so as troy mentioned i'm kevin hall a senior principal product success manager for the employee workflows products at servicenow and i'm really excited to be here this morning to talk about hybrid work and employee readiness so during the next 20 or so minutes i'll go through some share some thoughts about employee productivity in a hybrid world employee engagement returning to the workplace and the result that everybody's looking for is continued effective mission delivery so as everybody knows and it's a little bit trite at this point but still very true the impact of the last couple years has definitely changed the way we work it showed change can happen rapidly and without warning and the effects have prompted increased interest in using telework and remote work as important tools for safely and efficiently delivering mission critical services in the public and private sectors during emergencies so as we've all learned it's critical to be able to adapt and rise to the challenge to ensure employees remain engaged and productive whether they're working from home on site or on the road or some combination thereof creating awesome employee experiences helps keep your workforce loyal and motivated and then looking ahead as restrictions lift and more people come back to the workplace there needs to be more organization around how people return and this can include preparing the workplace by configuring socially distanced workspaces automating daily cleaning tasks providing self-service space reservations and verifying health and vaccine status and more and then last but not least is agencies need insight into the employees readiness to effectively deliver on the mission whether they're in the office or at home and validate their health safety and well-being for a variety of reasons [Music] so first we'll talk a little bit about employee productivity in a hybrid world a good employee experience results in a stable engaged and high performing workforce one analysis revealed that organizations that can create a positive employee experience are almost two and a half times more likely to delight their customers whether they're internal or external more than four times likely to be innovative and five times more likely to retain employees which is important to everybody in this competition for talent in creating speaking of talent creating a positive employee experience requires an integrated talent management strategy not just a series of separate disconnected tactics it also means collecting data to monitor the employee experience it's critical to measure this employee engagement to understand whether employees are having a positive experience and what to focus on to create this experience the most comprehensive effective and efficient way to measure the employee experience and therefore employee engagement is by surveying employees through a regular cadence of surveys the organization asks every employee to provide feedback on their experience thus identifying workplace factors that may be barriers to high performing and highly engaged workforce and it's important to do this um in a structured manner obviously but throughout the year to gauge the pulse of your employees not just for example using the federal employee viewpoint survey so this is how you can capture employees expressing concerns about factors such as recognition everybody wants to be valued for the work that they do change management needs training learning and development needs how well are your employees connected to the mission how effective is the agency's communication are is the workforce adequately resourced equity inclusion pay and work life balance but every organization is different and needs to have base decisions including how to improve the employee experience on this data received through employee feedback guessing or relying on social events for example let's have a virtual happy hour or more comment let's have a real happy hour no longer cut it in an environment of increasingly intense competition for talent instead our research and work with organizations across the country has revealed attracting and retaining talent hinges on factors that include making employee engagement a strategic priority providing strong but empathetic leadership commuting communicating frequently and candidly ensuring that the work itself is rewarding and links to the mission which provides and providing relevant training and development opportunities as well as recognition and valuing employees so tech can definitely help with this uh flexibility in this new hybrid world things such as innovative digital workflows designed specifically for this new world of work make it possible for employees to move seamlessly between their office home and anywhere else they decide to work think of services that provide a secure way to store your data and access it anywhere as well as employee applications to onboard communicate with each other and manage workflows not only will this technology help connect people from anywhere it's also critical for creating positive and productive in-office experiences it helps employees reserve desks reserve meeting spaces track health screenings and making people feel safe and comfortable as they return to the workplace technology itself can't be though the hero of the story when this new technology truly achieves its purpose it'll fade into the background and become what i like to call table stakes and just sort of infrastructure this helps leadership teams and their efforts to put people first they'll implement systems to help their employees focus on meaningful work as well as their personal well-being it also gives employees time to work on skill development and as business models evolve businesses and agencies turn to technology to drive efficiency and expand capabilities by eliminating task work and refocusing efforts on strategic growth initiatives so for example in the world of human resources that i come from we want to automate the routine tasks freeing up hr specialists to be more strategic consultants with their customers to accelerate performance employers need to provide opportunities for employees to develop new skills or embark on new career trajectories with more opportunity for growth it'd rather retain talent inside your agency than lose it to another agency for lack of opportunity additionally employees also rely on helpful technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify workers with the right skills in unique places such as pools of former applicants who previously applied for other roles the pandemic also forced changes to the workplace in general many employees learn how to perform the functions of their job in a new way during a difficult time meeting the challenges head-on agencies went through extraordinary effort to demonstrate that they've been able to carry out their missions effectively and accordingly agencies now have an opportunity to revisit how they are operating prior to the work prior to the pandemic excuse me and leverage lessons learned during the pandemic to integrate telework and remote work into their strategic workforce plans as we look to the future as i'm sure you heard from the opm director this morning opm is encouraging agencies to strategically leverage workplace flexibilities such as telework remote work and alternative flexible work schedules so what does that mean that means the way that people work has changed even as restrictions lift and more people come back to the workplace there needs to be more organization around him how they return employees need the flexibility now