Key Principles for Successful Hybrid Working

Following many years of uncertainty following the epidemic, the discussion around return to work seems to have focused on popular hybrid work. Organisations experimented with a wholly novel approach to large-scale work in 2023, whether it was a flexible schedule or the standard model of three days in the office and two at home.

The majority of workers support mixed work. For instance, in a September 2023 study conducted by employee experience research company Leesman among 2,428 worldwide workers, which the BBC saw, 94% of respondents said they liked the idea of hybrid working. According to statistics from a poll conducted in November 2023 among 141,793 US workers, employees now choose to work from home on average 2.75 days per week—roughly just a half-day more than employers plan.

However, even though more employees and businesses are adapting to remote work, a few recurring problems with these new arrangements have surfaced. While some of these seem to be more systemic and might eventually become endemic, others could just be teething issues.

For numerous skilled workers, operating well in a mixed work environment has become the norm. There's more to finding the ideal mix between entirely remote, hybrid, and in-person employment than just sending out a policy requirement. Meister (2023) discussed five principles for successful hybrid working (Figure 1). 

Purpose

Companies should prioritise making going to work meaningful and "commute worthy" before offering benefits like indoor-outdoor workplaces, wellness programmes, and upscale exercise centres to lure employees back to the office. Employers will need to explain to workers why being based in an office would maximise productivity.

Companies need to give workers clarification on the kind of working experience which finest fits their individual job function and career growth, instead of concentrating on the days of the week when they ought to return to the workplace.

This is what Ramboll, a multinational firm that specialises in design, engineering, and consulting and employs over 18,000 people across 35 nations, accomplished when it established the Future Workplace Taskforce. Senior leaders from HR, Operations, Facilities, IT, Finance, and Talent Management made up this multinational task force, which determined the critical factors influencing the performance of different job roles. These factors included the amount of time an employee devotes to concentrated work, teamwork, coordination, and in-office engagement that strengthened the workplace culture.

 

To reduce proximity bias in the workplace, leaders may use several measures, such as:

• Provide education about proximity bias in the workplace and how to recognise and prevent it
• To maintain equality, evaluate coaching, mentoring, and promotions for workers who work in-person, entirely remote, and hybrid environments. 
• Make a conscious effort to routinely meet with employees who are entirely remote or hybrid workers outside of Zoom or Teams calls.

 

Inclusivity

Ignorance cannot be brought up when talking about remote and hybrid labour. Whether they work in-person, completely remote, or hybridly, all employees must conduct themselves on an even playing field. Proximity bias is one matter to be noted. This is the result of managers placing a higher value on the efforts of experts whom they often encounter in the office than they do on those of distant or hybrid workers.

 HR directors need to be mindful of proximity bias. Intentional or not, this is occurring in the workplace. According to a survey by Executive Networks with 1,301 HR and business executives, 71% of HR executives and 62% of company executives concur that there is probably "proximity bias" against virtual and hybrid workers, which makes it harder for individuals who work off-site to progress in their careers.

 

 

Team Working Models

As hybrid and remote employment become standard operating procedures, team leaders should have the freedom to choose where and when to do work. More staff involvement will result from this. Work teams that jointly establish their hybrid policy, deciding on the best times and locations to work, exhibit the greatest levels of employee engagement, according to the Gallup 2023 GlobalWorkplace Study, but just 13% of workers gain from this strategy.  

Rather than arguing about how many days a week workers should spend in the office, businesses should look at innovative methods to provide leaders with the power to give their team members the most options when it comes to choosing from a variety of offices for working, learning, and collaborating. 

Employees at certain businesses, like AT&T, Spotify, and Airbnb, have access to authorised local on-demand offices via LiquidSpace, an enterprise on-demand marketplace. Leaders may now satisfy the specific demands of their workforce throughout the globe in this way.

 

Development

Workers are turning to their employers more and more to help them grow and expand their skill set. A job now serves as a means to develop your skills and expedite your next professional step rather than just providing a salary. This particularly applies to Millennials. According to a recent Gallup poll, 87% of millennials said that chances for professional advancement were crucial factors in determining how satisfied they were with their jobs. 67% of previous generations were like this.

Mastercard developed Unlocked, a branded workforce mobility solution, to offer every employee, on-site, totally remote, or hybrid, equal access to growth. Employees may search for new full-time positions via Unlocked, acquire new skills, take on challenging tasks, or take part in mentorship. 

Reference

Meister, J. (2023). Four Principles for SUccessful Hybrid Working. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2023/06/30/four-principles-for-successful-hybrid-working/?sh=57d100845f13