There is no denying that the COVID 19 pandemic has affected the lives of billions. What was supposed to be a 2 week mandatory WFH has turned into 2 years, with still no sign of a potential end. In these uncertain and unprecedented times, it becomes clear that we have to adapt Hybrid Workplace and evolve and work around the problem rather than wait for it to resolve itself.
We have seen many major shifts in traditional consumer trends, for eg- a huge boost in online shopping, the major success of OTT platforms, the tremendous downfall of the wedding industry in India which claimed to be a recession-free business, etc. We have also seen a dramatic shift in the corporate world with the introduction of the Work From Home (WFH) model.
For some working professionals, it was hard to adapt to this model, but at the same time for some, it proved to be the best thing that could happen to them. According to internal polling and survey, 31% of employees want to work in a hybrid workplace whereas 65% of employees want to shift to full-time remote working.
Every employee has their unique set of skills, so instead of looking at traditional working practices, let’s try to explore a more modern and effective hybrid workplace model. It is time to rethink the way things used to be and make your workplace more employee-friendly. An effective hybrid workplace is one of the major steps towards moving forward in the corporate world.
Understanding the Effective Hybrid Workplace
A hybrid workplace is defined as a flexible work model which helps in organizing a distributed employee strength of remote as well as in-office employees. The most crucial pillar of an effective hybrid workplace is flexibility and support.
Countless organizations are struggling to keep up with the transition from remote working to in-office presence. With the help of a hybrid workplace model, you can put this crisis on the back burner and focus on more important tasks in the organization.
An effective hybrid workplace model will help the organization in the following ways:-
Increase in Productivity
According to a study conducted by Boston Consulting Group, 40% of the managers have seen a spike in productivity due to remote working. Working remotely allows an employee to work anytime from any location, which helps in increasing productivity as the employee does not feel constrained by factors like time and place.
Remote working allows for fewer distractions within the traditional office space and keeps an individual focused on the task at hand ultimately leading to an increase in productivity. An effective hybrid workplace will help an organization keep productivity at max and distractions at low.
Clear Visibility of Employees’ Performance
With the help of technology and collaboration platforms like zoom, slack, google meet, etc you can have better and clear visibility of your employee’s performance. You can have a clear picture of your employees’ tasks and how hard they are working to achieve milestones in their performance.
An effective hybrid workplace model can help you in rewarding the best-performing employees. For example, employees who have shown a spike in productivity and targets can enjoy the flexibility of the WFH model which will lead towards trust and loyalty of an employee towards your organization.
Vast Talent pool
With an effective hybrid workplace model, you can explore the opportunity of hiring from around the globe. Limitations like location and time zones will be erased, and you can find the best candidate for the job role instead of settling with someone nearby.
This will work wonders if you want to hire someone whose responsibilities can be performed remotely, for example, software developers, account managers, customer service executives, etc.
An effective hybrid workplace will allow the employees to save the valuable time spent commuting to and from work leaving them a couple more hours to focus on their day-to-day tasks.
Low Cost of Maintenance
With an effective hybrid workplace model in action, you don’t have the need to assign each and every employee with their own desks. With more open space and less distraction from the office, your in-office employees will feel more energetic.
Once you have the information regarding the employees coming to the office you can plan accordingly resulting in rent saving, less consumption of office supplies, etc which will help you in reducing your maintenance and business cost.
There are various steps you can take into consideration while designing an effective hybrid workplace for your organization and employees. Some of the important things to consider are as follows:-
1- Implementing Hybrid Workplace Friendly Policies– It goes without saying that if you want to incorporate an effective hybrid workplace model you need to start with implementing policies that will make this transition easier. The policy terms can be broad (meaning they can be applied to the entire organization) or they can be customized (meaning they can be applied to specific departments). Policies on attendance, online working hours, entirely remote working, etc. should be re-designed to accommodate the employees in a hybrid workplace model.
2- Changing the Goals and Objectives of the Organization- For an effective hybrid work model to work effortlessly you need to rethink and reimagine the organization’s mission and vision. A hybrid workplace model should be taken into consideration whilst designing the new objectives for the organization. The workplace of tomorrow will be more employee-centric so that employees can have a sense of fulfillment rather than duty.
3- Tech-Savvy Environment- With your employees scattered around the globe, you need something that attaches them to you like a tether. Technology can be that tether. It is crucial to equip your employees with proper tools and technology so they can work with ease. Hardware like laptops, mobile phones, Wifi connections, and everything else that will affect your employees’ productivity should be a top priority. Softwares like CRM, HRMS, collaboration software should be implemented to keep your employees engaged so they don’t feel like they are missing out on the office experience.
4- Maintaining Transparency- Being transparent and accessible for your employees can increase the trust factor in the organization. Working on strengthening internal communication channels will help the organization in being transparent about their work culture and policies. Since employees need to be familiarized with the new hybrid workplace model, there need to be open communications within the organization for employees to raise their concerns. Employee engagement platforms are a great way to maintain transparency and gather valuable feedback.
5- Safety of Your Employees- Even with the vaccination drives on the rise, there is still a lot of panic regarding the health and safety of an individual. Government and health officials are still encouraging the public to maintain social distancing and wear masks even if they are fully vaccinated. With the help of an effective hybrid workplace model, there will be fewer employees working from the office which will help in keeping them safe via social distancing. Your employees can opt for remote working if there is any risk of virus in their families reducing the tension of commuting and spreading the virus.
Final Words
The workplace of tomorrow is already here. By keeping in mind the guidelines mentioned above you can create and implement a hybrid workplace model for your organization with ease.
There is a huge shift in the work environment and it is important to keep up with the pace. Organizations that understand the importance of flexibility and adapting to new cultures will have a competitive advantage in the future.
It is clear that the workplace has changed. Now it is time to change with it.
