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LAST UPDATE | 7 Feb 2022
THE PANDEMIC HAS introduced new habits for workers: working from home has become the new normal, and a full return to the office seems a relic of the past.
With the end of the pandemic finally in sight, and with many workers not willing to go back to pre-pandemic arrangements, companies are focusing on future work organisations for their employees.
The situation is being handled in varied ways: some giving their employees permission to work remotely with work-from-anywhere policies; others recalling their workforce to the office on different schedules in an attempt to manage logistical concerns brought by the ongoing pandemic.
Emotionally drained
The Future of Work Research conducted in May 2021 by Accenture found that 83% of the respondents were inclined to move to a hybrid setting to avoid having to go back to pre-pandemic arrangements.
In theory, hybrid offers a win-win situation for both employees and employers. It mixes pre-Covid office-based working with remote days, producing a schedule that allows both in-person collaboration and team building, as well as greater flexibility and the opportunity for focused work at home.
We are now two years into the pandemic and optimism about hybrid work has given way to fatigue: hybrid working, commuting and routine change are extremely exhausting! I recently had a conversation with an acquaintance who shared this with me:
I had to go into the physical office yesterday for the first time, it was terrible; the commute time, then I couldn’t find parking, when I actually got to my desk none of my IT set-ups would work or connect to the office network and then later, at lunch, my usual café was shut. By the end of the day, on the commute back to my home office, I really wondered why I had bothered to make the effort at all as I was totally exhausted!
The favoured compromise
The move to the hybrid model was the default for organisations’ that had physical offices and leases as they planned their move out of pandemic and emergency home working. In 2021 it became the focus, by default but often its implementation was stalled by further local restrictions and also a lack of capacity to prepare fully for the transition. Many organisations have been in “contingency” mode for far too long.
It is neither here (in office) nor there (remote)
One of the most significant problems with a hybrid model is its potential to lead to a confusing organisational identity and a bewildered individual worker status. It is a halfway house between fully remote and in person, making it extremely difficult to implement effectively.
Issues in its implementation can span the gambit; from lack of strategic alignment and agreement to issues with workspace planning and logistics to worker inequality and ultimately a negative impact on worker wellbeing. All in the already delicate context of a global pandemic.
International remote work expert Laurel Farer highlighted the potential for inequalities arising from hybrid model implementation:
Without intentional change management and equality support, hybrid models can be riddled with complications and potential blindspots.
For instance, workers could feel forced to go to the office, to show their bosses they are not lazy nor taking advantage of home working. Such peer pressure can disrupt an already fragile routine and lead to overworking and burnout, a condition that can take a long time to show up but has devastating effects on people’s mental health.
A changed world
The one thing we know emerging from the pandemic is that workers want and demand more flexibility. A rigid hybrid model can quash that and disappoint workers, leaving them feeling rejected and frustrated.
“Moving to hybrid has the potential to disrupt someone’s home-working routine,” explains Gail Kinman, a chartered psychologist and fellow of the British Psychological Society.
“Hybrid practices haven’t become second nature yet, so it takes greater energy, organisation and planning. You have to form new strategies – hot-desking, planning commutes – that you wouldn’t need if you were fully remote or in-person”.
Hybrid work can be the best of both worlds, but like any planned organisational change programme, it requires focused effort and time to implement, both of which have been in short supply in recent pandemic times. Companies must avoid implementing hybrid work policies on the fly and focus on finding a considerate approach to be rolled out in steps.
All is not lost though, the future is very bright for employers and their staff once flexibility is at the heart of plans on both sides. Here are a few tips for how best to make this new form of working suit everyone:
Step 1 – Pilot testing
Start with a pilot, where a group of volunteers test a new model. Then gather feedback and adjust as needed. Only after you have reached the best iteration, should you implement the new setting organisation-wide.
Step 2 – Set expectations and finetune internal comms
During the transition to hybrid working, keeping team norms in availability, communications, online presence, workflows and expectations clear, is paramount.
Linda Hill, professor at Harvard Business School, explains it as: “Have an explicit discussion about how and when you’re going to communicate, who has access to what information, who needs to be in which meetings, and who needs to be in on which decisions”.
She recommends coming to an agreement on norms for communicating. Should people always include the entire team? Must recipients acknowledge every message? She says it’s important to set guidelines for when to use what channel — email, Slack, phone, etc
Step 3 – Make sure leadership is ready
As a reminder, we are asking leaders to be hybrid model transition ready too. Recently I wrote about remembering that leaders are humans too, that they need to put on their own lifejacket first, before being able to attend to others.
When we are planning any sort of organisational model transition, leader readiness, compassion and overall wellbeing have to be considered.
Fundamentally, as part of the workforce, leaders are also being asked to move to a hybrid model and also advocate and lead others in that transition. It is a major task and ask. Employers need to realise how big an ask it is, for both their leaders and the wider workforce
Appreciating the potential negative impacts and nuances of the hybrid model on workers is the first step in moving to action and planning carefully the transition. Factoring in the least disruptive, most considered and careful move that ensures workers feel supported in the adoption of the new model in practice.
