It’s 2020 and suddenly we’re all working at home.
This rush towards doing our jobs out of the office, thanks to the pandemic, meant many of us bought – or were given – new, speedy laptops to get work done.
According to IDC, sales of laptop and desktop computers exceeded 302 million units in 2020, a 13 per cent increase on the year before and the most since 2014. It also meant we bought high-quality peripherals like keyboards, mouses and office chairs. Another thing we bought were big, hi-res monitors to help us be more productive.
Now, more than a third of workers are back in the office full time, and even more of us are working hybrid jobs, part time at home and the balance in the workplace. Not that all of us want to be there all the time, with fifty-five per cent of people working in the office wanting flexible arrangements.
But one thing is clear: there are real benefits from going back to the office, even if it’s part time, which is why a survey from CBRE found more than 90 per cent of employers expect staff to work on a hybrid basis. Gen Z and younger millennials particularly benefit from face-to-face work, says Ben Foote, chief executive of the Australian Institute of Management.
There are two casualties in terms of the highly flexible and remote working trend. The first one is the learning employees get early in their careers and that comes from being around people. The second casualty of flexible working is for new starters, who don’t have someone to be inspired by and bounce ideas off, Mr Foote said.
He might have added there’s a third casualty of remote working – serendipity. Those casual conversations people have when they’re making lunch or crossing paths in the hall all inspire creativity and problem solving. It’s something no amount of Zoom calls can replicate.
But creativity and problem solving all require having the right equipment. Given so many of us now have high quality gear at home, and will continue using it in a hybrid environment, we’re also demanding we have the right peripherals when we are in the office. Which is why, in the era of the great resignation, it’s critical for employers to give people what they want.
Good equipment isn’t just about OH&S – but it helps
A great monitor can do wonders for productivity and comfort, as well as ease eye strain. People returning to the office may find the screen you’ve given them in the past isn’t up to scratch. It might be small, have poor resolution and could have taken a beating if it’s been dragged back and forth between home and the workplace.
Worse, it’s probably an ergonomic and connectivity nightmare. A Samsung curved, hi-res screen with flicker free eye saver technology and a height adjustable stand helps staff position the screen in a way that suits them. Forget the days of propping up a screen on a couple of reams of paper – or a phone book (remember those?).
You can also forget about having multiple cables connecting the laptop to power and its screen.
Instead, a single USB-C cable will provide the power needed by the laptop as well as its connection to the monitor. Some screens like the Samsung S9 even offer KVM capabilities, where a switch makes it seamless to move keyboard, video, and mouse from one laptop or desktop to another using the same monitor.
Sure, a new monitor is just one piece of the creativity and productivity puzzle. But it’s also an important part of the puzzle. Enabling collaboration and meeting OH&S guidelines in terms of height adjustability and eyestrain are also critical.
In 2022, as more and more of us return to the office, having the right equipment to do the job is more than a nice-to-have. It’s a prerequisite for keeping staff happy, healthy, and productive.
And, in the era of the great resignation, happy staff are likely to stick around and help your organisation grow and prosper.
