The Growing Demand for Hybrid Tech

From apps to book meeting rooms to tools that let you give virtual high fives, tech for the office has exploded.

Hybrid work may be here to stay, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy to manage, whether it’s connection, culture, communication, morale or office schedules. And doing it from a spreadsheet online or through a Slack channel isn’t simple. 

Enter: a flood of smartphone apps and software platforms that promise to do everything from manage your office space and order lunch to recognize colleagues and send you positive affirmations.

“The number of these apps have just exploded,” says Tracy Brower, author of The Secrets to Happiness at Work and a sociologist studying work life fulfillment, happiness and the future of work. 

True, leaders face a dizzying number of apps and platforms available for company leaders today, and they fall into different buckets—while a few try to blend multiple tools into one. The market for employee engagement software alone is expected to reach $2.69 billion in 2030, up from last year’s estimated $928.3 million.

Room booking and office analytics

Leaders are embracing room booking and office management tools, from biggies like Microsoft’s Viva and Teams and Google Workspace to others with names like Condeco, WorkInSync and Robin.

Robin started a decade ago with meeting room and resource management software, but it has since expanded into flexible work features like desk booking. The software helps companies implement structured hybrid work policies, allowing people to choose their in-office days while ensuring coordination across teams. People can see who else is in the office, and the app automatically suggests optimal days for in-person days. 

“We try to maximize for that in person element,” says Brendan O’Neil, director of strategic partnerships and alliances at Robin.

Robin can also automate tasks like desk and meeting room booking based on past preferences and meeting requirements, and leaders can also get analytics on how their organization is performing against other hybrid companies. 

Employee engagement or community-building apps.

Last year, U.S. employees said they felt more detached from their employers, with less clear expectations, lower levels of satisfaction with their organization, and less connection to its mission or purpose, than they did four years ago, according to a Gallup survey. Gallup estimates it costs $1.9 trillion in lost productivity nationally. 

Not surprisingly, apps are trying to fill in the gaps with tools that attempt to keep people engaged with virtual feedback recognition and real-time communication. 

There’s Bonusly, which lets employees connect and recognize each other in real-time, reinforcing incentives for hitting goals. Another software, Mo, lets people recognize others, see what others are doing and reward employees in their local currency for performance.

Meanwhile, Motivosity rolled out new “innovation spaces” that aim to improve internal communication and unite company culture, and Work Human has a smartphone app and an integration into Microsoft Teams that lets colleagues recognize each other’s work and view what’s happening in their work circle. 

“Work is filling a new, increasingly important role in giving people a sense of connectedness, continuity, meaning and vitality,” says Brower. “And employers are recognizing this.”

Wellness and mental health apps.

With wellness top of mind today, employers are turning to tech to support employees, whether that’s physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being, says Brower. “I’ve seen tons of employers who are kind of picking up that ball and running with it, for sure.”

Leaders have a daunting number of apps to choose from: MoveSpring allows companies to organize team-based fitness competitions and track progress. Headspace for Organizations offers guided meditation, mindfulness exercises and breathing techniques to reduce stress. Elevate has personalized brain training programs. Talkspace offers employees private remote counseling via live video and messaging.

And there are apps like Goodmind, I Am, and ThinkUp that offer positive affirmations to make employees feel more connected and supported.

A little bit of everything

Gensler, a global architecture firm, has started custom designing employee experience apps for clients that not only let people book rooms and manage schedules, but even order lunch to their desk, get reminders to stand and stretch after a long period at the computer, and meet new colleagues in the office.

Included in some of those apps: “coffee randomizers” that match people with someone they’ve never met before and prompts them to grab coffee together and get to know new colleagues at the office. “You learn something about somebody new at your workplace and expand your horizons a little bit,” says Greg Gallimore, a Gensler principal. 

Up Next…

Naturally, experts believe that artificial intelligence will drive more automation of these tools to improve the overall workplace. 

O’Niel expects workplace apps will increasingly use predictive technology to help employers manage their offices based on individual needs, which could be wildly different from day to day. 

“Workplace teams need the ability to understand what is coming up and how to adjust and adapt on a week by week basis,” O’Neil says. Once a team understands usage,  it can add automation and prediction.

Apps are already using AI to collect, extract and synthesize data and deliver recommendations based on where employees are, who’s engaged, who’s not engaged, who’s active, who’s happy or unhappy, says Dan Schawbel, managing partner at Workplace Intelligence, a workplace research firm. Leaders can look across the company to identify which departments, teams or groups that might need more support or are not as effective or engaged. 

“At this point, what app isn’t using AI? It’s either part of everything or will be part of everything,” Schawbel says.

Brower says employers should tread cautiously with that future. 

“We’ll need to make sure we’re using technology and AI as an augmentation, not a replacement for real human relationships,” she says, “Or we’ll exacerbate the issues of loneliness and mental health challenges.”