy for Employees to Use their Devices
A Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy can be a great boon for your business. For one, it keeps your organization from investing in company devices when they aren’t needed. You can just have your employees use their own devices for work purposes as long as they adhere to your organization’s policy regarding data security. The ideal BYOD policy will respect your employees’ ability to work as needed while also maintaining the right to remotely wipe devices and apply permissions to whitelist or blacklist apps.

Properly Maintain Technology Systems
Nothing is more irritating for workers than technology that doesn’t work. Even a task like checking your email can be held up by a workstation that is too slow or not configured properly. To this end, preventative maintenance and management is critical, as you can make sure technology stays in proper working order before it becomes a major issue for your employees. If you can’t take proper care of your technology, employees will wonder why you can’t make their jobs a priority for your business, and it can reflect in their work performance.

MSPNetworks can help you both implement and maintain technology in a way that is effective for retaining employees. To learn more about our remote monitoring and management solutions, as well as Bring Your Own Device policies, reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.