Does the Best Talent Require the Best Tech?

by CoSo

June 13, 2016

When organizations consider the benefits of enterprise tech, they undoubtedly focus on how that tech delivers value for the business. But, it is increasingly being suggested that organizations should also consider how enterprise tech might aid in the attraction and retention of top-level talent.

Even as far back as 2014, on the website for the Association for Talent Development, Justin Mass, head of Digital Learning Innovation at Adobe, muses, “An increasingly young, digitally savvy workforce with an appetite for rich experiences wants to be engaged in ways that evoke their senses and emotions.” And it’s fitting that he focuses on the orientation experience as it’s often the very first chance an organization gets at showing new hires just how committed they are to providing them with innovative technologies. As Mass continues, workers want to “validate that they’ve made the best career decision by joining the best team.”

This demonstrated a commitment to providing workers with cutting-edge tech does more than prove to workers that an organization is successful, hip, and eager to support them in driving both the business and their own professional careers. It can provide greater job satisfaction. As this latest Adobe survey shows, a surprisingly large percentage of workers are saying their job satisfaction depends on workplace tech more than all other perks.

From what we’ve seen, when the technology employees use helps them connect with others to collaborate, produce and thrive as a team, that professional satisfaction underpins a kind of fulfillment that resonates at a much deeper, personal level. It’s this personal fulfillment that can’t be underestimated in its power over whether a worker stays or goes.

In fact, technology can entwine itself with humans on so many personal levels. For years, organizations have been letting their workers bring their personal home-bought technologies to work not only because they’re effective tools, but because there’s an undeniable special bond there that isn’t worth breaking. This interesting article by Eric Krapf even suggests that Millennials prefer having desk phones, because to them—contrary to what you might expect—physical hardware set in a fixed location represents greater job stability.

So consider this while you’re mulling over your next purchase. Will your next IT purchase capture the heart and soul of your workers? Will it provide the immersive, digital orientation experience of Adobe Connect? Will it foster an environment that encourages valuable relationship-building that benefits both enterprise and talent?

If your enterprise and talent are to remain together, it might have to.