What Should Stay and What Should Go in Your Workplace?

As technology and change accelerate, their effect on the workplace can't be overstated. Changes that once took years now take months, and a wise manager stays on top of them if she wants to thrive. Take a look at some of these current workplace trends to help you decide which policies and practices should stay in your workplace and when it's time to let others go.

What Should Stay: Employee Engagement

Employee empowerment is key to making a business thrive in the new workplace environment. When you empower your employees to make decisions and direct projects, they're more likely to go above and beyond, pitch in to help co-workers, and come up with innovations that ultimately make the whole company look good. Employee engagement is a key workplace trend, and it's well worth your time to come up with new ways to empower your crew.

What Should Stay: Remote Work

Tech changes in the workplace make it increasingly possible for your employees to work from home or on the road with no lag in your deliverables or deadlines. This workplace trend makes it possible for employees to create a true work-life balance, but it means you as a manager must develop new levels of trust with your staff and find new ways to manage them to maintain the levels of productivity you expect. Keep an eye on that work-life balance as well, and make sure you don't treat employees as always on call just because they're not in the office.

What Should Go: Performance Reviews

With this workplace trend of becoming more flexible, the days of the once-a-year performance review seem to be numbered. It's OK to sit an employee down once a year to discuss his performance when you see his work day in and day out, but when an employee works remotely, you may want to develop a more fluid review system that focuses on continuous employee development and treats performance as part of an ongoing conversation.

What Should Go: Trust in Your Old Tech Security

When your workplace tech was all solidly within your own four walls and relied on physical connections, security was infinitely easier than it is today. With the current workplace trend of working via mobile devices and relying on cloud and other non-physical connections, your tech security could be at risk without your awareness. Hackers can steal sensitive information that can affect both your proprietary systems and processes and your relationships with your customers. Be prepared to update your security protocols regularly and often to stay safe.

Changes in the workplace may seem to happen at the speed of light. However, by keeping up with workplace trends in the areas of technology and employee engagement, you can keep your own business up to speed. Pay attention to what's going on when deciding what should stay and what should go in your own workplace.

Photo courtesy of David at Flickr.com