Make “Hybrid work” work at your Organization

Brief Summary

The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we work. While some employees may be eager to return to the office, others may prefer to continue working remotely. Many employees have grown accustomed to the flexibility and convenience of remote work and are hesitant to return to the traditional office environment. To address this, companies are exploring a hybrid work model, where employees can split their time between working from home and coming into the office. This approach allows companies to reap the benefits of in-person collaboration and productivity while also accommodating the preferences and needs of their employees.

In deciding how best to adopt a hybrid model, companies need to be flexible in their approach, taking employee concerns and ideas into consideration. Organizations must tread carefully to ensure they are successful in their mission to get employees back into the office, whilst avoiding potential turnover issues. By finding a solution that meets the needs of both the company and its employees, businesses can successfully bring employees back to the office while retaining their valuable talents.

Challenge

There are several challenges that companies and employees may encounter when implementing hybrid work:

Some employees may not have access to the same opportunities for training, development and promotions whilst working remotely.
Remote employees may disengage if not managed properly.
Balancing workloads can be challenging if productivity is measured differently for in-office and remote employees.
In-person collaboration can be more difficult, especially between in-office and remote employees (who tend to feel less heard and more excluded).

Recommendation

It’s important to set guidelines around the working arrangements and working hours, as well as to prioritize employee well-being by providing mental health resources and flexible arrangements to help employees maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Carry out internal surveys to feel the pulse of the organization and carefully craft your communication strategy around it.

Listen to employees concerns and take action to address them. Integrate their ideas into the plan and co-create solutions with them. Be flexible and ready for compromise.

Proposed Actions

Carry out surveys to find out what employees want. Identify their concerns about returning to the office. (Our employees were concerned with the added costs of commuting and new wardrobes for post-covid weight gain so we offered stipends for these).
Decide on common in-person day(s). (We chose a weekly company-wide in-person day and allowed teams to choose an additional day.) Consider catering to celebrate different cultures on a common day.
Share findings in the Town Hall meeting before roll out.
Promote in-person engagements to encourage collaboration across teams. (We had team bonding activities online and in-office.)
Request feedback on employees’ experiences with hybrid working, engagement events and in-office days.
Ensure leaders role model the hybrid work schedule.