5 challenges in the digital workplace (and how to fix them for better employee experience)

Meet global company A. They span time zones and countries. Their teams are remote, hybrid or in the office, and their employees work in varying environments, like corporate headquarters, retail locations and in the field.

They’re in the same situation as many global organizations trying to create a consistent employee experience.

That’s why your digital workplace employee experience strategy is essential. How each team or department interacts within your digital landscape (e.g., intranet) informs your company culture, no matter where that team’s located.

Why teams need a strategy for digital workplace employee experience 

Digital platforms shape daily employee engagement. It’s the tech stack your teams use for communication, productivity or HR benefits. It’s the processes you build using onboarding technology, training tools and resources. Basically, everything you offer to help employees succeed.

It’s a deskless employee clocking in for a manufacturing plant shift or a corporate team member accessing new training and development courses. It’s when a manager sends a shoutout through a recognition platform. This seamless process is what makes your employees feel seen, heard and part of the team.

​Your digital workplace is just as much of an extension of your brand and employee experience as your in-person culture. When employees feel left out or lost in your digital workplace, it leads to frustration and dissatisfaction. It decreases employee engagement, performance and can spread to team morale.

That digital employee experience (DEX) doesn’t just happen. For success, organizations need best practices, regular employee surveys and leadership buy-in.

Team members need to be able to rely on a DEX that supports their needs, growth and performance. Let’s take a look at common challenges many digital workplaces experience and how to fix them.

Challenge 1: Too many digital tools and platforms 

Employees are inundated with software promising to make work easier, from messaging apps and shared drives to project management services. On top of that, there’s pressure to quickly adopt emerging AI tools, often without training.

It’s overwhelming. When teams juggle multiple apps, information doesn’t align. Employees get confused. Teams get siloed. If this is happening, you need to streamline your tech stack.

​Just as your organization unites around its core values, your team members should be engaged and unified through the same digital workspace. Streamlining your technology creates a single source of truth for everyone. If an employee or a leader has a question, they should know where to go.

Create a reliable digital workplace employee experience

• Audit your applications: Often, one team is using a different tool for similar needs, such as Asana or Trello. Train managers and leaders to adopt and use the same tool to oversee projects. It saves your organization money on subscription costs and makes cross-team collaboration easier.
• Integrate platforms: Enable platforms to share data and connect asynchronous teams aligned on work and experience. For example, organizations that use Slack or Microsoft Teams can integrate ITA Group’s Cooleaf ​recognition and rewards platform, making it easier to issue or receive recognitions or participate in online challenges in the flow of their day-to-day activity.
• Provide clear usage guidelines: Onboarding and proper usage keep teams focused on essential tasks or appropriate communication. It builds a consistent digital experience that helps people feel secure to bring their whole selves to their work.

Challenge 2: Communication gaps for different employee setups

A shared space, such as a Microsoft Teams channel or a Slack main feed, can act as a virtual watercooler, especially for remote or hybrid employees to connect with corporate or in-house teams. Employees see recognitions sent to peers. Leaders deploy announcements. Team members have a go-to place to check in on news and company updates.

While having the tool is great, how you communicate and build engagement matters. Employees need consistent, relevant messaging and meaningful opportunities for engagement. For example, you wouldn’t message a satellite office about an event at corporate headquarters. This would create a fear of missing out. You also wouldn’t host an online happy hour with deskless team members who are spread over different shifts.

Start by surveying your diverse employee groups. Reviewing results will help you better understand each population's needs and challenges, so you can create a strategy to meaningfully address them. Start with segmenting communication that’s relevant to different groups and review tech integrations for accessibility on mobile and desktop.

How this B2C brand surveyed its corporate and manufacturing teams to align its communication strategy

Kid-friendly juice brand Good2Grow successfully rolled out ITA Group’s Cooleaf ​recognition ​and rewards platform with its corporate office. The next step was to launch the Cooleaf mobile app with their manufacturing plant employees. Good2Grow worked with ITA Group’s employee experience experts and found they needed a hands-on approach to drive adoption and generate buzz for the new resource.​

On-site ITA Group team members helped as many deskless employees as possible across shifts download and onboard. As a result, Good2Grow saw 67% adoption, double the amount they’ve seen in the past compared to similar programs.

Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to communicating or engaging with an organization. Surveying and segmenting audiences helps your team understand the best way to reach out. For Good2Grow, it created a unique opportunity to engage with plant workers and help them feel seen and heard in the company culture.

Related: Deskless workers quickly adopt engagement platform

Challenge 3: Declining recognition and visibility

A digital space gives your organization a level playing field to build employee engagement for everyone, everywhere. They can recognize or connect with a peer or leader because everyone has access. That should be enough, right?

