How to make hybrid working work for your business

There is no clear cut answer. Some companies are happy for their staff to work from home – high profile names such as Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter have all said their staff have the option to work from home permanently. Others, particularly within the finance sector, are suggesting that the long-term role of remote work has been overstated and that the office should still be seen as an important hub. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon recently described remote working as “an aberration that we are going to correct as quickly as possible.”

Rather than 100% one way or the other, many companies are suggesting that a hybrid solution – a combination of some days in the office and some days working from home – is the answer. But this still has issues on a practical level. Who decides who is in on which days? Will the office be super busy on some days and mostly vacant on others? Does the business retain the perceived benefits of everyone being in the office if only some staff are in attendance on any one day? How does the employee experience change?

It’s easy for the debate to slip into personal preferences and viewpoints and HR must retain a neutral standpoint on the issue. Business leaders and decision-makers must move on from the perceived problems associated with remote working prior to the pandemic. We now have huge swathes of data available to prove or disprove previously held beliefs such as ‘remote working is less productive’, ‘our systems can’t support remote working’, and ‘homeworking roles attract less productive people’.

So what can HR do to find a solution that works for everyone?

1. Collect some hard data

The first step is to gain the evidence needed to create a working structure and model that works for everyone. Start by using HR software to survey all your staff. Direct questions are needed: who does want to return, who doesn’t, who wants a combination of days in and out. Find out specifics. It’s an emotive issue so it might also be useful to give employees the option to answer anonymously if preferred.

Next, collect any productivity data you can access. How has working remotely impacted metrics such as hours worked, call rates, sales, customer service responses etc? Also consider showing your business leaders evidence of how hybrid working could be beneficial to your company such as retaining key employees, cutting out non-productive commuting hours, the perceived recruitment advantage etc.

 

2. Get to the bottom of concerns

• Is this a policy or a people issue?
• Do managers not trust specific employees to work effectively at home for example?
• Are some individuals relishing the idea of not working with a ‘difficult’ colleague?
• Are employees worried about distancing measures and being safe at work?
• Is home working perceived as unprofessional by customers?
• Do managers have concerns about how key requirements for success such as collaboration, creativity and mentoring are negatively impacted if employees are not in the office?

Understandably you are likely to uncover a broad range of concerns, however, the key is to evaluate what the real issues are; then you can begin to look at how to address these.

 

3. Present solutions for hybrid working 

Your proposed hybrid working solution is likely to comprise a mix of technology elements, practical solutions and some creative thinking. For example, consider introducing office technology that shows how in-person and remote individuals can work together - especially if there have been technical issues with everyone joining from home on to one video platform.

Work out a timetable that allows for distancing and spreading out the use of facilities – you probably don’t want everyone out of the office on Mondays and Fridays and everyone in Tuesday to Thursday for example.

Moving forward presents an opportunity to create a different but perhaps better solution that works for everyone – and that’s a far more exciting prospect than simply going back to what happened before.

If you would like to find out more about how the latest HR software and tools can help you to build your ideal hybrid work solution – please do get in touch with one of our HR software experts.