A new report by leading intranet provider HUB reveals that 63% of business leaders are prioritising team engagement in 2024 due to the challenges of post-COVID working practices.

The ‘Brave New World of Work & Comms’ report will be published in March, providing a range of insights on where businesses find themselves two years on from COVID.

Just 8% of desk based professionals in the office 5 days a week

80% of businesses surveyed in the report confirm that staff working practices have permanently changed since COVID in favour of more Work From Home (WFH), with just 8% of desk based professionals required to attend the office 5 days a week.

“It’s a seismic shift, a revolution,” says Simon Fenn, Director at HUB. “And while the surface analysis suggests that things are pretty good and companies have done well to adapt, scratch deeper and you can see red flags emerging for business leaders.”

Over half of business leaders voicing concerns about collaboration

Fenn continues, “WFH has clearly had productivity and work-life balance benefits for many desk-based professions, but these upsides are coming at the expense of team connection and innovation. This is combining with internal efficiency issues that have dogged corporates for years.”

The ‘Brave New World’ report indicates that over half of business leaders are now voicing concerns about internal collaboration, with operational innovation also an issue for some.

On top of this, there are worries about team connection, colleagues’ sense of belonging and personal development. 40% cite challenges with the latter.

Team engagement and collaboration the top priorities

“Two years on from COVID, it looks like the boardroom view on remote working has evolved, and continues to evolve” says Fenn.

“There’s definitely an awareness of the cultural and operational downsides of WFH, and the negative commercial implications of these if not addressed. Action is required, and many leaders seem to be mobilising. It’s why we see team engagement and better collaboration as the top priorities in 2024.”

Evidence of changes in communications

The Brave New World report indicates that new channels of communication have been embraced and established tools reimagined. It identifies a 23% uplift in social platform usage since COVID, with intranets also experiencing a resurgence. Over 60% of businesses are planning high to medium use of intranets in 2024, up 17% from pre-COVID times.

Fenn concludes, “the uptick in intranet usage ties in with our experience as an intranet provider. We’ve seen demand for our HUB product treble over the past 4 years.”

For a free copy of the full report, visit https://hub.pancentric.com/brave-new-world-report-mim

HUB Intranet – A Market-Leading Solution 

HUB is a market-leading intranet solution ranked top 3 in the UK and top 10 internationally by software review site G2. The platform has multiple industry awards including Best Customer Service 2024 by Gartner’s Software Advice review platform. HUB supports SMEs and Enterprises in over 50 countries globally and is on a mission to help businesses of all sizes unlock the full potential of their people and resources through improved access to modern intranet technology. HUB prides itself on speed of set-up, best-in-market service and an all-inclusive licensing model underpinned with peace of mind information security credentials (ISO 27001).

Leading the Green Agenda

HUB is the first and only sustainability driven intranet vendor, utilising low carbon servers and supporting community-based reforestation projects.  HUB plants 50 trees every time a new client joins the platform, and a further tree every year they remain with the platform. Trees are planted in partnership with reforestation partner, One Tree Planted, with a focus on supporting communities directly impacted by climate-change. For information, go to hub-intranet.com/a-greener-intranet

HUB. The Power of Together.
For more information about HUB, visit www.hub-intranet.com.

HUB is owned by award-winning consultancy and software house, Pancentric Digital. Pancentric was established in 2003 and provides digital transformation services and a portfolio of specialist software products to leading brands and SMEs across the world.