​Digital workplaces require intentional practice. You want to make sure remote and hybrid team members feel up to date with information and team wins.

​Bring intention into your digital space by setting team members up for success on day one. Onboard your in-house, remote and deskless employees into the digital space. Walk them through how team members use different channels, send an early recognition and task them to recognize a team member or join an online event.

​In an employee’s first 30 days, use your recognition and rewards platform to send a welcome gift, such as branded swag. Be sure to set an early milestone award, like their first-year work anniversary, to keep them engaged with your platform. While working with a global pet retailer, recognition sent during retail associates’ first 30 days resulted in 17% higher retention over the first six months.

Digital and in-person engagement strategies are similar but not the same

​Your digital workplace and in-person employee experiences are united by core values and your mission, but differ in priorities or needs. Keep a balanced approach by offering an equitable online opportunity when you host that in-person event. 

For instance, an in-office lunch-and-learn incentivizes office employees with free food to sign up for a training session. ​​It’s a break from a typical work day and people can focus by learning together. For remote teams, send a restaurant gift card to cover lunch and host several training sessions online to give employees working in different shifts or time zones an opportunity to connect and learn together during working hours, too. 

Build engagement and culture with parity 

• Review your digital workplaces weekly: Share platform-based news at the start of an in-person meeting or send out a weekly digest summarizing top recognitions.
• Host in-person and online coffee chats: Encourage leaders and senior team members to host open hours or mentorship sessions both online and at the office. 
• Challenge managers to recognize team members: Leaders often set the example. Start a friendly competition to encourage managers to send recognition that aligns with core values. 
• Give your team a mascot: On ITA Group’s Cooleaf ​recognition​​ platform, announcements come from our digital office ​​​​​​cat, Tots, an inside joke that became part of the digital experience.

Related: Culture of employee recognition supports retention​

Challenge 4: Maintaining culture across digital environments 

When employee experience moves online, ​there’s less opportunity for those organic moments where employees chat in the elevator or in the breakroom. When people engage online, they’re more likely to focus on work rather than connection. Over time, that limited interaction creates inconsistent experiences and a lack of belonging for remote employees. 

Build shared team experiences online through virtual engagement initiatives to develop community. Create a content calendar of scheduled communications. Include relevant holidays, observances or activities throughout the year, like promoting a month-long well-being or recognition challenge.

Virtual events and challenges are a great way to build a sense of community, no matter where a team member is located. We’ve helped different dispersed teams host online step challenges through the Cooleaf engagement platform. Steps sync to Fitbit or Apple Health, and team members send selfies as they walk with the family or a coworker during a lunch break.

Get creative. Use AI tools to create prompts or questions to get the conversation going in your digital workplace. It can be anything, asking team members to share their favorite kitchen hack or win of the week. Employees can respond as they learn about each other.​

Give variety when communicating or hosting activities 

“We believe you've got to be a variety of things to many people,” President and CEO of ITA Group Brent Vander Waal said on the “Love your people” podcast. “You never know when people are going to be looking and watching and paying attention.” 

​Core values bring teams together. Teams can use multiple ways to explore core values together online. Using a recognition tool like Cooleaf, create core-value based recognitions and awards so team members know to give a shoutout when they see a value in action. Host a month-long recognition challenge to encourage teams to recognize with a different core value each week. Post a video message from the CEO or a leader talking about the meaning of the core values when it comes to decision-making.

​We’re all different learners. Offering a variety helps people engage and find what speaks to them. Keep options open and try different things. Take note of what’s working and build on it.​

Challenge 5: Low engagement

When a strategy or a platform first launches, the newness and excitement engage team members. But over time, you might see participation plateau or even dip a little.

​It’s important to regularly visit your digital workplace experience metrics. You can evaluate success by looking at engagement scores, platform participation, recognitions or retention and productivity each month or quarter.

​HR teams using tools like ITA Group’s Cooleaf engagement platform can access engagement metrics in a separate dashboard. It helps teams compare employee engagement across their digital population to their in-person employees. ITA Group employee engagement experts also host quarterly business reviews with our partners to review dashboards and find opportunities to drive engagement goals.

Strengthen digital workplace employee experience with ITA Group

Digital environments shape the everyday employee experience, so bring a meaningful, metrics-based strategy.

​Help employees, online and in person, find a balance that works for them. Streamline your digital approach and ensure key platforms are accessible on mobile and desktop for deskless and office team members. Help people feel seen through segmented communication and surveying.

​Break the ice with discussion prompts, online and in-person activities, and video communication from leadership. You never know what will resonate with someone, so offering a variety gives employees the opportunity to find the resources they need.​

If you’re looking to create a comprehensive approach for your workplace culture, start with ITA Group’s “Ultimate guide to aligning employee experience.” You’ll find practical steps to get started.