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January - 2016 - issue > In My Opinion
Does Your Business Have The Flexibility to Thrive?
Ken Kannappan
President & CEO-Plantronics
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
The flexibility of your workplace may well determine the future of your business, and it certainly will define what your future workforce looks like. In my experience, the path to achieving growth, quality and productivity begins with embracing flexibility.

Workers, especially millennials, have raised their expectations for employers to support varying work styles and preferences so that they can balance their professional and personal lives. A 2015 survey by Ernst & Young found that 75 percent of millennials want the ability to work flexibly while still being on track for promotion, and that 78 percent of this generation are part of a dualcareer couple. And across all generations, parents are twice as likely to travel for business as non-parents.

For countless reasons, more employees work remotely. Many employees don't use their assigned workspaces, if they have them. Along with the increasing use of non-traditional, open and distributed work environments, new technology enabling these shifts continues to proliferate at a rapid pace. For me, these realities which would for some cause office chaos and distraction serve as drivers of exponential value. I believe that workplace flexibility or Smarter Working, as we call it at Plantronics is a key differentiator that tomorrow's leaders should embrace to attract and retain the best people, foster innovation and fuel growth.

This is a phenomenon shared by businesses and employees around the world. In India, flexibility is a top priority as businesses evolve, according to a 2014 report by Dun & Bradstreet on future workplace trends. They conducted an extensive survey of business and human resources leaders in India and found that organizations are revisiting their existing policies to accommodate employees desires for greater flexibility and opportunity. Of the companies surveyed, 57 percent have introduced flexible workplace practices, and 83 percent of that cohort said it has made a positive impact on recruitment and retention. In addition, 76 percent of HR leaders and 61 percent of business leaders identified employee productivity gains as being among its primary benefits to organizational performance.

Look at how closely that corresponds to U.S. and global trends. In a Forbes article published last month, Future Workplace research director Dan Schwabel summarized 2016 trends.Three of the top five connect flexibility policies, wearable technology and office design to help workers be more productive and help employers attract and retain top talent.

These shifts in how we work constitute dramatic change and require a shift in how people are managed. Tomorrow's leaders must determine the right approach for their people, as well as oversee its implementation successfully. It's a complex endeavor that starts with deep thinking and examining the needs of every component in your ecosystem.

Embracing Future Workplace Trends Today

Now more than ever, thriving in today's business environment requires comprehensive and effective collaboration where teams can communicate from anywhere at any time.

With respect to time, the clock itself has become largely irrelevant. Your best people work at various times and may need personal time during work hours. What matters is what they accomplish and how well you inspire them. What is your organization going to do to make the world a better place? What can they accomplish to help you get there? To tap into unlimited inspiration, get them engaged. Then keep them empowered wherever they are, so that they can contribute whenever they want.

To help attract and empower the best people to do their best work, we have brought a Smarter Working philosophy to life at Plantronics. It's about giving our employees greater freedom and flexibility in how, when and where they work, and it's about developing the technology that will enable that to happen.

I have seen time and again that, when people are provided the freedom to determine how and where work is accomplished, work quality and productivity increase. Our unified communications technology lets employees communicate seamlessly by voice through laptops, mobile phones and other devices, including those that they own. This enables people to work effectively wherever they are at home, on the road or in the office.

Its impact on business performance is substantial. In the first year of deploying Smarter Working principles at one of our regional offices, we realized remarkable savings regarding real estate, fewer paid conference calls, and decrease in number of desk phones. We also achieved a 23 percent increase in employee satisfaction, based on Leesman employee surveys.

Working Smarter in Real Time

Plantronics has spent more than 50 years solely focused on understanding how people engage with each other and the world around them. This deep understanding is reflected in the solutions we create, the experiences we enable, and the innovations we pursue.

It's the bedrock of our approach to creating smarter workplaces. For example, we have used our expertise in sophisticated audio communications and technology to dampen the sound of conversations, so that our employees can stay focused.

By weaving flexibility into facility design, we have created unique physical spaces that enhance employee innovation, collaboration and satisfaction. At our Mexico operations headquarters, which has been named a Great Place to Work for 5 years in a row, you'll find a solar powered world class building with plenty of natural light and top-of-the-line sporting facilities for all our employees.

In the Netherlands, our new Europe and Africa regional headquarters opens in 2016 and will showcase our latest insights into how sound can affect our working environment. We are blazing new trails to eliminate distracting background noise, enrich conversations and allow everyone to work in a healthy, productive and profitable way. The new facility in Hoofddorp has earned acclaim as an inspiration for office spaces of the future, receiving the John Connell Soundscape Award from the Noise Abatement Society.

As leaders, a smarter workplace demonstrates our respect for our workforce in real time. When employers provide flexibility, we "walk the talk" about our people being our most important asset. It inspires trust, loyalty and pride by showing employees that we count on them to do whatever it is they need to do to be productive and get their jobs done. And it's a Ken Kannappan clear path by which tomorrow's leaders can thrive.
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