When the global pandemic of 2020 hit, employers were quick to implement hybrid programs before assessing the impact of unleashing a program that had no real guidelines or process.
Although this model worked for a few years, it has become apparent in many organizations and especially larger ones with complex decision-making HR departments, that the need for a well thought out and planned approach is necessary.
What’s the risk?
The vast majority of companies offer hybrid work. As more employers call employees back to the office without explanation or collaboration, they could face high turnover rates and declines in productivity.
According to SCOOP, the rate of companies offering work location and time flexibility has grown from a 51% adoption rate in 2023 to 69% in 2024, with only 32% of these employers requiring full-time presence in the office per week and 32% allowing five days a week remote work. The rest of the organizations allow for 1-4 days of telework on a weekly basis.
Managers whose companies have demanded a return to the office five days a week often face demoralized employees and reduced ability to recruit and retain quality talent. An informal and uncertified survey of Amazon employees shows that nearly 75% of the affected employees who are required to come back to the office starting January 2025 are exploring opportunities for work elsewhere. A 2024 Gallup research study of 2,877 hybrid workers shows that half the hybrid workers (48%) have not discussed a formal or informal plan to collaborate effectively in a hybrid environment. Organization-wide policies or guidelines on expectations for remote working are not sufficient by themselves to enhance teamwork and current organizational cultures. Even working in the office does not happen organically.
Collaborate to keep high engagement.
A planned approach helps team members to know what to expect from each other and not work in an arena where individual priorities can run events. Team managers also need to know how to orchestrate such teams. Gallup reports that organizations that have planned for collaboration and teamwork do result in employees being 66% more engaged and 29% less burned out. A team agreement or charter on mission and goals seems to be a guiding element in some of these environments.
Details, please:
Strategies for solid team coordination include set team and individual meetings (67%), guidelines of availability during business hours (62%) and guidelines for asynchronous activity (50%). In fact, less prevalent are guidelines for being on site for a certain number of days (34%), and the least common practice is providing guidelines for prioritizing activities while on site (29%). Gallup also reports that prioritizing higher value activities on site was also a bigger factor in increasing hybrid workers’ engagement.
Tell me more:
Other best practices include ongoing team meetings with some discussions on lessons learned and how to work more effectively together. Another key strategy is training. Of the hybrid workers, only 21% are trained for hybrid work — and of the managers, 28% are trained by their organization. It’s time for organizations to develop these skills and talk about working differently among both groups. An effective manager leads up to four times better at employer engagement and well-being, regardless of location.
Flexwork as strategy, not perk.
According to a 2024 Our FoHRsight white paper, whether your organization allows for a structured hybrid program, prescribing days of work in the office, or a more autonomous flexible approach, your flexwork program should be treated like any other business strategy and not just a policy or perk. Telework and the flexibility of hours should not be a fad and be shut down because it isn’t working perfectly. Authors and Future FoHRward co-founders Mark Edgar and Naomi Titleman Colla write: “When we treat hybrid working like a policy, we drive compliance as the outcome; where as when we treat it as a strategy, we drive business performance by optimizing business experience as the outcome. ”
A flex-friendly culture.
Many factors come into the decision-making process and the ability of the CEO and executive team to create a culture that is amenable to the flexibility of work. These factors are:
- size
- organizational type
- age of company
- the ability to reduce leases
- type of work
- on-site parking demands
Actually, the most important job of a CEO and executive team is to create a vision and culture for adopting such transformations as hybrid working. If the culture does not change, it can have a huge impact on how deeply hybrid work can be adopted.
Here’s the recap:
A strategy on hybrid work should be based on the following:
- An ongoing and sustainable policy, not a pandemic policy
- Direction from the CEO and the executive team on approving such a change in the goals, objectives and resources for the work environment
- Individual and group/team agreement or charter
- Ongoing troubleshooting of problems/challenges and solutions from managers and teleworkers
- Logic for identifying right jobs and candidates
- Training programs for managers and teleworkers
Eager to set up your hybrid program for success? Need a third-party evaluation through surveys, focus group meetings and overall strategy of your program? Need training for your managers and teleworkers? Ready to schedule a meeting? The Georgia Commute Options FlexWork consulting team has decades of experience in helping companies customize their remote and hybrid work programs to best suit their unique circumstance.
Email us at telework@gacommuteoptions.com.