Pictured: Michel van den Berg, Vice President and General Manager, EMEIA, Jamf
According to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management, 63% of employees now believe the office to be unnecessary. In today’s flexible-working world, it is more important than ever to attract and retain talent while ensuring the company and customer data remains secure – particularly as we evolve to a majority mobile workforce. However, when an enterprise’s employees, devices and networks are no longer centrally located and managed, the importance of hardware, software and technology stack become more crucial to its overall success, and it doesn’t end there.
With a vast majority of companies continuing to work remotely or hybrid, an employee’s work experience becomes linked to their technology experience. Choice now extends beyond when and where employees are working to the technology that they work with.
In a global study conducted by technology research firm, Vanson Bourne and commissioned by Jamf, the standard in Apple enterprise management solutions, 2,000 enterprise employees and 500 information technology decision-makers (ITDMs) from both private and public sectors were surveyed to discover the importance of employee device choice programmes and its impact on the future of work.
Key findings of the report reveal that 79% of UK respondents said choosing their own work device was of importance to them, so much so that 89% of respondents from the UK said they would be willing to sacrifice part of their salary for it.
It is no secret that offering employees a say in what technology they use to get work done is important, but there are also many other positive effects.
Benefits of employee choice and the new work experience
In a recent study by Microsoft, more than 40% of employees are thinking about leaving their job in 2021. To reduce that number, employers must find ways to remain appealing and keep employees engaged. The study brings further light to this as 70% of all respondents say they would be more likely to join a company, and 75% say they would be more likely to stay at a company, if they could choose their own devices.
By simply offering employees the ability to choose which computer hardware or mobile devices they want, enterprises can increase their chances of hiring the best talent and provide positive experiences that can influence their well-being. In fact, 91% of respondents report several benefits of having an employee-choice programme with the top three reasons being increased productivity, positivity, and feeling more valued.
Offering Apple as a way to prepare for the future of work
When asked how employees will choose to work in 2022, 62% of respondents say they will work both at home and in the office with nearly half (47%) anticipating continuing to do so through 2025. With many employees owning a hybrid work schedule, equipping them with the right devices, security and ways to manage their devices becomes a top priority for employers.
More organisations are turning to Apple. With plenty of built-in security, fantastic native enterprise apps and hardware that employees love and are familiar with using, 55% of ITDMs reported fewer issues managing Apple compared to non-Apple devices. This research also found that 58% of ITDMs report Apple devices to be easier to secure, compared to 42% of ITDMs about non-Apple devices. IT administrative tasks like configuring, provisioning, securing and deploying large fleets of Apple devices, over the air, is made simple with the support of a niche Enterprise Management Platform that provides a holistic view of each device and app.
Enterprises that wish to avoid the talent churn post-pandemic now need to consider making the switch to devices, like Apple, to meet employee expectations and prepare for the new future of work.
