Greetings from the home office. As many of us continue to navigate this new way of working remote, we here at Poly were inspired by the fact that work is no longer a place. It’s what you do and how you do it. That got us thinking: what if we could outfit you with beautifully designed and engineered video devices with the type of quality you’d expect to see in a boardroom but is built for your kitchen table? Today we’re excited to introduce the Poly Studio P Series, a new line of professional-grade personal video devices engineered to ensure you always look and sound your best, no matter where your work is getting done.

LET’S GET PERSONAL

The Studio P Series brings Poly’s decades of audio and video expertise from the conference room to your personal workspace with the flexibility to use any video service, from Zoom to Teams and many others, to give you the confidence, freedom, and professional edge to always work the way you want to work.

From premium, high-performance camera optics that quickly adjust to give you the best lighting, to Poly’s legendary noise-canceling audio that eliminates noisy distractions from Fido and lawnmowers alike, you have the power to crush every meeting – big or small – from anywhere.

Poly Studio P5

The Poly Studio P5 professional webcam packs a punch to make sure you look and sound your best on video calls wherever you’re working. Exceptional camera optics deliver a professional-quality image every time, so you come across clearly. Its directional microphone focuses on your voice and not the noise around you, while an integrated privacy shutter keeps you in control for enhanced security and privacy. Plug the device right into your laptop for seamless video conferencing or connect directly to your favorite headset without fussing with set-up or incompatible software. Poly Studio P5 is officially certified for Zoom.

Poly Studio P15

The Poly Studio P15 personal video bar gives you everything you need to look and sound your best on video calls in one sleek device. Its high-performance 4K image sensor brings out your inner star, and automatic camera framing ensures you’re always seen without feeling the need to stay glued to your chair. A powerful speaker and microphone array deliver rich, clear audio while blocking out distracting sounds, like dogs barking or chatty roommates, with intelligent features like Poly’s Acoustic Fence and NoiseBlockAI. The Poly Studio P15 is officially certified for Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

Poly Studio P21

The Poly Studio P21 personal meeting display is the all-in-one device that delivers the complete meeting experience: it’s your display, your camera, your microphones, and your speakers, all with a single USB connection to your PC or Mac. The Poly Studio P21 even has a wireless phone charging tray and a single USB cable to help limit desktop clutter, and its seamless connectivity to your favorite video conferencing services guarantees that your options are limitless.

SERVICES: POLY LENS DESKTOP APP AND POLY+

The Poly Studio P Series is simple to use, beautifully engineered and a breeze to get up and running out-of-box thanks to the Poly Lens Desktop app. With the Poly Lens Desktop app, you can personalize and configure your devices and set alerts for gentle health and wellness reminders. You can even add a little zen to your workspace with nature sounds to block out distractions for better focus. We will also be introducing Poly+, our exclusive device support membership service that gives you total peace of mind with your purchase – it’s like having your own personal IT expert on speed dial.

PRO-GRADE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

With the Studio P Series by your side, you don’t just show up to meetings, you stand out. You may be at your kitchen table, but we believe you deserve to be your best self: courageous, confident, and clear, from beginning to end. Learn more about the Poly Studio P Series.

(NYSE: PLT)

It’s no secret to anyone in business today that we’re all faced with communications challenges on a daily basis. The bigger challenge is how does a business remain productive while dealing with these issues. To really identify some of the issues employees and business leads face, Plantronics partnered with Oxford Economics, to do a global study on the impact our connected world has on the professional and personal lives of employees and managers. Oxford Economics interviewed 600 executives, and 600 employees, and came up with substantive results that provide insightful conclusions about the most effective work environments.

Several key themes have bubbled up from the results, and they pertain directly to what Plantronics calls “Smarter Working” — optimizing the workplace for high efficiency and employee satisfaction. The disconnect between manager perceptions and employee realities emerged as a top theme. I’ve captured some of my thoughts here and will cover additional themes in my blog series.

Increasing employee satisfaction and productivity

We found a substantial perception gap between executives and employees in vital areas such as office environment, technology tools, and work/life balance. For example, 63% of executives think their employees have the tools they need to filter out distractions at work. Against that, only 41% of the employees interviewed felt they have what they need. Another example of this disconnect is 35% of executives believe ambient office noise reduces employee satisfaction, when in fact 53% of the employees felt ambient noise reduces job satisfaction and productivity.

So, noise and distraction, having the right tools for the job, and after-hours work are bigger issues than most executives realize. And, these issues can have negative effects on employee productivity and satisfaction. Companies that have a better grasp of these issues take them seriously, and are more likely to have developed strategies to deal with them.

What to do?

There are several things companies can do to take strides to improve worker productivity and satisfaction, and bridge the gap between the execs and their teams. First, let’s deal with noise. Equipping teams with tools like headsets that block out noise and reduce distractions is key. If you’re able to wear a headset that can help filter out distractions, you’re one step closer to maintaining optimal productivity. If you’re productive, there’s less chance of taking work home with you at night.

Companies can also ensure that their employees have choices about where to work. Many workers need different spaces for collaboration, communication, concentration, and contemplation – at different times. If company executives can foster environments where employees have these different types of spaces that are free from extra distraction, then productivity and satisfaction will likely increase.

What it comes down to is this: employees and executives are not on the same page right now when it comes to noisy work environments, using preferred technology, and work/life integration. But, with the proper planning and the most effective tools, the manager-employee disconnect can be conquered.