“Success in a hybrid work environment requires employers to move beyond viewing remote or hybrid environments as a temporary or short-term strategy and to treat it as an opportunity.” – George Penn of Gartner
According to Gartner, the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped work in cities worldwide, forcing many to work from home. However, stating that remote work is here to stay in the aftermath of the pandemic, and so is the pandemic made us realise that much of our work can be done remotely from anywhere and that physical presence at the workplace is not always necessary.
Many companies will implement a hybrid workplace model for their places of operation in the months and years to come. A hybrid workplace blends on-site, in-person presence with remote work.
Some people may not be aware of it, yet hybrid situations are more prevalent than ever before. The time is now to begin planning to increase productivity and engagement in your office’s hybrid areas.
Maintaining strong staff engagement is vital; the connection that workers have to their employer and the job they accomplish there may be used to describe employee engagement. A worker’s emotional dedication to their organisation and its objectives makes up this commitment. An engaged workforce is distinguished from a disengaged one by this, which is why businesses worldwide are looking for ways to increase employee engagement.
To elevate employee engagement in a hybrid workplace.
- The organisational values must be clearly stated, so your team can understand how they drive behaviour every day at work so as not to feel disconnected from their work due to lack of clarity.
- To ensure that communication is current and instantly responsive, make sure that your team has access to all the knowledge and tools they require.
- Engagement among employees boosts output, dedication, and happiness. Active listening is the only way to tell if your staff members are engaged.
- Individuals have greater flexibility when they combine office and remote work, and organisations benefit from higher production.
- Top company executives worldwide are embracing the hybrid approach to offer flexibility and promote a better work-life balance. It has also been emphasised that hybrid technology has its own set of challenges as we become used to the new normal, but there are actions we can take to reduce those concerns.
Here are some common challenges that companies face when moving to a hybrid workplace model and their solutions.
- Communication: It is the thread that binds the two sides in a hybrid model. With employees scattered around the globe, it becomes imperative to use technology for tools that bridge the communication gap and help workers connect in real time. However, formal training on these technologies is critical so that employees know how to use the technologies needed to support a hybrid or virtual work environment.
- Coordination and Collaboration: Coordination becomes a challenge when a remote worker gets left out of face-to-face discussions and decisions among those working in the office. This can create confusion and a feeling of being left out. One solution to this problem is the use of collaboration tools. This will help users be on the same page and aware of even the smallest changes in a document or a project.
- Connection and sharing resources: Professional networking and mentoring relationships sometimes take a backseat when working remotely, causing the social life of a workplace and bonds between employees can be lost. A cloud approach helps employees access and share resources seamlessly, whether working from home or the office.
- Upskilling Employees: Implementing a hybrid model will be simpler if your team members upgrade their skills and become experts in the technologies and tools needed in a remote environment. This has been made simple by the availability of eLearning solutions from several training companies, including pcl., which allow staff members to study whenever and wherever they choose, at their speed.
- Cyber Threats: A hybrid work culture attracts cyber threats like a magnet. However, the right security policies and cyber threat awareness in the workforce can prevent the havoc created by a data breach. With Cybersecurity awareness training, employees can be more proactive in identifying a threat and stopping such attacks.
Business leaders need not start from scratch to make a hybrid culture work in their organisation. They can follow a step-by-step approach, starting with motivating their employees and promoting training programs focused on digital skills such as cloud, cybersecurity and working knowledge of collaborative and productivity tools. With this approach, any hybrid environment can be successful and safe while maintaining steady growth for the organisation.
In conclusion, Phillips Consulting Limited (pcl.) helps organisations design systems and strategies tailored to help clients run a hybrid or remote work culture, and this will help employees enjoy more independence, have a great work-life balance, and be more engaged. This also benefits employers (Organisations) by developing a more productive, healthy, and stable workforce.
pcl. is committed to creating strategies to maximising work time with our experience of over 31 years supporting businesses. We always seek to work with organisations looking to strengthen their business by designing great systems and processes. To further discuss more on how we can support you, please reach out to us at people@phillipsconsulting.net
Written by:
| Olawunmi Ojedeji | Oreoluwa Gbajumo-Umukoro
Assistant Consultant |
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