The COVID pandemic upended people’s lives all around the world and significantly impacted the way people learn, work, communicate, and live. It resulted in one of the most drastic and rapid structural changes in our businesses and workplaces and the overall workforce of the general population. We saw in real-time the migration of the traditional operations of working onsite in an office building transition to working remotely from home. In today’s post-pandemic world, a majority of the workforce has elected to continue to work primarily from home and not to return to the traditional corporate structure of office work life. While others have opted for the option of a hybrid remote work life where they balance their work time partially at home and in the office. These changes have become the new normal, compelling the business world to progress from digitizing the firm-customer interaction to digitizing the employer-employee relationship.

Many companies have conformed and innovated their operations to match this new work environment and quickly adjusted through automation and digitalization. The companies that have not been able to jump on this new bandwagon of innovation in the workplace are experiencing diminishing results in the form of disengaged employees and a high turnover rate. In this post-pandemic era now is the time for companies who have not transitioned through innovation into this new structure of business to adjust, change and embrace innovation. To stay competitive and protect their bottom line in the unforeseen future this article lays out a plan to urge businesses to promote innovation in their environment.

THE IMPORTANCE OF INNOVATION

Business owners and executives should ask themselves, “what would be fulfilling and engaging for an employee, filling an excel spreadsheet with monotonous data or developing innovative and exciting ideas for work and projects,” and the answer they would most likely arrive at is that driven employee would much prefer a position where they may feel more involved and have a feeling of purpose than just doing monotonous and tedious work. With that in mind, they can now set out a plan to adopt and adapt to new innovation to create a digital workforce which will, in turn, boost employee engagement, employee retention, and employee productivity.

We have listed below the benefits of innovation in the workplace:

• Innovation provides unending opportunities for advancement

• Innovation attracts top skills and talents

• Innovation promotes creativity among the team

• Innovation enhances the value of the business

• Innovation attracts and retains loyal customers and employees

• Innovation promotes employee engagement, retention, and productivity

• Innovation improves business security

An investment in innovation in the workplace will not only yield benefits that bring growth and opportunity to the company’s bottom line but will also create a work environment where there is lesser attrition of employees.

 ADAPTING AND ENCOURAGING INNOVATION

Integrating innovation in workplace practices, operations, and other business practices to aid in the continual adjustment to this new post-pandemic world is the only way for companies to survive. It is the way of the future, and companies that are willing to foster innovation to invest in their employees and create workplace environments no matter how difficult the transition will reap the benefits in this new world of business. No matter the industry, unleashing the innovative potential of employees and of an organization requires a carefully calibrated combination of innovative management approaches, shared values, strategy, and resources. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to driving innovation because it varies from company to company, workplace culture, abilities, and skills of your workforce.

We have listed below helpful tips to foster and cultivate innovation skills in an organization:

1. Leadership and Management

How many times have we not heard said “everything begins with the leader,” and “everything starts from the head,” leaders have the crucial role in providing the right environment for innovation to either succeed or fail. A leader’s expertise, intelligence, and creativity will provide a clear and compelling direction for their employees. Leaders should use these characteristics to inspire their teams to think about innovation daily. They hold the key to unlocking the door to their employee’s creativity and innovation.

2. Innovation as a Core Value

Innovation starts from within the culture of an organization. Restructuring a company’s core values to take more significant risks in the face of change means employees are instilled with a core value of fearlessness. By making innovation a core value employees are trained and instilled with the value that not trying something new is often the most significant risk. Challenge employees to think outside the box and strive for a continuous improvement mindset.

3. Give employees the power to innovate

Create a space for employees to brainstorm, share and discuss original ideas. A company can implement a forum or marketing medium that brings employees’ ideas together and encourages employees to collaborate and openly discuss methods to improve the company which will, in turn, build deeper loyalty to the company. This will also motivate employees to adapt to the dynamic of change, give different perspectives, and explore opportunities and plans for future innovations in the company. It will foster new perspectives and contribute to the creative transformation of the organization.

4. Allow employees the freedom to fail

Allowing innovators to pursue their ideas is one way to encourage innovation. This includes the freedom to fail. It entails giving people the confidence to take risks, venture beyond what is comfortable, and actively learn from what did not work to improve on it. Innovation flourishes when failure is embraced and accepted.

5. Reinforcement to Innovators

Reinforcement motivates employees to work harder and make greater achievements. Rewarding innovative thinking provides a great incentive for open communication and will motivate employees’ creative juices to flow. Employers should create a work environment that encourages employees in developing themselves, learn new skills, and becoming masters of their profession. The effect of this type of investment in the employees will increase employee engagement which will contribute to a more innovative and positive workplace environment.

CONCLUSION

In business today, undertaking and implementing new innovations is the future. To be prepared and ready to participate in the inevitable “boom” in our economy in the coming years it is imperative for any company positioned for growth to incorporate a combination of innovative practices in their business model. Innovation is a risky business because it involves a lot of experimentation and adaptation, which can lead to either great success or failure which can lead to losses to a company. However, as the old adage goes “no pain no gain,” in the same way many profitable companies who are successful today is because they took high risks. Innovation is necessary for every industry to stay relevant in the market. It is imperative for success in the finance industry and the achievement of economic growth.

With HWA Alliance of CPA Firms, we can partner with you on different Employee Benefit Plan audits to support your company and employer-employee relationship as you invest in innovative practices to promote innovation in the work environment to stay competitive, and protect your bottom line. Contact us here.

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