to get tests done wherever they are on any device and products such as servicenow's workplace service delivery support this new hybrid workforce and offers the tools needed to manage that chaos it include it includes things like preparing the workplace by configuring workspaces automating daily cleaning tasks self-service space reservations verifying employees health status gaining insights into readiness all while continuing monitoring and improving the workplace readiness with a comprehensive view and dashboards now moving on to employee engagement where people and purpose drive culture workers who feel strongly connected to their employer are much more likely to be fully engaged than those who don't feel connected especially amid the current great resignation it makes sense that employers will need to heighten their focus on their people and reflect on the larger purpose that unites their workforce amidst all the change one common thread has only grown strong people power and performance it provides human resource management software and services and diversity equity and inclusion tools to engage to make sure that people power and performance is maximized sport empower your employees agencies are rooting decision making in data and starting to leverage those insights to better understand employees needs and what drives their productivity this increased visibility is fostering a stronger sense of connection and paving the way for greater growth and innovation ahead so it's not uncommon for agencies to find themselves implementing rules to police and manage risks for non-compliance while unintentionally shifting contribution and innovation from others it's an old script that hybrid working has flipped but the majority of workers want to show up to work each day and do meaningful work it's up to leaders to lay the right foundation to make that happen the post-pandemic workplace requires a unified experience across all functions from i t to hr facilities to legal and the hundreds of connecting processes in between it means accommodating contractors and partners with the same level of support and focus digital workflows are the not so secret sauce in hybrid models seamlessly blending virtual and physical interaction to deliver brilliant experiences employees should be able to access information systems and support from anywhere at home on the go or in the workplace have revealed new road maps to reopening including guidance for employees returning to the office however the onus is on them to keep their people safe workers are counting on their employers to put the necessary tools and workflows in place to mitigate the risk of covid transmission data-driven contract tracing is a real-time view of workplace readiness and maybe a prerequisite for many openings many companies and agencies are already using servicenow say safe workplace applications and workplace service delivery to reopen offices worldwide as servicenow's eric swift recently said in the future workplace apps will become widespread to manage flexible working these will include features like interactive maps so people can navigate around any worksite or office they visit and the ability to let colleagues know what days they'll be in and what this desk that'll sit at so it's easier for teams to come together keeping employees engaged and productive has never been more important to create a connected and engaging employee experience whether at home on site or on the road creating awesome employee experiences helps keep workforce loyal and motivated it's often confusing for employees to know where to get help and that confusion costs time and money agencies should want to free up skilled agents so they can focus on complex requests and add value where it matters most and to achieve that you need your employees to self-serve for high-volume simple requests with employee workflows every act should be quicker easier and more efficient for everyone involved you want to be able to accomplish things like employees getting answers to questions making requests and getting broken things fixed across your enterprise without having to engage an agent you want to deliver the services where to the employees where they are whether that's in the office at home on the browser on a mobile device through a virtual agent or an application and finally you want to make sure that everybody has a delightful service experience both the people who need the help and the agents servicing them [Music] to the workplace i think i think that the in the near future the workplace is going to be a destination the transformation of work from a place you have to go to something you do is fundamentally reshaping the role and as organizations imagine their workspaces for so-called knowledge workers closer collaboration and true human connection will trump cost and control further as employers transform their spaces to fit this new hybrid model of work leaders will start to think not only about the people but also the places where they're working and how to seamlessly merge the two together many people won't be going into an office by default but for specific reasons in other words as a destination whether it's for an all-staff meeting to work collaboratively collaboratively on a project or to socialize with co-workers yes that's a thing the time spent in office will be designed for making the most of these valuable moments that matter many agencies are also testing out more permanent telework and remote work programs arrangements where employees might only come into the office on occasion the current administration sees telework and remote work as a way to expand the talent pipeline and eventually cut back on the government's real estate footprint but those remote or hybrid work assignments may also open up new professional development and training opportunities for employees also with events being virtual there's much more access for people than ever uh than has ever been possible before think about conferences and internal training offerings such as today it's easy to add people to teams meeting or zoom meeting to participate and get the benefits of keynote speakers or classroom materials conferences that otherwise would have entailed quite a bit of travel money and time to take people on the road can now be delivered virtually and this can further be extrapolated to broader learning and development opportunities for your employees now let's talk a little bit about safely reopening the workplace companies and agencies will eventually reopen their offices in earnest albeit in a different way than before since the fundamental role of the office is evolving the workplace may no longer be the default location where most employees go every day instead as i mentioned it's becoming a destination for collaboration and brainstorming as well as key meetings employees want access to the workplace for this purpose but only if the experience doesn't add more hassle stress and frustration to what they're receiving today they're making decisions about where and how they work based on personal comfort levels and needs so there's five stages to safely reopening the workplace the first stage is where most employees are remote and this is where surveys really come into play you can ask your employees to evaluate readiness to return to the workplace agency leaders can assess the current health status of their workforce status and opinions from other stakeholders assess the employees perspective about returning in the workplace and decide to move to the next stage which is preparing to return in this stage agencies