{"id":42707,"date":"2022-01-11T10:14:41","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T10:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/?guid=51b6f5f03581fd3e3e03b4246e89cbbc"},"modified":"2022-01-11T10:14:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T10:14:41","slug":"how-to-avoid-corrupting-your-hybrid-work-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/how-to-avoid-corrupting-your-hybrid-work-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid corrupting your hybrid work strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n Keri Allan<\/a><\/span>
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11 Jan, 2022<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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With businesses forced to close their offices for months on end, we\u2019ve witnessed one of the greatest working arrangement shakeups in history. Companies implemented new systems and policies while embarking on digitally transform projects, as workers had to adapt to a completely new way of working.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While many thrived, others struggled, and almost everyone agrees the\u00a0old ways won\u2019t work any longer<\/a>. As such,\u00a0hybrid work<\/a>\u00a0has become a central tenant in the marketing campaigns and portfolios of countless vendors, with promises\u00a0of trust, empowerment and flexibility rampant. With several concerns mounting, though, especially around application overload and employee monitoring, there\u2019s a risk the reality of hybrid work won’t match these early ambitions.<\/p>\n

The evolution of hybrid work<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The evolution of hybrid work started before the pandemic, with forward-thinking businesses\u00a0fundamentally changing how they use space<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 introducing hot-desking, breakout rooms and collaboration spaces, alongside increased digitisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was well underway before the pandemic, with progressive organisations embracing a plethora of digital tools from virtual work environments like\u00a0Slack and Microsoft Teams<\/a>\u00a0to shared cloud storage and SharePoint sites,\u201d says Matt Hancocks, senior director at Gartner.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the pandemic hit, remote working was becoming more accessible, and many tech companies were quick to jump on this trend, directing their product development to further amplify it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSince many tech companies had been quick to adapt, there\u2019d also been a gravitation towards using the company\u2019s products to support their own hybrid set-ups,\u201d adds Alok Alstrom, founder of the Future of Work Institute. \u201cInstead of developing products for \u2018someone else\u2019, they viewed themselves as the first users of their products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most organisations were reluctant to embrace remote working prior to COVID-19. Fully remote employees comprised less than 5% of the global workforce, rising to 10% if you included employees who occasionally worked from home, Gartner figures show. When lockdowns led to approximately 70% of the world\u2019s knowledge workers working remotely, however, 75% of businesses discovered that\u00a0productivity was the same, if not better<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hybrid work \u2013 help or hindrance?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now many organisations see hybrid work wasn\u2019t a barrier to productivity, they\u2019ve been happy to embrace various models, but the\u00a0explosion of technologies and systems<\/a>\u00a0might actually be more oppressive than liberating.<\/p>\n

When governments mandated working from home, for instance, many organisations implemented new tools to\u00a0monitor employee productivity<\/a>, including screen capture, measuring keystrokes, webcam photography and web monitoring. This was considered heavy-handed by many, and not suitable for all work environments, such as those roles revolving around thinking time and creativity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maintaining an online presence actually become the main source of stress for employees, according to IDC\u2019s Meike Escherich, associate research director \u2013 future of work. Both Escherich and Hancocks agree the solution lies with moving away from measuring productivity by output, and towards focusing on business outcomes. Organisations that implement this mentality shift will sustain greater benefits from today\u2019s hybrid working world, whereas businesses that focus on monitoring their employees risk alienating workers.<\/p>\n

Digital fatigue<\/a>\u00a0is another concern, Al Fox, Director and head of HR at B2B marketing firm Fox Agency, tells\u00a0IT Pro<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019ve always avoided micromanagement and surveillance, but digital fatigue is an issue when working online all day,\u201d he says. \u201cCreatives love working together in an office where they can share or draw ideas on paper or board, and that doesn\u2019t work quite as well virtually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor this reason, they try and meet in person when they can. For others,\u00a0a day filled with Teams or Zoom meetings<\/a>\u00a0can be extremely tiring and lack the spontaneity of real-life meetings. The convenience of video meetings is amazing, but there are always downsides, it would be foolish to pretend there aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crafting a hybrid model for 2022<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As the world reopens, hybrid work is being driven by employees\u2019 desire to maintain the flexibility and empowerment remote working provided. Autonomy over one\u2019s working day has become more important than remuneration to many, which has led to what\u2019s become known as \u2018The Great Resignation\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roughly 65% of employees are prepared to quit and seek employment elsewhere if their company isn\u2019t prepared to offer a degree of flexibility and remote working, Gartner figures show. With UK vacancies reaching an all-time high, therefore, businesses must consider genuine hybrid working options as a\u00a0key tool in retaining talent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Employers are also benefiting from workers realising they\u2019re no longer tied to their location. \u201cPeople in York or Inverness can now work for a London-based company or even one in San Francisco,\u201d says Fox. \u201cThat\u2019s a big change and one that\u2019s worked for us as it\u2019s opened the talent pool right up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going forward, the most successful work strategies will be human-centric, Hancocks says, and organisations should rethink their relationships with employees. This journey is underway for many organisations, with businesses reducing how many days employees must be\u00a0office-based<\/a>. Others, meanwhile, are taking a more radical approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n