3 Steps to Consider When Developing Your Hybrid Working Strategy

Properly managing a hybrid working is not always easy. With a blurred work-life boundary, it’s easy to lose perspective and get caught up in micromanaging. Implicitly, it’s your employees who are micromanaging, not you. While you may wish to keep their work within a certain area, employees may be more comfortable managing it out of the office.

Before we get into the meat of this article, it’s important to clarify the term ‘hybrid’. Hybrid working is a trend that has been on the rise in several advanced countries for some time now. The definition of a hybrid working arrangement is a work style that involves a combination of work time and non-work time, which includes flexible work, telecommuting, job sharing, and other flexible working arrangements. However, this has been a growing trend in many European countries for a number of years.

The Challenges of a Hybrid Working Model

Despite the idea that hybrid working has been floating for a long time now, most employers still struggle with operating a true hybrid work situation that has an equal measure, regardless of their workplace, and is able to maximize the benefits and minimize the that each present.

When your employees feel like they have flexibility and control, they’re more willing to participate. It's to offer employees flexibility and independence when working from home. It allowances for productive and proper management of their time. It is possible to ensure that employees and teams are able to thrive in both environments and, done well, it will increase productivity and wellbeing. 

Considerations for Developing Your Strategy

The showed that the employees were not the only ones who panicked when the rapid shift to work happened. The showed that employers had it worse at their own end, with and focused on how the business would continue without and how to safely dive into the virtual working model but with employees needing the flexibility to personal matters, such as childcare and remote schooling, managers had to simply trust that work would get done.”

Many found themselves struggling to adapt to this new environment, and it became clear that support was needed for leaders to build trust and connect with employees on a more personal level.

So, let’s dive into the things to consider when developing your strategy and tips that will help. 

Thoughtfulness your employee’s preferences

Have you each employee’s skill set, preferences, and preferences for when and how they work? To best manage your hybrid working policy, you need to gauge each employee’s and weaknesses and determine whether they would prefer to work within or outside the office. Your role as a manager is to anticipate needs and the best approaches. Let your employees have both the and the resources to their goals. People who work best outside the office often being out in nature or exploring their local community. On the other hand, who prefer to get work done on the might be more comfortable working in the office. Experiment with different work styles. Ask them how they like to work and go from there.

Rethink the Office

Whatever your approach, the key is to have a hybrid approach to help employees focus on their work and what matters to them. For example, employees may be happy to live on the phone certain hours. They may be working on projects that they couldn’t accomplish in the office. These employers can then play an active role in supporting their employees in achieving their goals. For employees, the key is to establish priorities and stick to them. They may have a physical or virtual office, and they may work in multiple locations. In order to achieve any sort of success, they need to get in front of their clients and use technology as the main tool. If they are successful, their clients will see a difference in the quality of their work.

Engagement

Good working relationships are necessary for employees to build engagement and be productive at work. People who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs. The physical separation of staff in a hybrid can make forming these working relationships difficult. Ask your employees to provide you with a brief update of what they are working on during their normal work hours to stay abreast of what is expected per time.  

Organizations have to realize the unexpected the hybrid model presents. These challenges are most of the need to ensure a consistent experience for all employees, regardless of whether they work in the office or remotely. We have been working with clients to identify and these challenges so that their own transitions to hybrid working are successful. Get in touch if you want to better understand how to address your organization-specific challenges.