will execute their workplace safety management plans to ensure clean socially distant workspaces are available employee arrivals and or shifts are coordinated and the workplace is as safe as it can be when it's ready to reopen next step is for employees to begin entering the workspace and it's important to provide a capability for employees to screen and document their current health status as well as have the appropriate agency provided ppe available and also give the employees the ability to reserve a workspace finally once the work workforce is back in the office to the extent that it makes sense for an agency agencies can also provide tools if they want to to assist with contact tracing and capture health and safety screening and testing so for example at servicenow we use our own technology for exactly this uh the scenarios that we're describing here um oh finally stage five is employee travel safety uh agencies may want to capture travel approval in a workflow prior to letting employees out on temporary duty remote workplace visits and things like that this helps ensure the employees healthy to travel and that the remote workspace has the appropriate safety measures in place so as i started mentioning at servicenow we use our own products for exactly these reasons for the workforce that is working from home which depending on location maybe everybody at that location or in my case i'm a remote worker with only occasional travel into the office we use our own products to check in to make a reservation for a workspace we provide our vaccination status and we also get travel approval prior to making any travel reservations so we've got an integration with our travel agent and if the travel approval code isn't sent over to the travel agent for your trip you're not allowed to book your travel and that causes delays and frustration so uh it's it's really a great and seamless experience so i think in the next couple of months i'm going out to headquarters so the same thing is i'll request travel approval i'll get that approval i'll go in i'll make my reservations and then the day before the meeting i'll go in and reserve my workspace i'll get a qr code on the servicenow mobile app and then when i check in at security in the building they'll scan my qr code they'll scan my badge and off i go to my reserve workspace so that's kind of a sort of a segue into the next one which is simplifying the employee experience and so there's additional capabilities that can be used to simplify the experience and work flexibilities so some of the things i just alluded to in our own process um is things like booking cross-office events so as an office workspace becomes an event center for company meetings town halls cross-departmental collaboration um group reservation capabilities as i mentioned make it easy to book rooms and desks on behalf of team members or as a team member create reservations for workspaces or conference rooms across multiple locations and things like that that leads to working together easily with employees prioritizing in-person workdays for events and team meetings the ability to find and book spaces near team members and key colleagues is important proximity-based reservation capabilities make it easy to reserve nest desks near your colleagues and employees can also share reservation itineraries with their colleagues allowing them to browse and book spaces with uh in proximity to where their colleague is located we also can navigate the office with ease by loading a map of the office space into the application so it's uh i mentioned going to headquarters it was the first time i'd been there i had no idea where it was but being able to open up the map in the application and do sort of a pre-walk through of where i was going made it much easier to navigate the cubicle farm and confusing rabbit warren that is our office out in california uh and then finally streamlizing the reservation process so managing multiple calendars is a job in and of itself and that experience can be streamlined by use of products such as servicenow's workplace service delivery to create reservations and seamlessly add them to an employee's outlook calendar so you don't have to make your reservation get an email and copy and paste that email and your calendar will deliver you the uh the calendar reservation that you just accept so now we're moving on to what's everybody really after and everybody is really after ensuring continued effective mission delivery so as you've heard or will hear later this morning or both the shifting workplace during the past two years has impacted mission delivery but arguably in a positive manner there are numerous examples where agencies have carried out their missions effectively and federal employees continue to perform their jobs at the highest level from locations other than their regular duty station apart from their managers supervisors and colleagues federal employees demonstrated their resiliency whether continuing to report to their workplace to carry out the mission or adapting with no notice to a maximum telework environment as a result agencies now have an opportunity to revisit how they're operating prior to the pandemic and leverage these lessons learned to integrate telework and remote work into their strategic workforce plans as opm's laid out workfor workplace flexibility is a critical component of this success the experience makes clear that when implemented correctly flexible workspaces help us all deliver on our mission and as we look to the future opm encourages agencies to strategic leverage workplace flexibility such as telework to help attract recruit and retain the best possible federal workforce as well as leverage telework as a way to ensure greater resiliency and emergency preparedness throughout the federal government so now we're in the home stretch and i know that i'm pretty much the last thing between a break so we'll wrap this up and hopefully have a little time for q a um the effects of the last couple years have prompted significant interest nationwide in using telework and remote work as an important tools for safely and efficiently delivering mission critical services to the public and private sectors at all times during the pandemic federal employees demonstrated resiliency whether continuing to report to workplace and executing the mission and employees were able to at least as effectively and in many cases more effectively perform their work as a result agencies now have an opportunity and it's almost incumbent on agencies to revisit their new workforce planning process and really figure out how to best integrate telework remote work and the hybrid workforce into their workforce plans wrapping wrapping things up with the increased emphasis from the administration on the customer experience i thought this quote from richard branson would be a great way to wrap it up and assuming clients and customers are synonymous which they are if you have an engaged and productive workforce the resulting customer experience will be amazing so thank you very much for your time this morning enjoy the remainder of the conference and troy if we have uh time and if we have questions um we we do have a couple but uh we are well over time and i'm i'm sensitive to where we need to keep our other speakers on track so i'm gonna have to steer the questions into the chat room uh but raised a lot of goods good questions and good topics about the the data to track and the services to provide and we very much appreciate that um so thank you very much for joining us today awesome thank you troy