How hybrid work impacts the modern workplace experience
Oct 17, 2024
Hybrid work is a flexible work model that combines both office-based and remote work. It's a blend of the traditional on-site work environment and the modern convenience of working from home or other remote locations. This model mitigates employee burnout by allowing employees the flexibility to split their time between working on-site work and remotely according to a predetermined schedule.
The hybrid work model is characterized by its flexibility, autonomy, and balance. It emphasizes employee choice, allowing individuals to work where they feel most productive. Unlike fully remote work, hybrid schedules retain a connection to a physical workspace, while also providing the freedom to work off-site, leveraging digital communication tools.
The traditional work model requires employees to work on-site during fixed hours. In contrast, remote work eliminates the need for a centralized office. Hybrid work stands in the middle, promoting a blended approach of the social interactions of office life and the autonomy of remote work.
For employees, hybrid work includes these positives:
But hybrid work does present challenges for employees, including:
The hybrid work model can benefit employers by:
But hybrid work is not without challenges for employers:
Addressing the challenges of hybrid work is essential in creating a more positive employee experience and workplace experience.
The workplace experience reflects an employee's overall journey within a company, including their daily interactions, working environment, and engagement with tasks and colleagues. It's crucial in influencing job satisfaction, productivity, and overall well-being, regardless of where work takes place.
Ensuring seamless collaboration is often a challenge in hybrid work settings. To address this, companies can implement robust digital collaboration tools and establish clear communication protocols.
There are also social implications to hybrid work. While employees are embracing flexibility, they acknowledge the loss of community that remote work brings. Employees are feeling less connected now that they are not interacting face-to-face with their colleagues daily. In fact, more than 70% say they don’t feel like they’re able to socialize enough when they’re working remotely. Our eBook: Creating the Workplace of the Future, covers this topic.
To combat employee disengagement, organizations can schedule regular team-building activities and ensure that remote workers are included in company events and initiatives.
A hybrid work model must ensure that both remote and on-site employees have equal opportunities for advancement and access to resources. This might include providing the necessary technology for remote work, invitations to all events and activities, and ensuring all employees are considered for career growth opportunities.
The ongoing debate still rages whether employees should be allowed to work in hybrid or remote settings, or should they be called back to the physical work setting? This debate will not be resolved through consensus any time soon. According to a recent study by Korn Ferry, only 34% of CEOs expect their employees to be in the workplace for a full 5-day work week – at least for the next three years.
Gallup says that the future of work has arrived, and that the proof is in the current landscape: more than 8 in 10 office employees say that hybrid and remote work is now their permanent working arrangement. At the same time, 90% of companies say that they’ll return to the office by the end of 2024. Since employees have come to enjoy the freedom and flexibility of 100% remote work, a hybrid work model may be the answer.
Productivity concerns remain for many employers and managers, but research has failed to show any definitive conclusions. In the U.S., employee productivity rose by 4.4% in 2020 and 2.2% in 2021, before falling in 2022 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2023, though, labor productivity rose 3.7% during the second quarter and is up 1.3% compared to last year.
Hybrid work has a significant impact on employees and employers.
According to the National Association of Realtors, office vacancies remain at record highs, and are expected to persist for another year. Leasing activity, an indicator of demand and interest from potential tenants, has declined and sits 63% below the pre-pandemic average. As company leases come due and the pressures mount to cut costs, FacilitiesDive reports the trend is to downsize.
Conversely, organizations looking to optimize their existing real estate footprint are improving the workplace experience using hospitality services, getting employees back to the office and realizing more value from their office space.
There are also social implications to this new world of work. While employees are embracing flexibility, they also acknowledge the loss of community that remote work brings. In fact, more than 70% say they don’t feel like they’re able to socialize enough when they’re working remotely. For more on this subject download our eBook: Creating the Workplace of the Future, a guide to understanding the importance of social connection and well-being in the workplace.
Organizations who leverage their physical workspaces to create a hub for social interaction, employee connection and collaboration intentionally address the workplace experience by design, not accident.
The principles that help hotels create loyal guests can help organizations boost employee engagement and encourage more employees and visitors to return to their office. This hospitality strategy influences workplace culture by tailoring experiences and relying heavily on personalization to provide customized service and a unique human touch.
For more information on this, download our free eBook: The Complete Guide to Workplace Hospitality.
In the past few years, technology has expanded and improved to connect with and engage employees, customers, their community, and others.
Circles’ technology creates a sense of community by connecting the workforce, on-site through amenities that can help employees achieve a better work-life balance, and hybrid by giving employees a reason to come into the office.
Including amenities as part of a total benefits package helps employees tick off their to-do lists, providing them with more free time when they’re not working and allowing them to focus better while at work. One example of this comes from an American multinational financial services corporation that saved its employees over 100,000 hours and boasts an annual 85% ROI.
When employees can work comfortably and feel connected to their employer and their co-workers, they tend to be more engaged, less burned out, and less likely to quit — contributing to positive business outcomes in terms of both productivity and profitability. Making a workspace that provides that sense of community entices hybrid employees back to physical work setting more often, and with more positive results.
