TANDBERG uses technology to boost employee wellbeing

Article Type: HR at work From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 7, Issue 6

Short case studies that demonstrate best practice in HR

As technology continues to permeate every aspect of our lives, and e-mail and instant messaging increasingly become the de facto forms of communication in the workplace, we are in danger of losing sight, quite literally, of our colleagues and customers. According to a study from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) 93 percent of human communication is non-verbal, so it is easy to see the importance of the eye contact and gestures that feature in face-to-face conversations. But meeting colleagues and customers requires business travel,which in turn often requires out of hours traveling, excess carbon emissions and the financial expenditure necessary for fuel, flights and accommodation. So what is the solution?

The use of technology can be a positive addition to the working environment. In fact, there is a strong user demand for technology in the workplace, and this was underlined in a survey TANDBERG commissioned in April last year with an independent analyst house Quocirca. The survey was carried out among 150 UK companies of small, medium and large size and featured employees working within various roles and levels across the companies. The survey results revealed that 71 percent of respondents had seen user demand for collaborative technology,including desktop collaboration tools and videoconferencing, within their organizations. This demand is due to the changing nature of our workplace culture – working in virtual teams, the increase in remote collaboration,the inefficiency of meeting in person and a positive change in employee attitudes towards adopting new technology – however, only one in five organizations are significantly investing in these tools.

Some of the issues in today’s work culture

Even though some organizations are implementing collaborative technology,there are other issues at hand. Miscommunication over e-mail or instant messaging is a significant problem in the workplace. As electronic communication lacks interactivity, there is a real danger that electronic messages will be misinterpreted. The Quocirca survey revealed that over 60 percent of respondents had been misunderstood in the past when using text-based communication.

Other key factors that impact staff are the rise in workloads and the need to be accessible round-the-clock by employers. Employees are feeling increasingly frustrated with the demand for them to work longer hours, and often at anti-social times, thus affecting their work/life balance. Whether this means missing out on spending time with your children because you have to work late in the office, or taking a flight in your own time over the weekend to make a business meeting abroad on a Monday morning, these factors all affect life outside work.

Using technology to improve well-being

At TANDBERG, we have a vision of “natural communication,” whereby interaction between people should, as far as possible, always take place in its most natural form – face-to-face. As a videoconferencing provider,TANDBERG believes in minimizing business travel, reducing carbon emissions and providing the means for colleagues to communicate with each other even when they are hundreds of miles apart. It is therefore vital that we actively practice what we preach to our customers. The company has had a proactive flexible working program in place since it was established. This is because we recognized early on that flexible working would inevitably become an integral part of working life, especially when our employees have access to video technology. Our mission is to change the way people communicate and this is a strong driver and motivator that unifies the entire organization.

As an international company with dual headquarters in Oslo and New York, it is important for TANDBERG’s employees to work closely with each other on a regular basis, and videoconferencing enables this interaction without the need for lengthy and expensive business travel. TANDBERG offers its employees access to videoconferencing technology to contact colleagues, customers, suppliers and family, allowing them to remain visually connected whether they are working at home, abroad or out in the field.

Broader benefits emerge

The environment is also of great concern to TANDBERG’s staff, as shown by 86 percent of employees in The Sunday Times “Best Companies To Work For” list this year. While they may be happy with their work/life balance, part of their enjoyment of working with us is the knowledge that they are working for an organization that cares about the environment. By its very nature, videoconferencing is a green technology as it allows users to communicate visually without creating a carbon footprint. TANDBERG has implemented an extensive internal program to ensure that we are green in every aspect of the business, including the purchase of green products, office recycling programs and a concerted effort to source environmentally friendly components in the manufacturing of our technology.

In a research project in conjunction with Ipsos-MORI, which was carried out last year among 16,823 consumers in 15 countries worldwide, TANDBERG looked at the impact that “going green” is having on organizations’ brand values. The survey showed that 30 percent of UK workers would prefer to work for a company with a good environmental reputation, rising to eight in ten workers globally, and that 27 percent of UK consumers would be more likely to buy products or services from a company with a good reputation for environmental responsibility.

A suite of well-being initiatives

TANDBERG believes that videoconferencing provides a major key benefit to work/life balance. By increasing employee satisfaction and environmental stewardship, as well as reducing the often-unnecessary element of business travel, our employees are happier in the workplace and therefore more productive overall. Not only are they able to work from home or remotely, they are also able to choose flexible hours that suit them without compromising their personal life. For example, staff will often choose to work from home in the evenings if they have left the office in the afternoon to pick up their children from school.

TANDBERG has implemented a number of initiatives to address the well-being and work/life balance of its employees. Every TANDBERG UK employee has the option of working from home, and is provided with a mobile phone, paid broadband, a laptop and a videoconferencing unit to encourage easy home working. They are also offered work/lifestyle balance courses and since all employees are trusted to manage their own working hours, this enables home and family commitments to be managed more easily. Other benefits include an annual holiday allowance of 25 days, private healthcare for partners and children, life assurance and a contributory pension.

Introducing these broad initiatives means that TANDBERG employees can just“plug-in and play” their video units wherever they are based without the need for formal training. We never feel the need to monitor our staff as we have a mutual trust and as long as staff feel that they can work more productively, where they work becomes irrelevant. The fact that TANDBERG is continuously growing year-on-year as an organization, demonstrates that this initiative is working well with our employees.

Creating a more productive environment

Since providing staff with access to video conferencing at home and in the office, TANDBERG has seen an increase in employee productivity. As a result of a policy that all internal and external meetings are held via videoconferencing where possible, TANDBERG personnel held 300,000 video calls last year – an average of 1.2 calls per working day per employee.

The organization was recently ranked 49th in The Sunday Times“Best Companies To Work For” list in the UK, placing us in the top 10 percent of UK companies for a second year in succession. TANDBERG’s recognition of the importance of employee work/life balance was a key factor in gaining this ranking, with employees declaring that they were happy working for an organization that allowed their work to integrate seamlessly into their busy lives. In the past year TANDBERG’s employee base has grown by a third and it has maintained its low staff turnover (6 percent), which is paramount to the company’s strong culture and values. Over 80 percent of staff believe they can make a difference to the business and find their work stimulating, while respecting the work/life balance of employees means that 83 percent of TANDBERG staff don’t suffer stress because of their jobs.

With 1,300 employees in 44 countries, we are continuously growing our organization and expanding our global reach. In spite of rapid growth and a dispersed workforce, we have been able to keep a strong culture with an open dialogue and a flat hierarchical structure across the organization, thanks to the ability to connect by video. In today’s fast paced world, the need for quick decisions is crucial, and the extensive internal use of video enables us to share knowledge across the organization and accelerate our decision-making. Videoconferencing also helps to develop teamwork, camaraderie and friendships among TANDBERG colleagues across the globe, unlimited by geographical boundaries.

About the author

Annicken Rød is chief cultural officer at TANDBERG. She is responsible for supporting the culture of the company as well as the well-being and learning and development of TANDBERG’s 1,300 employees around the world. She can be contacted at: annicken.rod@tandberg.com