What is hybrid working and how to roll it out
Hybrid working is here to stay. With so many benefits for employees and employers alike, this guide explains what hybrid working is, and how to incorporate it.
Hybrid working has become common in recent times, with many employers facing an approach that involves combining time in the office with working from home.
The candidate stance on hybrid working is clear, with 89% of workers wanting remote or hybrid options. However, some employers remain on the fence.
This article explores the pros and cons of hybrid working and the factors you need to consider to develop an approach that suits your needs.
What is hybrid working?
A hybrid work model is a form of flexible working that allows employees to split their time between the office/workplace and other locations. It offers an option in between a fully remote workforce and one that is in the office full-time.
If those other working locations are undefined, an employee can work remotely from anywhere (within reason) when not working in the office. Some people mix up their working week by setting up in a café, a coworking space, or even abroad.
Different types of hybrid work?
There’s not just one way of providing a hybrid workplace and the needs of an organisation can dictate what is best. The different approaches to a hybrid working include:
- Office-first: This favours more time in the workplace. Businesses offering this may require specific “office days” where they expect staff to be in the office, or outline that staff are expected to be in the office at least three days a week.
- Remote-first: This favours more time spent working from home, or in any other location that isn’t the formal workplace.
- Flexible or blended: Here staff have some extra autonomy to choose which days they’re based at home or the office. This may be structured around their personal or household priorities, such as childcare on certain days.
A hybrid workplace isn’t the only way to offer a flexible work model. Another popular offering is flexible hours. With flexible hours, rather than employees working between set times each day, they simply need to hit a certain number of hours per week or month, but they can choose when they work. This is usually required to be within a window that includes certain core business hours, such as 10am to 3pm.
Why move to a hybrid work model?
For employers that were unsure of the benefits of remote working, the COVID-19 pandemic was an experiment that proved successful for many businesses and staff. Hybrid working is no longer a bonus but an expectation – even a necessity – for many workers.
According to the research, candidates and employees are prepared to walk away if they aren’t offered hybrid working, with 76% of candidates saying they would look for a new job if their company took away flexible work policies. As a result, employers now need to offer hybrid working to stay competitive, attract new hires and retain staff.
Hybrid work is also a way to address skills gaps. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), more and more organisations believe it’s crucial to provide flexible working as an option when advertising jobs to address their labour shortages.
The pros and cons of hybrid working
Hybrid work can bring a number of pros and cons to an organisation. By developing your own approach, you can pre-emptively build solutions to hurdles to make the most of the positives of hybrid working.
Benefits of hybrid working
There are numerous benefits your organisation can leverage by utilising a hybrid working model. This includes:
- Greater autonomy for employees: Hybrid working allows workers to decide where and how they work best. This autonomy increases their sense of empowerment, leading to higher employee engagement and job satisfaction.
- Improved candidate experience: Conducting interviews remotely makes candidates feel more comfortable, with many finding travel to interviews inconvenient. Interviewing from home helps candidates present their best selves, enhancing the overall recruitment process. Additionally, hiring remotely widens the talent pool, removing location-based restrictions.
- Increased productivity: Research from the CIPD shows that 41% of employers have reported higher productivity with hybrid or home working. Employees can choose the environment that best suits their tasks, such as saving deep-focus work for home and scheduling collaborative meetings for office days.
- Better work-life balance: Hybrid working improves employees’ work-life balance by giving them more flexibility to manage personal and household tasks during the week, reducing the need to sacrifice their weekends.
- Enhanced teamwork and collaboration: Agile communication tools, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, are more frequently used in hybrid setups, leading to better teamwork, smoother collaboration, and more effective project management.
- Cost savings: Hybrid working reduces the need for extensive office space, potentially saving employers significant costs. For employees, the flexibility to work remotely helps alleviate rising living costs, with a quarter of people believing that hybrid working supports them financially.
- Greater inclusivity: Hybrid models provide opportunities for those with caregiving responsibilities or those struggling with commuting costs, as they reduce the need to travel. Research by McKinsey highlights that underrepresented groups are more likely to favour hybrid working. For instance, our findings show that 32% of women prefer flexible working, compared to 17% of men.
Disadvantages of hybrid work
Whilst there are clear advantages of hybrid work from an employer’s perspective, there are also several disadvantages to be aware of, such as:
- Distractions at home: While working from home can be effective for many, it can also bring distractions that reduce productivity. For certain industries, hybrid working may not even be feasible due to the nature of the work.
- Risk of overworking: Research from the BBC indicates that global working hours increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, as hybrid and remote work became more common. Some employees may overwork at home to prove their productivity in the absence of office presence.
- Feelings of isolation: Spending too much time working from home can lead to feelings of isolation, particularly for extroverted employees who thrive on face-to-face interactions with colleagues.
- Increased planning and costs for collaboration: Collaborative work often requires more planning when done remotely, and may necessitate new tools, adding time and costs to projects.
