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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