So far, Workplace from Facebook has had one of the most far-reaching reactions to the pandemic, launching a lot of features aimed at making remote collaboration a more seamless experience for everyone. Over the past few months, the collaboration platform’s developers have been active – producing features that outstrip many of its competitors by focusing on diversity and inclusion in the development phase.
This is all no coincidence, of course, as we’ve reached a point where accessibility, inclusion, and workers on the frontlines are no longer an afterthought, they’re figured into the plan. If this is not the case, some tech companies in the space could find themselves with a lessening user-base. Recently Workplace from Facebook launched a set of employee engagement tools, an attempt to deliver even more value for its users, and an obvious power-grab for anyone who did not see the firm as a real threat before the pandemic. The features that Facebook has added to its Workplace platform are set to enable faster connectivity and enhance lighting control along with accessibility for employees.
Workplace from Facebook introduced Dark Mode, a feature that lets users change the background of the collaboration tool’s user interface from white to black. The move will likely help to reduce the strain some experience on their eyes, along with reducing glare. Workplace from Facebook’s Dark Mode functionality is automatically set for iOS users, and Workplace noted that it will intro other features designed to enhance UX for those with disabilities in the future. This will include focus management, simpler keyboard navigation, and support for screen readers (a technology that helps people who have difficulties seeing to access and interact with digital content), delivering a major boost for those with visual impairment as well as providing potential for greater inclusion in the workplace for those less-abled.
Addressing the requirements of frontline workers, Workplace added Areas, a mapping tool, to the Workplace collaboration app. Via Areas, management can customize the experience frontline workers have by grouping them into collections based on where they are, their department, etc. Workplace from Facebook clarified in a statement:
“For example, an Area with all UK-based employees might see a pop-up relevant to their region while employees in Brazil could see something else”
A knowledge library is also fresh to the platform and acts as a space to produce store, and share, reference materials like insurance benefits and work policies. Managers can personalize user homepage experiences, as well as create content and manage employee access to documents and more. Each of these updates has one significant theme, employee diversity inclusion, and engagement. There is a lot to consider when hoping to enable remote work during a pandemic, and Workplace seems to have its finger on that pulse.
According to its annual report on diversity, the company says it’s committed to spending $1 billion with companies certified as minority, women, veteran, LGBTQ, or disabled-owned (also known as ‘diverse suppliers’) in 2021, including $100 million with black-owned businesses, putting its money where its mouth is, so to speak. That same report states that Facebook has now already spent more than $1.1 billion with US diverse suppliers.
