How Hybrid Working From Home Works Out

Book desks with your team, find rooms for brainstorming, automate workplace processes, and better understand office utilization. In order to foster a culture that reaches outside the bounds of the office walls, you’ll need a committee in place to facilitate the subtler aspects of remote work. They put up the guardrails people needed to feel structure from the top down while still giving each individual the opportunity to choose their own flexible work adventure.

In this post, we’ll explore what a hybrid work model is, including how you can transition to one smoothly. An opportunity for optimal work-life balance – something many workers are struggling to define in the wake of a year of primarily remote work – is a factor, too. Research has shown that the Covid-19 pandemic forced workers to see work as less of a priority, and hybrid work allows for the personal curation of work-life balance – something Gen Z wants in spades. Organisations who do not support flexible forms of working may risk increased employee turnover, reduced employee engagement and limitations on the ability to attract talent in the future. Repeated surveys have found that employees are prepared to leave for greater flexible working opportunities if they are unable to access them in their current role.

Technology and equipment

Your organization may find that budgeting for home office stipends will provide value to employees while ensuring they have the best tech to get their jobs done effectively. The move to the hybrid workplace model will require thought, adjustments, and process changes. These challenges will look different based on how effectively your organization reacted to WFH in the days of stay-at-home orders.

The most common reason given was working from home being part of workers’ normal routine (62%), suggesting they have adopted homeworking long-term. Some workers may have already done so before the coronavirus pandemic. Before the coronavirus pandemic, one in eight working adults reported working from home in the week prior to interview (12%).

Why should I go into the office?

While many expect employee engagement to drop if employees aren’t going into the workplace every day, research shows that hybrid and remote work can improve employee engagement. In a recent survey, 79% of knowledge workers indicated that their engagement level has stayed the same or improved since they began working remotely. Hybrid work emerged as a viable work arrangement during the COVID-19 pandemic when businesses transitioned to remote work and used virtual collaboration tools to remain productive. While some organizations hybrid work from home had hybrid and remote workers before the pandemic, those working arrangements accelerated overnight as most of the workforce went from in-person meetings to kitchen table virtual collaboration. This may be as part of a flexible or agile working policy which allows an employee to choose whether, and when, to work from home and in the workplace, subject to business requirements. Other organisational benefits of flexible working include savings on office space, higher levels of employee job satisfaction and reduced absence rates.

• Your policy may set out guidance on how to communicate with employees and how performance will be monitored.
• Be intentional about defining your company culture to support hybrid work and distributed employees.
• Recent research has shown that those who are in better contact with their line manager have better wellbeing.
• Overall, though, this revolution could change work and our lives outside work for the better – but to do so, it must be accessible to more than just the highest paid, most privileged workers.
• For example, your hybrid work model may consist of a hybrid at-will policy where employees choose which day(s) they come into the office.
• It seems that employees are willing to trade off small amounts of pay for their ability to work from home.

A McKinsey survey of 13,000 workers in six countries in 2023 found that one-third of employees earning over $150,000 strongly preferred working from home with 44% of senior workers saying they’d rather work from home. Mullinix suggests setting up job alerts on various sites with remote work filters to stay updated on new opportunities. She also suggests scheduling time every week to dedicate to the job search and to set realistic expectations.