Rowena Hennigan is founder of RoRemote. Subscribe to her Newsletter “Remote Work Wellbeing Digest” for regular news updates.
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There’s no ending to the human capacity for complaining.
A hybrid system is a fantastic alternative to the pre-pandemic office based role – can we not just be happy that the opportunity exists and gradually improve on it or do we now have to complain about everything all of the time?
@Lee King Buckett: Are you……new? ;)
@v39e84kK: getting the feeling that Mr Buckett is a “human complaining”
@HowUdoin: That’s a fair point actually
@Lee King Buckett: It is not complaining for complainings sakes. Many have been effectively working remotely for the last two years & have no need to be in an office. Hybrid means that people still are geographically tethered to where they can live. Allowing full remote means there are people who could move away from the main urban areas, freeing up more homes for those who need to be near their work. More people moving to smaller towns means more regeneration & jobs outside of the main cities. Less commuting is better for the environment & more space on transport for those who need to use it. People can have a better quality of life. There will always be plenty of people who enjoy being in the office but demanding a return for those who do not need to be there is just a control mechanism.
@Lee King Buckett: We should take the opportunity to avoid logistical mistakes like asking someone to be in the office Monday morning, Wednesday all day and.Friday.afternoon without considering whether they live round the corner or three hours away.
@Heather Knowles: Personally I think that employers who are willing to offer hybrid working arrangements have already taken a big step forward and are doing enough for employees.
If you don’t like it then I guess you’re free to find a job with full time remote working in place?
@Lee King Buckett: I run my own business and don’t work in an office. It doesn’t affect me personally. But I can see the benefits of allowing remote work to continue for those who have effectively shown they are as effective and productive working remotely as being dragged back into an office to do exactly the same work. There are many benefits to it, environmentally, financially, housing, regeneration of smaller towns, less time wasted. Not everyone is an extrovert, introverts work much more effectively without social pressures. A one size fits all policy is nonsensical. Employers should recognise that and if someone is happy working remotely and has proven to be as effective over the last two years, there is no reason other then micro management to insist on coming back.
While I work remotely since 2016, a hybrid model could be nice, when set up with common sense. If the employers wants their staff in office for multiple days a week, those need to be consecutive days. The hybrid model Apple introduced, is the opposit of being beneficial, as it means that their employees still have to live close to the offices. Or commute long ways. Which has of course negative effects on the environment and/or the renting market. The last 2 years proved that a lot of jobs can be done remotely and for me there is no sense in stopping that for those wanting to stay remotely.
It is well to remember that we work to live not live to work. All work situations are different as frontline staff had no option but to work away from home. Working from home (WFH) has taught a lot of workers that the high costs in time and money of commuting erode their pay and quality of life. Being able to be at home with family commitments redresses the imbalance of family unfriendly work practices where two salaries have become necessary to fund childcare and high rent/mortgage to live in expensive cities. When employers were forced to facilitate remote working they could albeit grudgingly. Unions in particular need to adopt a what we have we hold and turn contingency into rights based work practices and family friendly flexibility.
One of the issues people seem to ignore is the fact some people moved out of Dublin and let their rentals go. If they do a hybrid they still have to rent a place in Dublin or find a place that the can stay a couple of days. Ideally a place that you can rent for 2 days a week would suit some. That probably is seen like Airbnb so you can’t do that without planning permission. There is now a place for such rentals that actually help with a shortage of rentals
@Craic_a_tower: Rash decision to give up a home without knowing how your employer will react post restrictions?
@Lee King Buckett: It meant a large saving to many people. You may have noticed house prices have risen outside Dublin because many people have made a bigger commitment to work remotely. People moved home to care for family too.
Speaking from what lots of folk have told me the last few months, many want to keep working from home but with flexi hours (not tied to a 9-5). If the need arises to go to the office then they want to do so outside commuter peak. So the key takeaway is that managers need to scrap the 9am all group check in call, do one the day before at 4.
@Jason Walsh: What if 4 doesn’t suit me? ‘flexi’ time can also mean 24/7 on-call.
@v39e84kK: that’s why I used the word ‘before’. It doesn’t mean on-call 24/7 in the slightest.
@Jason Walsh: Just scrap the group check in call (whatever that is for) and trust your employees to get their work done.
Thankfully my employer doesn’t feel the need to check in on us which kind of makes sense considering the fact that we are not children.
It’s better for environment, less cars on road. Never hear green party saying this though as they not really green are they
I’ve been a remote worker 20 years id never go back to the office with people watching your every move.
Hybrid teams will need to connect and collaborate at least once a week. But that can happen on Zoom/Teams as easily as in person. It takes effort, proper tech, and trust that your teams are actually working. It will work if businesses allow it to work.
Hybrid is better than 5 days office
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