What is Hybrid Work and Will it Work for Your Business?

Hybrid Work: The Best of Both Worlds – Remote and In-Office

Working practices continue to evolve, and along with the emergence of remote work strategies, is a growing inclination toward a hybrid work model. 

What is a hybrid work model?

The simplest way to describe a hybrid work setting is that it is “partially remote”. It is a combination of remote and in-office work schedules. An employee gets to keep practicing the usual office routines, while also having the approved opportunity to work remotely. At the surface level, it is seen to promote a better work-life balance and helps save on work expenses, both for employers and employees.

This is an especially enticing workplace strategy to offer to talent pools of this generation, especially because it offers the highest form of flexibility possible, which in theory, helps the workforce provide better quality output.

But does it really improve employee welfare and result in a better business? It can and should – once the changes are approached in the best way possible for your organization. 

SCG’s years of experience in handling these types of workplace strategies and changes in management will help your organization maneuver through these changes. With the right data and approach, SCG can help make hybrid work, work for you.

Types of Hybrid Work Models

There is no one formula for the type of hybrid work scheduling that works best for all businesses. This is why it is important to gather data, understand workplace culture, research the business industry, and analyze the different job roles of employees vying for the hybrid work setting.

SCG can facilitate all these processes and help your company choose the best hybrid work model to implement from the following types:

Workplace-based with Remote Working

The bulk of the workforce and workload remain in a physical office. All tasks, important meetings, and office-related roles happen in a defined office space. However, employees are allowed to work remotely on some days. They can opt to work on individual projects remotely, but must be present in the office for collaborative work.

In short, the norm is working at an office, with limited to generous remote work options.

Digital-first with a Workplace

Work is primarily done in a remote setting, and a bigger chunk of the business investment goes to providing remote work and digital tools that help all employees function even when working from different locations. A physical space, which in this case serves more like a hub rather than an office, is provided as a common space, should team members decide they want to hold in-person meetings

In short, the norm is working from home, with a fixed space for when employees want or need to meet.

Differentiating hybrid models may seem unnecessary, but once you start understanding how your business should create the standards for a hybrid workspace, the importance of distinguishing these types becomes clearer.

Whatever the type of hybrid work model an organization decides to adopt, the key factor to making it work for your business is proper scheduling and understanding what job roles need more time in the office and which ones can remain productive even with fewer in-person interactions.

Why Hybrid Work Isn’t Working for Your Business

As remote work gained more popularity in recent years, more and more people – employers and employees alike – wanted to have a taste of the promised benefits of remote work.

However, some businesses are finding themselves in a pickle because remote and hybrid work turned out to be a difficult workplace strategy to manage. 

Some employees are now experiencing exhaustion and burnout from remote work, with the leading cause being the inability to accept and adapt to the changes in habits and routines that were once set for a strictly in-office working environment. Plus, with hybrid work, the changes are constant, in the sense that they end up switching from “work-from-home mode” to “office mode”.

Other reasons for businesses to fail in implementing a hybrid work model include:

Leaders Do Not Follow a Hybrid Schedule

As cliche as it sounds, a leader should set by example. However, when a company only allows employees to adapt to a hybrid schedule while decision-makers still follow the traditional office setting, there could be a disconnect between expectations. Without experiencing the working conditions of a remote setting, leaders would tend to require outputs from their teams as they would in an in-office environment. This could lead to distrust and a feeling of neglect for employees. They might also set ineffective rules, and employees who are supposed to work on a hybrid schedule would rather work full time in the office just to cater to their leaders’ demands.

Hybrid Workers’ Career Opportunities are Limited

It is a normal desire for employees to aim for career growth while working for an organization, and opportunities should be fair across all job roles and working environments. However, if your organization, especially the leaders, is unable to provide equal grounds for career growth for your in-office employees and hybrid workers, then this means that your company is not encouraging the full implementation of a hybrid work model. 

Career visibility for remote workers should still be evident. When raises and promotions are only experienced by employees working in the office, then chances are, your hybrid workers would drop the practice and just go back to working in the office. 

Inefficient Hybrid Work Scheduling

As already mentioned, the key to a successful hybrid workplace strategy lies in the ability of every team member to create an efficient work schedule. Scheduling should be intentional. If not, people will be disrupting workflow. Imagine commuting to the office only to spend your office hours in zoom meetings because the teammates you need to work with, had a work-from-home schedule. People that need to meet should meet, and schedules should work in the most efficient way possible.

Otherwise, the purpose of giving more benefits to hybrid workers becomes null, and might even become more expensive – literally and figuratively, for the employees. 

So what’s the solution? 

Before even jumping into a hybrid work setting, your organization must have a developed, well-planned guideline on its implementation. Companies must understand that the times are different, and failing to learn from the mistakes that root from not letting go of the traditional office setting, will only hinder the goal of providing an efficient hybrid working opportunity for your current and prospective talents. 

SCG Helps Make Hybrid Workplace, Work for You

For your business to make the most out of hybrid work and gain from its many promising benefits, it is not enough to just go ahead and implement it without proper planning and training. Though the principles of a hybrid workplace seem simple, it is not as easy as splitting your employees’ schedules between working at home and in the office. Doing that will only cause more problems and end in a failed hybrid work model. 

To help you properly transition from a traditional office to a hybrid work setting, and even to understand if it would work for your business, SCG can facilitate planning sessions, Focused Group Discussions, interviews, leadership alignment, and other necessary steps to gather the right data that can help make hybrid work, work for your business.