Hybrid Working: Challenges and Solutions for Organizations (I/II)
In an economy where flexibility and adaptability are becoming increasingly important, hybrid working has become the new norm for many organizations. This method, where employees work both in the office and remotely, offers many advantages but also presents unique challenges. In this two-part series, we dive deep into the five core challenges of hybrid working and provide practical insights for HR professionals and real estate experts.
Retaining Engaged Employees
One of the most important challenges companies face is keeping employees involved in the organization and cultivating the company culture. How can companies ensure that there is a sense of belonging so that everyone feels part of the team, even if they only work together for part of the week or not at all?
Recent research shows that 43% of employees do not feel connected to their company [1]. This underlines the urgency of this challenge. When the impact of hybrid working is not taken into account, working from home can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation. These feelings have a negative impact on mental health and job satisfaction, with the result that employees are not engaged and achieve poor or no results.
Companies must take proactive steps to encourage team building and communication. Here are some strategies for keeping employees engaged:
a) Benefits: Implement flexible benefits. Services such as YourCampus allow employees to choose which benefits suit them best, within their available budget.
b) 1-on-1 interviews: Managers should schedule regular 1-on-1 meetings, ideally every two or three weeks. These moments are not only meant to talk about results, but also to gauge how employees are doing, both professionally and personally [1].
c) Social activities: Organize (virtual) social activities and events to promote team building. Think of knowledge-sharing workshops, hackathons, gaming tournaments or after-work drinks [2].
d) Core values: Clearly communicate the organization's mission, vision, and core values to all employees. This ensures that people can identify with the company and therefore feel involved [3].
A Future-proof Office Strategy
How and when people use the office has completely changed. Managers around the world expected to return to headquarters en masse after the pandemic, but the opposite has happened. Employees around the world say they want to decide where and when they work — whether it's at headquarters, in a hub, a coworking space, or at home.
Recent figures show that 52% of employees prefer a hybrid work model [4]. This newfound flexibility and freedom of choice has become essential for attracting and retaining talent.
As a result, companies around the world need to think about what to do with their surplus of rented office space. By allowing employees to work flexibly, companies can reduce their office space and thus save considerably on rent, maintenance and energy costs. According to a CBRE study, implementing a hybrid work strategy can reduce office space by up to 30% [5].
Here are a few things to consider when developing an effective and sustainable strategy for your office accommodation:
a) Calculate Hybrid Work Footprint (HWF): Identify how many workplaces you facilitate, what the costs per workplace are, how often people come to the office, and what the travel costs are. This analysis helps determine the impact of hybrid working on your organization.
b) Offering Workplace-as-a-Service: Dive into the possibilities of Space-as-a-Service. The traditional office market is becoming increasingly flexible and service-oriented. Research shows that one in two European office owners expects to offer 16% to 25% of their commercial property portfolios in a flexible and service-oriented way by 2025 [6].
c) Fit-out with a purpose: Identify the needs of your employees. What type of office environment do they prefer to work in? Design & build agencies can advise you to create an office environment that supports both collaboration and concentrated work [3].
d) Stimulating sustainability: Hybrid working contributes to reducing commuting, leading to lower CO2 emissions. By implementing a sustainable work strategy, companies can not only contribute to a better environment, but also potentially benefit from tax benefits or subsidies.
e) Continuous review: Organize regular feedback sessions and conduct employee surveys to understand how hybrid working works in practice. Use these insights to adjust office policies and make improvements where necessary [7].
It's important to note that only 28% of companies have made team agreements about when and why to come to the office [4]. This underlines the importance of a well-thought-out office strategy in the hybrid work context.
Conclusion
Hybrid working offers organizations and employees unprecedented flexibility, but it also presents significant challenges. In this first part, we focused on two crucial aspects: retaining engaged employees and developing a future-proof office strategy.
It is clear that organizations must act proactively to ensure employee connectivity in a hybrid work environment. By investing in regular communication, social activities, and flexible employment conditions, companies can cultivate a culture of engagement regardless of the physical location of their employees.
At the same time, the changing role of the firm requires a thorough reconsideration of the real estate strategy. Organizations should carefully review their Hybrid Work Footprint and consider adopting more flexible, service-oriented workplace solutions. This is not only to save costs, but also to better meet the changing needs and expectations of their employees.
In the second part of this series, we will delve deeper into the other challenges of hybrid working. We will investigate how organizations can effectively use technology to support hybrid collaboration, how to facilitate knowledge transfer between remote employees, and how to ensure a healthy work-life balance in a hybrid work environment. These insights will help organizations develop a holistic approach to hybrid working that promotes both employee productivity and well-being.
Stay tuned for part two, where we'll further explore these critical themes and provide practical solutions to the challenges of the modern, hybrid workplace.
Sources:
[1] Microsoft (2022), Work Trend Index - Great Expectations: Making Hybrid Work Work
[2] Buffer (2022) State of Remote Work Report 2022
[3] McKinsey (2021) - The future of work after COVID-19
[4] Necklaces (2022) EMEA Office Snapshot Q1 2022
[5] CBRE (yes) European Office Occupier Sentiment Survey 2023
[6] The Instant Group (2022) - 2022 Flex Industry Survey - The Future of Flex
[7] Frankwatching (2023) - The challenges of hybrid working: what managers need to know
[12] Cushman & Wakefield (2023) - Obsolescence Equals Opportunity
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This article was written by YourSpace
