Title Tag: 5 Hybrid Work Model Tips to Make the Transition Successful
Meta Description: Are you ready to find out if a hybrid work model could work for your team? Read this to define this work model and figure out how to excel at this as a company.
As the pandemic morphs and companies are beginning to think about what work will look like six months or a year from now, hybrid work has become the ultimate goal for teams across the country. Hybrid work models can be successful for teams if approached the right way. However, a mix of employee work locations can also lead to favoritism or unfair advancement for office staff. As an organization, companies need to make some big decisions to reduce the strain of hybrid work.
What Is a Hybrid Work Model?
Before we dive into making hybrid work transitions successful, let’s define what a hybrid work model is. Hybrid work is a company model wherein some of your employees work from the office, some work from home and others do a mix of the two. When done correctly, hybrid work models can save the company money on overhead expenses and help attract top talent that enjoys flexibility.
For example, you could cut office maintenance expenses down by downsizing your office space or moving to a desk sharing model (where employees don’t have assigned desks.)
Overall, many organizations are moving to this model to help cater to the unique needs of their employees. Some staff want to be back in the office full-time, while others want to stay home. Hybrid work can be a great compromise.
What Extra Considerations Do Teams Need to Make for Hybrid Work?
So why do we care about making this transition successful? Simply put, many employers don’t know how to make this transition more seamless. As a result, it’s easy for some of your staff to get lost in this transition.
Employers and managers naturally take care of in-house staff as these groups work together daily. It’s easy to overlook and underappreciate remote workers because connecting with them won’t be as simple as walking around the office.
As you develop bonds with in-office staff or managers, consider how you can build those same relationships online.
How Do You Manage In-Office Days For Staff Members?
Some of your staff members will elect to come into the office on select days during the week. You might even see that some of your employees want to come into the office randomly. Unfortunately, random access to the office can cause issues, especially if your team wants to downsize office space.
Some organizations have started downsizing and using office desk reservation software. If you have employees who will be 100% in-office, you can reserve their desks permanently. For the rest of your desks, you can use software to let your team reserve desk space on a first-come, first-serve basis.
It can be challenging to navigate a world where employees may or may not come into the office, but it’s not impossible. Using desk reservation software ensures that your organization has the space to hold employees in the office that day.
5 Tips You Can Use To Improve Your Hybrid Work Relationship
Hybrid work sounds complicated, but it’s not as difficult as you think. Employers shouldn’t let complications stop them from meeting all employee needs. Let’s delve into a few strategies to make the transition successful for your organization.
1. Focus on Building a Tech Stack That Supports Hybrid Work
First, you want to focus on your company’s tech stack. Can you support hybrid work with the tools your company currently uses? For example, do you have any tools for remote meetings like Zoom or a communication tool for work like Slack? If not, it’s time to look at the tech stack your company currently uses to find ways to improve it.
Start by understanding how your employees currently communicate with each other. Do your employees feel like there are ways to improve this process? What would your team like to see from their communication options?
2. Get to Know Where Your Staff Is and How They Want to Work
Employees are in flux right now. For example, many employees who would have worked from the office might have moved during the pandemic.
Before you open your offices up, you’ll want to get a clear picture of where your employees stand. Where do they intend to work? At home, in the office, a mix of the two? How many times a week do they plan to be in the office if it’s a mix?
These are the kinds of questions you’ll want to ask your staff so you can plan to have the right amount of room in your company’s office.
3. Adjust Your Benefits to Meet Your Team Where They Are
One of the many reasons employees are scared to work from home more is the loss of office perks. Free lunch and snacks, connecting with higher-ups, networking with colleagues, etc., are all perks of many offices. When employees work from home full-time, they may miss out on some of these opportunities, which can make an employee want to stay in the office.
As an organization, you want employees in the office because it’s how they work best, not because they are afraid of missing out on office perks. Therefore, connect with your benefits team to see how you can support staff who work at home. For example, many food delivery and snack box services offer corporate delivery options. Partner with establishments like these to provide the same benefits for remote workers that you offer in-office staff members.
4. Don’t Forget Team-Building
When dealing with a hybrid workforce, you have to be careful to include opportunities for team-building. Unfortunately, team-building won’t come naturally as your organization becomes dispersed. Teams can get siloed and end up not working closely with others who aren’t in the office every day.
As an organization, company leaders need to step up and make sure that employees across the country feel welcome at work.
5. Expand Your Recruitment Strategies
The only way to balance your in-house and remote teams is to make sure that you have an equal amount of employees coming into the office and ones working from home. When you begin looking into hybrid work, you’ll find that most employees are centrally located.
As a talent professional, you should diversify where your employees are located to help balance some of the issues between remote and office staff. If you recruit company executives and high-level managers, you should also spend some time diversifying where you find those applicants. If you can expand where management is, you can ensure that more managers have the incentive to connect with employees across the country.
Creating the Perfect Hybrid Work Environment
Are you ready to put some strategy behind your organization’s hybrid work model? Today we covered some tips to help you create a better work environment for your remote and in-office staff. Employees need to feel like they are on the same level, no matter where they tune into work. We hope this article gave your organization food for thought as you plan out your workforce.