The workplace experience post COVID-19

For nearly a decade Poly has been studying workplace personas and how to match workstyles and employee behaviours to devices and technologies to increase productivity. This research has identified six distinct personas making up 92% of a typical enterprise.

  In January 2021, Poly completed its latest round of personas. The study surveyed more than 5,000 enterprise workers across eight different countries, revealing behaviour shifts that will likely have a long-term impact in working style. Poly’s research into workplace personas has created archetypes based on the behavioural traits found in typical enterprise business employees – but the modern workplace is continuously shifting, ushering in a new norm with a variety of changes and disruptions. As a result, workstyles and technology have evolved. Poly refreshes its research every few years, with the most data from 2020 highlighting how quickly the world has changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous versions of the study have observed an incremental, emerging trend that as communication platforms and devices proliferate, people are increasingly able to work from different locations. 2020 heralded a dramatic transformation in the global enterprise workforce.

Poly personas

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The office communicator

Comprising 13% of the typical workforce, the office communicator prefers a traditional workstyle and is most comfortable using familiar systems and devices, such as a desk phone.

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The office collaborator

Comprising 27% of the typical workforce, the office collaborator prefers an office-based workstyle but is highly collaborative and open to using new technologies.

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The remote collaborator

Comprising 15% of the typical workforce, the remote collaborator relies on multiple devices, unified communications, and technologies.

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The flexible worker

Comprising 20% of the typical workforce, the flexible worker is often remote or on-the-go, requiring communication across several devices that ensure they are always on and able to adapt.

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The road warrior

Comprising 5% of the typical workforce, the road warrior is always moving. Therefore, they need to travel light and rely on solutions that are portable and easy to use.

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The connected executive

Comprising 12% of the typical workforce, the connected executive is versatile in work styles and uses more communications tools than anyone else, requiring synchronisation across devices and technologies.

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The COVID-19 effect

— The instant shift to enterprise-wide homeworking as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 had a significant effect on office-based and flexible workers, and typically out on-the-road. The research found that work location will be more flexible in the future. The workforce was already starting to work more flexibly pre-COVID, and users expect the flexibility to continue post-COVID. It also found that home is the new office for many, but not everyone has a dedicated space to work or the right set of technology to be their most productive at home. Poly’s research shows that COVID-19 has led to a rapid growth of conference calls and video meetings. 42% of global workstyles reported daily use of video pre-COVID, increasing to 63% during the pandemic.

The opportunity

— Whilst some personas remain reluctant to use conferencing technology, they have been left with little choice. There is now an opportunity for organisations to embrace personal video technology in addition to video-enabled meeting rooms. The key to ensuring your new home-based workers remain productive at is selecting the right personal communications devices – including headsets and video cameras – to suit their persona at home. Poly have made this process easier by designing a range of solutions to suit every persona. Poly’s Voyager 6200 UC provides a discrete wearing style that connects to multiple devices. During calls only a single ear bud is needed allowing the other ear to be free to listen to the surroundings – ideal for listening for the front door. With optional ANC, surrounding noise can be reduced to maintain focus and productivity. For the private home office, the Sync 20 speakerphone provides professional conference call audio and connects to both a computer and mobile It can be difficult to stay focused when work and homelife collides. The Savi 8220 UC wireless headset offers long-range wireless of up to 590ft/180m, so you can manage the home whilst staying connected. ANC reduces background noise, to help you remain focused. The noise cancelling microphone keeps your voice clear, with close conversation limiting.

Why SCC and Poly? SCC and Poly are well-established partners, delivering award winning collaboration solutions. SCC was named Video Partner of the Year at the 2019 Poly Awards, recognised for its experience and expertise in helping customers achieve their full productivity potential through true end-to-end Poly solutions. SCC AVS is SCC’s specialist audio-visual business, providing solutions and services to many of the UK’s largest public and private sector organisations. From unified communications through data centre, to end user compute, SCC has the expertise experience to bring together top tier technologies, services, applications and devices to connect networks, organisations and their people anywhere, anytime.