Hybrid workplaces are now the talk of the town as companies allow employees to work in the office, while others prefer working at home. Discover the benefits of a hybrid workplace and how this arrangement can enhance collaboration and productivity.
As we move towards the post-pandemic world, businesses are reviewing their workplace structures. They are looking to adopt an organisational structure that best meets the requirements of their diverse employees. Many workers have become comfortable with the working-from-home lifestyle over the last several years, but not every firm or type of job can be suited to remote work.
It is crucial to remember that the high rates of productivity have been maintained throughout the outbreak, and a few employees are more comfortable working from home most of the time. Thus, companies must consider the use of a hybrid work system as a distinct competitive advantage that will impact their capacity to recruit and keep employees.
Companies have begun to think about ways to create a hybrid working environment that allows certain employees to return safely to their workplace and other employees to work remotely in a manner that can work efficiently in a group.
What’s a hybrid?
Simply put, the definition of a hybrid employee or an employee who is a hybrid is someone who works from home for a portion of the time (or an alternative location that is not employer-owned) and is employed at an employer’s workplace for a part of the time.
What Does a Hybrid Working Model Look Like?
The hybrid work environment permits an amalgamation of office and remote workers. Businesses that choose to adopt this kind of working arrangement provide their employees with the flexibility to decide when they work and how and where they will be working during any given day. Hybrid working arrangements give employees the ability to switch between working in offices and from home. This gives employees the choice of which way they prefer to work at any given time.
Based on McKinsey, the top executives anticipate seeing that in all jobs that don’t require on-site employees, they will be present at least one or four days a week. Businesses that never previously had employees working remotely might consider implementing a hybrid work environment by having working days in the office for collaboration as well as remote workdays to do more focused work, or by permitting their staff to decide which of them prefers to work from an office or work remotely. Similar to any change in the workplace, there are pros as well as cons of using a hybrid working model.
On one hand, hybrid work can help maintain the balance of work and life that comes when working from home full-time. It also reduces the strain of having to commute to and from work every single day. However, working in a hybrid environment can cause issues, such as having to switch between an office and home setting or having a portion of the employees feeling excluded from the culture of the business. In every case, the question is, how can we improve productivity?
How do you define a hybrid workplace?
The term “hybrid workforce” can be unclear enough that it’s challenging to pinpoint a specific definition; however, below are the two most commonly used definitions of hybrid workforces:
A definition for the term “hybrid workforce”
The most popular definition of the term “hybrid workforce” is that you have a large number of employees who are engaged in a hybrid model of work that spends a portion of their time in an office and the rest of their time at home working.
A different meaning for the hybrid workforce
A hybrid workforce may indicate that your business has adopted a variety of work styles, including certain employees working from home and others working from office premises, and some working using a hybrid model of working or any combination of two of these.
Key Hybrid Working Challenges
When you make any changes to your working practices, there can be significant challenges to overcome, and hybrid working is no exception. Being aware of the challenges and taking the necessary steps to ensure that they don’t impact your workforce or customers are crucial. Here are a few examples of the difficulties encountered when adopting an integrated working model:
1. Unconscious Bias
If you prefer to work from home more often, it is a cause for worry and a risk that you could suffer from unconscious biases. Being unobservable to the management may result in being less appreciated as compared to those working in the office, as they could be receiving less time with management and receiving fewer benefits than employees who work in a workplace. It’s essential to stay in touch with employees who work remotely and to ensure that it does not happen.
2. Change of Culture
It’s a fact that company culture was simpler to establish when all of the staff were at the office five to seven days a week. Moving some or all of the employees off the premises could cause disappointment within the workforce, which is why it’s crucial to concentrate on the aspects of your culture you want to cultivate and achieve it through the channels that are available to you.
3. Hybrid Worker Wellbeing
Remote working can affect the mental health of certain employees. Those employees had a difficult time with the idea of working from home when necessary. This is the chance for employers to employ hybrid work in the most flexible way that employees feel comfortable by having the flexibility to design their own work schedule, while improving the overall satisfaction and experience of employees.
