Harpreet Kapoor
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August 29, 2022
A 2021 leaders’ survey found that nearly 75% of C-level executives expected the average employee to be in the office for three or more days a week. They believed the work-from-home experiment was effective, but it affected company culture. In stark contrast to this finding, nearly 75% of 5000 employees of the firm surveyed said they would prefer to work from home at least three days a week. It is, therefore, not surprising that over 50% of employees wished to work in a hybrid model that allowed them the perks of both online and offline workplaces.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated what we only presumed would happen in the next decade– hybrid workplaces! Hybrid work is an approach designed around employees, no matter where they are. This working format empowers people to work onsite, offsite, when travelling or on vacation and promotes greater employee engagement, inclusiveness and well-being.
Organisations that were often customer-centric are now turning inwards, focussing on creating people-centric workplaces as they begin to understand how this change will help them move forward and stay ahead of their competition.
As organisations re-group their teams and re-work their approach, they must remember that forcing employees to return to their five-day working routine in today’s time may result in greater attrition.
Hybrid workspaces emphasise more where work is done and how the process can be made simple, smart and secure for employees and organisations. Most organisations invest in advanced technologies like automation and artificial intelligence to deliver smart work experiences that improve employee engagement.
Organisations with a successful implementation of hybrid working culture and workforce have seamless and safe access to various company applications and portals, providing a great employee experience. So, a digital HR transformation is imperative to successfully implement hybrid workplaces and enable employees to call, meet, share and collaborate regardless of location.
As we understand more about the hybrid nature of workplaces, a few essential characteristics that they must have include:
Hybrid working improves work-life balance, provides better job satisfaction, boosts employee motivation and allows organisations to access a larger talent pool while reducing costs for office space and other infrastructure. However, one of the greatest challenges of hybrid work is choosing who gets to work from home and who must be on-site.
When organisations do not have the right strategy and plan for hybrid work, they risk their company culture, employee engagement, collaboration and productivity.
In today’s age and time, forcing employees to return to the pre-pandemic five days work-week may lead to a greater number of people quitting their jobs. Technology and digital workplace transformations are crucial in accelerating hybrid workplace adoption.
Organisations must be able to strategically use smart devices to prevent employee digital fatigue. Using intelligent applications to reduce in-office anxiety motivates employees to return to the office on some days and effectively manage hybrid work.
Here are a few ways organisations can accelerate the adoption of hybrid work!
To enable organisations and their employees to adopt a hybrid work mode, it is vital to digitise everything as much as possible. The technology you invest in must be intelligent, smart and intuitive while addressing all levels of workers. In the hybrid world, everyone works at a different pace and from a different place.
To ensure all employees and team members are on the same page, organisations must invest in tools and platforms that are easily accessible to all, including the differently abled.
Maintaining strict security is one of the biggest challenges for organisations and employees when working remotely. Ensuring data security is relatively easy within the four walls of office space, but when employees work from across the globe, having strict and secure networks helps protect company data. Organisations must invest in security measures that safeguard their employees and company data from digital fraud and theft to ensure hybrid measures.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, employees struggled to ensure effective collaboration with their colleagues and teammates. This challenge remains today as organisations are looking to officially introduce hybrid workspaces.
Effective collaboration in a hybrid environment is challenging and complex but can be made possible with proper communication and setting clear guidelines of how employees are expected to work online and offline. Additionally, organisations can expect to adopt hybrid work culture by ensuring a team spirit that binds employees.
Though many businesses wish to have a hybrid working model, they must educate their employees about its various aspects, including tools and technology, how to use them, resources to accelerate security, and how to enjoy their work experience.
While organisations work towards digital transformations to enable and sustain hybrid work cultures, they must understand that the one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Companies, therefore, must create and implement strategies that enable their employees to flourish regardless of where they are.
Hybrid workplace transformations must be people-focused, and employees must be provided with adequate support and flexibility to maintain agility to adapt to future business trends.
Organisations must focus on digital HR transformation to improve their employee experience. To do this, they should have robust IT systems and data that is easily accessible and available to those who need it.
Automating workflows across systems, functions, and geographies will empower employees to work from home or office whenever they feel like it. Businesses must also be constantly re-examining, updating and altering their processes to enable them to adapt to hybrid working.
A hybrid model is often more complicated to implement than a fully-remote one. Most organisations and their HR teams need to deal with questions like what kind of work best suits online or offline mode, how meetings should be conducted, how can we achieve a balance between the two forms of work, how often and when teams should meet in person, can leadership communication be as effective online as it is offline, and several others.
Setting up a new operating model for the entire organisation can take months to years, depending on its size and hierarchy. Implementing a digital HR transformation can help your organisation successfully deploy a hybrid model of working in a way that is aligned with company culture and engages and keeps employees happy without affecting your customers.
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