Hybrid Working
Rewind 2 years and the phrase ‘hybrid working’ hardly existed - but now we hear it mentioned all the time! The Covid pandemic has reshaped the way that we view where we work and for many people it’s had a huge and positive impact on our work and our commute.
I remember a time when colleagues would roll their eyes when someone mentioned ‘working from home’, almost as though it was a sneaky day off with feet up - but checking the odd email and being available for calls! But in reality this isn’t really true. In fact research has shown that if you have an employee who is highly productive when they’re working in the office, it’s likely they’ll also be highly productive when they work from home…whereas your employee who’s productivity in the office is not where it needs to be will repeat this behaviour at home - hardly surprising really!
Now that life seems to have pretty much returned to normal, organisations and employees are considering how they want to work in the future and the benefits and drawbacks of a hybrid working model.
Some organisation have required their employees to return full time to the office, and their employees are confused by why this is being enforced when lock down demonstrated that it can be done successfully. In the current tight labour market many job vacancies are advertising home working or hybrid working - and this may expand the talent pool and be an attractive offer to many applicants - particularly those with young families or dependents.
So what are the benefits?
A better work life balance - less time spent commuting allowing more time to be spent with family or friends
Reduced travel costs - which helps particularly as inflation continues to rise and cost of living prices have soared
An ability to focus without distraction
Higher levels of motivation and appreciation of flexibility
Expanding the talent pool for recruitment
A reduced need for expensive office space
Reduced absence rates
Improved physical health
Things to think about
Whilst there are a lot of benefits to hybrid working, there are things to consider to ensure that your hybrid model is successful.
Some employee’s prefer to be in the office, as their home is not a suitable place to work - make sure you talk to your employees to check if working from home suits them. Allow them to work in the office if they want to
Whilst established teams will find it easy to work from home as they have already built strong and trusting working relationships, new employees may struggle and their learning may happen at a slower pace - consider the importance of your onboarding process ensure that you put support in place to stop this from happening
Some staff find it more difficult to switch off when working from home - they might stop taking breaks or work excessive hours. Talk to your employees about the importance of taking breaks from work and switching off
Your low performing employees’ productivity may decline further - think about how you will manage this remotely to ensure that work is monitored - instead of measuring working time, measure business outcomes, successes and behaviours
Get in touch with Stanley & Davis to discuss how we can help you with your hybrid working policy and managing performance.