Omdia view
Summary
It looks like hybrid work is here to stay. But while we were catapulted into WFH (work from home) by the pandemic, CIOs and decision-makers must now be intentional about their hybrid work environment.
Work from home and office work have different goals and characteristics
“Work” is no longer a place; it’s an activity. There have been many necessary changes to accommodate WFH (work from home), including how meetings are held, how performance is measured, the blurring of work and private time, and, importantly, where work happens. Most organizations are working toward a hybrid work environment. However, hybrid working models require managers and executives to go back to basics and ask questions like: What is work? How do we manage work? How do we motivate and mentor workers? How do we lead from a distance? How and where does the organization innovate best? What is real collaboration? How can we create a work environment (both remotely and at offices) where we get the best from people?
Executives realize that work is best understood considering place (where work happens) and time (when work happens). Lynda Gratton (2020) calls place and time the axes of hybrid work. The place axis entails home and office, and the time axis involves synchronous and asynchronous time. Synchronous time includes meetings but also includes face-to-face interactions. Asynchronous time is where workers can focus on mentally demanding activities without being interrupted by colleagues. It needs to be recognized that some executives and managers have difficulty in managing from afar – it requires a change from management by attention and inspection to management by objectives and outcomes. Some managers may not be able to make the change.
Modern executives also recognize that the office is a social environment where serendipity plays a role in innovation and creativity. And that the office is where employees can draw on the energy of others to move their thinking forward.
Therefore, executives need to be deliberate about what work is done in each environment and structure their hybrid working policies to get the most out of people.
The next work normal
In the rush to move to hybrid, executives may concentrate solely on the new office environment. However, they should be aware that 49% of employees want hybrid work to continue and that one-third may quit if required to return to the office full-time (Robert Half, 2021). Thus, two issues arise: How do we make home work as effective as possible, and how do we attract workers back to the office?
Kristin Barry and Ben Wigert (2021) suggest that executives construct a workplace value proposition to offer to employees. The value proposition presents the organization’s culture and the elements of the culture that benefit from on-site interactions. It puts forward the value of social interactions and connections, face-to-face collaboration, and how in-person interactions improve creativity and energy. Notably, the value proposition stresses the enhanced sense of belonging to something more significant than the individual and the instilling of “how we do things.” This is especially important for onboarding new employees.
The office should be seen as a co-working space in which activities are purposely interactive and social. It should encourage free-flowing discussions and idea generation. While working at home, employees should be encouraged to address tasks that require concentration and can be done asynchronously. Interaction, collective energy, collaboration, brainstorming, and plain social interactions should be encouraged at the office.
A new office should be open. There should be relaxing areas, meeting spaces, retreat rooms, and hotdesking. Some organizations have gone out of their way to provide refreshments that are not common at home, like donuts and good coffee, fruit juices and fresh snacks, and in some cases, pizza or tacos parties.
Scheduling is possibly the essential element of hybrid working. Organizations want the right people to gather concurrently and equally; they want employees to have focus time at home. First, however, executives should ask employees about their preferences to avoid reluctance to come to the office or risk losing the employee altogether.
Appendix
Further reading
Lynda Gratton, Four Principles to Ensure Hybrid Work Is Productive Work, MIT Sloan Management Review, November 2020.
Kirsten Barry and Ben Wiggert, Going Back to Work in the Office: It Has to Be Worth It, Gallup, May 2021.
Author
Terry White, Associate Senior Analyst, Enterprise Technology Advisory Services
