Building a collaborative workplace: The Facebook way

Agile is the new normal! But how can companies and their processes become agile? Well, the engine is ‘Collaboration’. And collaboration in today’s digital world happens through collaborative tools. 

As fostering innovation, working across time zones and attracting the latest pool of talent to their business becomes important, using collaborative technology too becomes essential. While there are a plethora of collaborative tools available in the market today, it is often not easy to pick and choose the most relevant one. Even if businesses are able to purchase or in some cases build these solutions, they are not easy to deploy. The workforce is still getting used to such technological solutions and then there are some security challenges as well. 

Every organization is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all path to engagement. But teamwork, collaboration, and open communication are always key. For instance, making sure people in the company are always engaged and informed is not easy. To meet these challenges, employers need to find ways to support, recognize and provide feedback to employees, while employees themselves need to be able to collaborate as easily as possible.

Workplace by Facebook was launched in 2016  and announced in February of this year that it now has 2 million paying users, along with “millions” more using the free or Workplace for Good versions. Originally an internal only product used to allow teams to connect and work innovatively, the platform has since deployed to over 30,000 customers around the world.

But there are a few organizations who have been able to leverage collaborative tools to build agility and enhance the productivity of their workforce, and thus the entire organization. One such smart organization is Workplace by Facebook, which is also opening a new office in Malaysia on 29th May 2019. As the company expands, these collaborative solutions become more critical for them. 

Elaborating more on their plans in Malaysia and why Malaysian organizations are interested in changing the way they work, Ramesh Gopalkrishna, Head Of Sales - ASEAN & India, Facebook shares, “Two out of the top 5 companies to work for in Malaysia use Workplace by Facebook. Malaysia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is growing at 4.5 percent. We are seeing a lot of interest in Malaysia across verticals. We are talking to banks, insurance companies, retail customers, companies in oil and gas sector, etc. and we found common themes across all of them. We have been seeing that Malaysian companies want to be more competitive. They want to be ready for the digital disruption, so to speak. When we meet companies is Malaysia, they express that they want to transform their culture, become more agile, and they need better mechanisms to communicate with their employees, especially frontline ones. They need their leaders to be able to communicate with their people, get feedback, know what is happening on the ground and just use that to build a more agile organization.”

Over the years, the social-media giant has revolutionized the way people collaborate personally and professionally. And as it shall continue to do so, the question is what was the approach they took and how has it helped them? 

For example, Air Asia approached Workplace by Facebook because they realized that out of their 23,000 staff, most of them are outside the office or a plane. And the only way for them to stay in touch with what’s happening in the company is through their mobile phones. So, how do they bring the whole company closer together whether these are pilots, cabin crew, maintenance staff, people handling operations and ground handling in airports? How do they bring all of these people together, allow their leadership to communicate with them more often, and build a sense of community within the organization, especially when most of their staff is below the age of 30. These were some of the reasons that led them to opt for something like Workplace by Facebook.

Further sharing more insights on how collaborative tools can help build collaborative workplaces, Gopalkrishna states, “The reality is that most employees today are outside the headquarters and these people in the past have never been truly connected and empowered. They never felt that they had a voice in the organization. Today, business is changing so quickly that we don’t have an option anymore but to connect them and give them the ability to help drive faster decision making within the organization. If companies don’t do this, they will get disrupted by more agile competitors. We have also seen that when you empower these people and give them a voice, it improves employee engagement, increases retention and also reduces attrition, which obviously directly impacts the bottom-line. And finally, with 50 percent of the workforce being millennials, the only way for these people to stay in touch with the company and get the work done is through mobile phones. And a lot of the traditional tools used by companies really don’t give a great experience on a mobile phone. This causes a huge drain in the productivity of an organization and this is where collaborative tools play a crucial role.”

To learn more about how organizations are using collaborative tools to build a more collaborative workplace and how Workplace by Facebook is enabling them in doing so, talent leaders of various companies in Malaysia will come together at Facebook’s new office in Kuala Lumpur on May 29th. Facebook’s Asia Pacific and Malaysian industry leaders will share innovative practices and approaches to more effective and productive collaboration at work. With the learning session, Facebook would also be opening the facility in the city and marking its arrival. 

Nicole Tan, Country Director - Malaysia, Facebook will elaborate on these plans more at the learning session. Ken Hoskin, Head of HR - ASEAN, Facebook will give an inside look into Facebook HR Practices and Helen Przygodzki, Head of Communications - APAC, Facebook will share how organizations can build a better culture through connected communication. 

Some of the use cases of Workplace by Facebook from customers such as Air Asia will also be shared., a work collaboration tool will also be shared. 

Stay tuned to deep dive into these practices as more information about the talent practices shall follow after the learning session. 

P.S: This is an exclusive invite-only event.