- Unsuitable home working environments: Not everyone has a home environment suitable for long-term remote work. For example, almost 16% of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds lack a dedicated workspace, which could negatively impact their health and wellbeing.
How to switch to a hybrid working model
Implementing a hybrid set up involves some careful planning and execution, as well as monitoring to make sure it’s working for both employer and employee. The following steps can help employers to access the benefits of hybrid working and avoid the potential downsides discussed above.
Co-create your hybrid work solution with staff
Every business has a unique workforce and challenges to overcome. Any decision related to the fundamental way work is completed needs to consider the thoughts of your team members, so employees have a voice and leaders can understand exactly what the sentiment is around proposed solutions and co-create an approach in response.
Our research has shown that 31% of workers prioritise a hybrid working model, while 49% said that the flexibility of the hours they work is the most important factor for them.
2. Define your hybrid policy
There’s no set blueprint to guarantee successful hybrid working. This could look like complete autonomy where a teammate chooses to be in the office five days a week, while another works from a different country every month.
It could look like designated office days or events where teams are expected to be there in person. A joined-up approach across HR, people managers and the leadership team will help to clarify the specifics of your hybrid working policy.
3. Build infrastructure for flexibility
Employees value the choice and freedom hybrid working brings – so be mindful that different personal circumstances may require additional flex.
Bigger team meetings may need to be planned further in advance to allow people to make travel arrangements if they typically work from home. Or it may not be the best use of time for a working parent to commute for two hours to the office four times a week when they work just as well at home. Build a fair framework that can be adapted to suit different needs.
4. Invest in company culture
It’s important to be mindful of potential drawbacks to hybrid working, so, when looking to implement, you should consider:
- How can you make sure all employees feel involved in a social situation if some of them are dialling in remotely?
- How can you foster “water cooler” chats over Teams?
- How can you give a flavour of the company culture in remote interviews or when onboarding remote staff?
Take the time to understand how hybrid working will change your company culture and be proactive in protecting it.
5. Gather feedback
Take regular pulse checks of workforce sentiment to understand how people are navigating changes to the way they work.
Be prepared to remain open and flexible. Some obstacles that arise will be surprising or will be very specific to an individual’s circumstances and you should work closely with your teams to find solutions.
Considerations for switching to a hybrid work model
Once the decision to switch to a hybrid work model has been made and a plan created, there are still several factors employers need to consider as part of an ongoing strategy to make hybrid work a success.
Let’s look at some of the specifics.
Training and development
Training and development is vital to get the best out of your current workforce and to make sure your employees are satisfied with their professional development. You’ll therefore need to think about what training and development will look like in a hybrid model.
Will all training be moved online, so anyone can take it whether they’re in the office or at home? Or will it be necessary for some training to be undertaken in person, whether in the office or at the location of an external training provider?
Technology and equipment
One of the unavoidable headaches for many organisations rolling out hybrid working is getting the right equipment and tech to workers.
If your employees currently work on large clunky desktop computers, they will need to be replaced or supplemented with laptops that can be taken home. There’s also the issue of security. You’ll need to ensure that employees logging into their work accounts on work equipment from home are not at risk of cybercriminals.
Health and wellbeing
A hybrid work environment could require new or altered safeguards to protect staff wellbeing. While managers may be able to spot warning signs and approach employees they are worried about in person, they may not be able to spot the same signs in those working from home.
Staff may also need some help with maintaining a healthy work-life balance if they are working from home more, with many struggling to switch off from work if their home is also their office.
Team communication
There’s no getting around the fact that communication will change once a hybrid system is in place. You’ll want to think carefully about how meetings are impacted when some staff are in the office and some are remote. Make sure those facilitating meetings have the appropriate training and tools to keep all participants engaged and feeling like their voices are being heard.
There will also need to be some thinking around how projects are monitored and managed. While in-office a manager can pop to a colleague’s desk in real-time to see how they are getting on, communication may be less immediate if that colleague is working from home that day. Think about what communication touch points you’ll put in place to ensure the continuous smooth-running of operations day-to-day.
Inclusion and fairness
As mentioned, remote workers can be at risk of being left out. There are therefore a few key questions that arise around inclusion and fairness, and the way you’re going to ensure nobody is sidelined, such as:
- Are certain demographics in your business more likely to favour remote work? What does this mean for workforce diversity?
- Does hybrid work have unintended consequences for career development or visibility?
- Are there any misconceptions that need tackling about home versus office-based working? E.g., is it assumed that someone who spends more time in the office is more invested in their role? How can you tackle these viewpoints and ensure fairness?
Legal implications
Finally, you’ll need to carefully consider any legal implications of a hybrid setup. There may be some legal obligations you have to support employees in creating a home office. There should also be a clear hybrid or home working policy in place from day one of the hybrid setup, so everyone knows where they stand.
One key consideration is around where exactly your remote employees can work from. If any are working abroad, there could be serious tax implications to understand.