Good news: remote workers are highly productive. We need to rethink the future of the corporate office and lead with flexibility. According to the 2020 Workforce Responsiveness Survey, the percentage of employees reporting positive scores for high enterprise contribution was 41% for full-time remote versus 24% to those who have never worked remotely.
In-office work has been severely disrupted due to COVID-19. Previously never considered for organizations, remote work has become the global standard for continued work while maintaining health and safety. As organizations navigate through the current pandemic and develop recovery strategies, remote work remains a cornerstone for future work. As a result, leaders must make critical decisions to decide who can work remotely and who can stay remote after recovery. Organizations need to shift their thought process from “How soon can our employees be back in the office?” to “What business units and teams require in-person interactions?”
Remote work is increasing and will become the new normal, post COVID-19. Moving forward, organizations will be forced to make critical decisions to determine the best way to implement remote work. Some organizations worry that culture and employee accountability will suffer, but research finds remote workers view their organization more favorably than employees who work in-office. Organizations that are early adopters of remote work and quickest to implement it in their organization will be most successful navigating through the pandemic. Is there another option? Should organizations rethink traditional views and myths for on-site and remote work and pivot to a hybrid model that is the best of both worlds?
A hybrid remote work model can present new opportunities such as improved productivity, cost savings for employees and organizations, and an increase in diversity hiring. The remote hybrid work model encourages flexibility, adaptability, independence, and the increase of shared ownership between employer and employees. The traditionally accepted view was that employees were on-site at the office from 9 to 5, where remote work meant an employee never reported to the office or collaborated with others. The hybrid work model is interchangeable and allows employees to maneuver from locations and engage in a schedule which makes the most sense in terms of productivity. However, for the hybrid model to work, managers must abandon old myths about how work must be completed and replace them with trust and shared ownership with their employees.
An organization can create a successful hybrid remote work model with the following framework: building business case, ensuring hybrid model is fully supported by the organization, and understanding employees’ new hybrid lifestyle.
Building the Business Case
Develop a strategy that clearly targets benefits, outcomes, and reduces risk for installing a hybrid model. Identify which activities and roles will move to virtual and those that will stay in place. Identify key stakeholders and align to their business needs and priorities. Use data and research to build a business case and present to key stakeholders to get their buy-in. Leverage outcomes such as increased talent pool and reduced operating costs. Develop metrics to measure success and identify areas needed for improvement. The metrics can be measured and viewed with company approved CRM, weekly one-to-one meetings with managers and remote workers, and integrating technology so employees are connected virtually. The biggest challenge for employee productivity monitoring is the concept of “productivity” can be subjective and specific to the context of initiative.
Organizational Advancement & Support
The organization must be fully committed to implement and adapt to continuous improvement. Investing in education and training within the organization for managers and leaders can help them deliver transparent expectations to their teams and effectively communicate and collaborate virtually.
Investing in technology will ensure your hybrid model will succeed. Increase security with VPN and secure networks in place when employees are working remote. Organizations must invest in new technologies which support virtual work such as video conferencing and collaborative employee communication platforms. They must also provide necessary office equipment such as laptops and printers.
Assess the organization’s culture, workspace, and facilities. Determine if the culture needs to change or adapt to support the hybrid work environment. The current physical workspace at the office will need to be redesigned or downsized to support hybrid work. Redesign the structure and workflows to support hybrid workforce. Does the office landscape fit the vision for hybrid work model? Is there opportunity to decrease facility and operating costs and reinvest spending into new technologies?
Understanding Hybrid Employee Lifestyle
Organizations must retire myths about where and how work should be done. Instead, adapt to understand how the new office should be reconfigured to reflect new ways of thinking. Plan, manage, and monitor the hybrid experience. Involve the employees when creating one’s vision for the hybrid work remote model. Collect feedback and conduct surveys to understand employees’
expectations. Employees will have differing opinions about the frequency of their on-site work, but make sure to clearly define expectations for the flow to and from remote to on-site work. On-site work should be in-person for a specific reason and time well spent. An employee may view going into the office negatively if the work can be completed virtually. What is the business rationale for in-office work? It is important to create parity between in-office and remote work. Organizations must provide a seamless transition between in-person and remote work for the hybrid model to be successful. Managers must trust employees to be effective and productive while employees need to be flexible and comfortable being mobile. Educate managers on how to revise performance goals and manage those goals or outcomes remotely versus direct observation. Managers must revisit and determine how compensation, rewards, and recognition strategies need to be adjusted to support a hybrid workforce and ensure parity. It is crucial for managers to be innovative and creative when managing hybrid employees. A successful hybrid manager will focus on end-results with increased trust in employees, while unsuccessful managers will continue to emphasize the need for direct observation.
If effectively planned and actioned, the hybrid remote model can improve engagement and performance. The model can offer a greater well-being for employees which leads to increased productivity and effectiveness. When successfully utilized, the hybrid work model can reduce operating costs and increase trust in the organization. The hybrid work model is flexible, adaptable, and allows shared ownership between the employee and the organization.
