It is no surprise that a pandemic has wholly changed life around the world. Speaking of the corporate world, COVID-19 has set in motion a Hybrid Workplace culture that has forced people to release their employees and let them work without being physically present in the offices.
We have spent more than a year in quarantine getting used to this work-from-home system, but businesses still have not fully adapted to these strange times. In days like these, the idea of a Hybrid Workplace has proven to be the light at the end of the tunnel that we are slowly moving towards as we push past this pandemic. We have been forced to embrace new ideas, and as always, humanity has come up with creative ventures to make the best of the current situation and keep the world economy going.
But what exactly is a Hybrid Workplace? What is this new brilliant idea that can save businesses from the clutches of bankruptcy? Below you will find more about what precisely hybrid jobs are and how they will help the world generate revenue, keep employees happy, etc. It’s not magic; a lot depends on the company and how it is running. The thing is that Hybrid Workplaces are probably the best professional work practice we’ve seen since the pandemic began.
So, what is a Hybrid Workplace?
A Hybrid Workplace is an environment where employees come into the office only for important occasions like an annual meeting and work the rest of the time remotely. This is an entirely new concept to the world that previously required employees to come into the office five days a week. This working model primarily suits employees as it offers them the benefit of working from home. To an inexperienced eye, this model may appear like a disaster for a company and its resources. But in fact, a Hybrid Workplace suits employers much more than employees. There’s no denying that such an idea could help businesses run much more smoothly when COVID-19 is finally over.
We say “until the end of COVID, “but the truth is that in the long run, companies will adapt to these Hybrid Workplace models. Hybrid models are becoming more and more relevant, and if you want to remain competitive, it’s necessary to switch to this new work concept.
Advantages of a Hybrid Workplace
Lower operating expenses
The first significant benefit of a Hybrid Workplace is the savings in operating costs. The employees themselves will now handle the day-to-day operations, and they will work in their physical location, and the office will no longer have to pay high fees for an office. Employees will still come to the offices, but since this will no longer be as frequent, the offices can invest in cheaper workplaces.
Increase performance
The efficiency of an organization can benefit significantly from a Hybrid Workplace. That’s true that employees are at home, which is seen as less productive, but this helps employees feel less micromanaged. They don’t have a team leader breathing down their neck, pressuring them to work the total eight hours they’re in the office. Instead, your employees have to work to deadlines, with the added incentive of finishing work and getting back to whatever series they’re binge-watching — working remotely is a great way to increase efficiency, even though it may seem like the complete opposite.
Encourage collaboration
A Hybrid Workplace may have its benefits, but the unique one is to organize the space for better collaborations properly. This will enable employees on different floors or even from other cities to collaborate freely and excel as a unit. Sure, without suitable methods and team management tools, it could prove to be a mess. However, if you are careful and know what you are doing, you can bring all your employees together on the same platform and make them work like a well-oiled machine.
Support employees financially
Hybrid Workspaces open up spaces to financially support employees. This may not seem suitable for your business and your expenses, but it’s great for employee retention and keeps your employees happy. The obvious benefit is reducing commuting costs, as your employees don’t have to come to your office every day. Apart from that, you can also help employees who don’t have the proper hardware, i.e., laptops, headsets, etc. and provide them with the necessary facilities to make their remote working experience comfortable.
How to benefit from a Hybrid Workplace?
Switching to such a relatively new concept of work will be a big challenge to get used to on an organizational level. However, with these tips, you can make the transition a little smoother.
Be ready for the challenges
Prepare yourself to face hundreds of issues during the transition. Shifting to an entirely new work regime will be difficult for your company as the employees take their time to adjust to everything. During this period, be patient with the challenges – or better yet, expect them. As an organizational leader, be open to the challenges that will come your way and hold your employees’ hands through them. Do your research to make sure you can solve any problem.
Set new objectives
You can’t run your business with a newer concept but have the same goals. Your older goals were based on an office-oriented environment. If you hope to accomplish the same thing with a Hybrid Workplace, you’ll be setting yourself up for disaster. The outcome won’t necessarily be good or bad. What we can say for sure, however, is that they will be different. Experiment with the resources available to you and consider the various possibilities that your Hybrid Workplace might create. You can’t reshape the future by pursuing goals from the past.
Engage your team
If you’re planning such a profound change, the team needs to be on board and know what’s going to happen. Tell them what you plan to do and the benefits of a Hybrid Workplace concept. Give heed to what they have to say and keep them informed of any future developments. Chances are, they’ll have some insight into Hybrid Workplaces that will completely revolutionize the idea and make it that much better. More importantly, prepare them in advance for the changes. Share some online resources where employees can research and explore the options. Before making such a significant change that can affect everyone, you must first get your team on board as a leader.
Introduce Three-Day Workweek
The situation has slightly improved in 2021. Companies now open their offices with certain restrictions and policies. If you want to protect your employees while working in a Hybrid Workspace, the best option is a three-day workweek. It will not be required for the employees to be at the office every day. Instead, they can just come to work three days a week and work from home for the remaining days. Most importantly, you can minimize the number of people in your offices at one time and keep your employees from getting caught up COVID-19. Half of your employees can come in Monday through Wednesday, while the rest can work on Thursday and Friday.
Invest in required tools
Hybrid Workplaces are practically impossible to implement without the help of productivity applications like Skilo, Asana, Jira, etc. Since you will do most of your work remotely, you can’t rely on emails and messaging apps for your work. They can slow things down and make it all the more difficult to achieve maximum efficiency. To have a chance at a productive Hybrid Workplace, you need to invest in the right tools to keep your daily tasks running smoothly.
Hybrid Workplaces aren’t just a luxury. They are the need of the hour. We live in a world with a merciless virus that is not going away anytime soon. We’ve already been in quarantine for a year. And though the first vaccines are coming on the market, we can’t get our hopes up just yet. The future is as uncertain as it gets. So you, the leader, must get your team through these difficult times.
Skilo is a Salesforce native app that provides a ready-to-use talent management solution. It streamlines, simplifies, and unifies the end-to-end process of talent acquisition, development, and retention. Skilo provides effective performance management, competency frameworks, along with skills development, career planning, training management, feedback, reviews, and social employee engagement. For more information, please visit www.skilohr.com, Skilo Linkedin profile, and Skilo Facebook page
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