4. Communication & Connectivity
While those who work remotely and those working in the office do not share the same physical space, it is not necessary to have a distinction in their ability to communicate with their colleagues. Making sure that there is a good connection between workers working remotely and employees on-site is critically essential, aiding in connecting all employees and avoiding the kinds of errors that can negatively impact employees and customers alike.
What’s a hybrid working environment or a hybrid workplace?
The concept of a hybrid work environment is a reference to a business that has chosen that all or a portion of their employees be in a hybrid working model.
Hybrid Work Best Practices: How to Optimise Your Hybrid Work Environment
To ensure the transition towards hybrid work, we must build trust between the company and its employees. They should also be transparent when the way they communicate changes and also provide their employees with the tools they require to be productive and work efficiently.
While each business is unique, the fundamentals of building a successful hybrid work environment are the same, and following these best practices will help businesses move smoothly.
1. Building Trust
The most important aspect of hybrid and collaborative work is the building of trust between employees and the company. If there is no trust, managers often are micromanagers who keep an eye on their teams to make sure that they’re working and can leave team members feeling uncomfortable and anxious. It is essential to concentrate on the high-quality work completed, not the number of hours being logged. Allowing employees to handle their work independently and building trust on all levels can greatly contribute to the successful implementation of a hybrid workplace.
2. Clear Communication
As well as fostering trust, having open communication with employees is more essential in a hybrid workplace structure. Setting clear objectives and expectations that are clear can assist teams in understanding what they’re trying to achieve and will encourage teams to work together. One-on-one meetings can aid in establishing strong communication between teams and managers and help to build trust in each other.
3. Use the Right Tools
The use of technology for business communications is vital. To overcome obstacles, teams need to have collaborative tools that allow employees to stay connected and capable of working effectively regardless of where they may be. Tools such as video conference, file sharingand Messaging is essential to keep employees involved with one another and their work. This can also improve the trust factor and improve communication.
What’s a hybrid job, a hybrid role or a hybrid position?
If you’ve noticed hybrid jobs advertised on the internet, you may be asking, “What does a hybrid job mean?” A hybrid job implies that you work a certain amount of the time at the workplace, and some of the time you work at a location that is not the company.
This location for the company will likely have a workplace for the company. Although many people describe the non-company space as “working at home,” it is actually the opposite. This can take a variety of different forms. When you’re not at a corporate location, you could be working from home or at a friend’s home or a coffee shop, at a coworking space, at a holiday rental or at a hotel. There are endless possibilities.
Some examples of hybrid work are
- Work from home for three days per week, and work from the office every other day of the week.
- You can work from your office in the mornings and then go home in the afternoons.
- Work from home for three weeks each month, and meet at an office space rented by the company once a month for one week
- Most of the time, you work from home; however, you meet in a space for meetings when necessary for large-scale meetings.
- Work from home for 70% of the time. Meet clients in a corporate office 30% of the time.
- Too many to mention here
Hybrid Working is Here to Stay
Hybrid work isn’t an entirely new concept; however, organisations have taken it on in a large manner during the pandemic, which brought a new outlook to different business and industry models that have proven to be effective.
Companies must invest in technology that makes teams feel as though they’re together in the same space. To achieve this, Mitel offers a collection of collaboration tools and software that provide all the necessary tools for a business to effectively manage a hybrid team, offering employees a seamless experience in video conferencing and collaboration. Users can use the software on any device, regardless of their location.
Hybrid work is a trend that will not go away and helps in making a balance between work and life. It also allows employees to effectively manage their time while helping companies optimize costs and identify talent without geographic limitations. If companies decide to move to a hybrid workplace or remain remote full-time after the pandemic, confidence, clear communication, and the appropriate technology software are crucial to creating an environment that is able to support everyone equally, regardless of the circumstances.
