siliconindia | | January 20169Workers, 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""connect flexibility policies, wearable technology and of-fice 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 ex-amining the needs of every component in your ecosystem. Embracing Future Workplace Trends TodayNow more than ever, thriving in today's business environ-ment requires comprehensive and effective collaboration where teams can communicate from anywhere at any time. With respect to time, the clock itself has become large-ly 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 philoso-phy 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 pro-vided the freedom to determine how and where work is accomplished, work quality and productivity increase. Our unified communications technology lets employees com-municate seamlessly by voice through laptops, mobile phones and other devices, including those that they own. This enables people to work effectively wherever they are­at home, on the road or in the of-fice. Its impact on business per-formance is substantial. In the first year of deploying Smarter Working principles at one of our regional offices, we realized re-markable savings regarding real es-tate, fewer paid conference calls, and decrease in number of desk phones. We also achieved a 23 percent in-crease in employee satisfac-tion, based on Leesman employee surveys. Working Smarter in Real TimePlantronics 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 in-novation, 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 employ-ees. In the Netherlands, our new Europe and Africa re-gional headquarters opens in 2016 and will showcase our latest insights into how sound can affect our working en-vironment. We are blazing new trails to eliminate distract-ing 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 Abate-ment Society.As leaders, a smarter workplace demonstrates our respect for our workforce in real time. When employers provide flex-ibility, 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 clear path by which tomorrow's leaders can thrive.Ken Kannappan
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