The Covid-19 Pandemic has opened opportunities for people to work from home. This experience has triggered workers to prefer to continue working remotely to avoid the effort and expenses to commute to work. Now that everything is opening up, thanks to the mass vaccination programs and lockdowns, a complete return to the old way of working is highly unlikely. While a few companies have announced a full return to the office, almost 60% of the global businesses are considering building a hybrid workplace.
Building a hybrid Work culture is not as easy as it sounds. Businesses need to have the right tools and infrastructure to sustain a hybrid workforce model. Here are the five best practices that can help your company foster a successful hybrid culture.
Take a remote-first approach
Companies need to assess what can be done to accommodate the employees who are going to work remotely. Companies need to center on a purpose-built digital space where all employees (both on-site and remote) can collaborate and come together regardless of where they are located.
Maintain visibility
In order to make the digital HQ effective, managers and employees need to discuss any work-related insights or decisions in the conversations where everything can be recorded to provide visibility for everyone. This shift will require patience and reinforcement but the end result will be more connected and less chaotic.
Treat every employee equally
Positioning remote work is something that the companies should encourage if the kind of the work permits rather than just something to allow. Managers often rate in-office workers as higher and more serious performers, despite little evidence of improved productiveness. So it is important to award the staff with raises and promotions based on their results rather than their working conditions.
Create an inclusive and lively space for all
A survey from Microsoft found that 52% of the employees felt more valued as a remote contributor in meetings as everyone was now in the same virtual rooms. As employees return to the office, companies risk falling back to the old patterns of work, leaving remote workers on the fringes. Intentional efforts are required to make the space more inclusive and lively. Managers need to plan more online activates and encourage all employees to participate.
Emphasize core values in a new digital space
It is a challenge for a hybrid work environment to redefine the values of the organization beyond the halls and the walls and ensure that they are woven into a digital space. Leaders need to find new ways of communicating these values consistently, especially to remote employees. This could include demonstrating the goalposts of the organization online through group channels. They also need to learn how to sport, acknowledge, and reinforce value-driven behavior in digital settings.
Companies need to ensure that the hybrid culture that they are building would last even after this pandemic is over or else they might be at the risk of losing efficient staff. Building a successful hybrid culture will ensure the resilient of the company from future disruptions.