Hybrid Workplace: How to Sustain the Present Work Culture?

Hybrid work refers to an employee’s choice over whether to work remotely or from the office. This includes a functioning methodology that supports remote work, such as flexible working hours, meetings, time tracking, online breaks and more. 

Multiple factors influence hybrid working. It is instead stated as a paradoxical version of working. According to surveys conducted, it was found that more than 65% of the employees have become more purpose-oriented, and simultaneously, the culture has witnessed an enormous change with respect to the pre-pandemic era.

Pandemic has wholly transformed the working environment wherein the future of hybrid work type is imminent. This evokes a need to radically re-establish a culture to get hybrid working phenomenon right. Culture represents the typical set of practices that shape how people work and respond day today. 

Companies with healthy cultures have greater total returns to shareholders than companies facing culture-related challenges. Earlier, the culture was more centred on getting the work done, but it focused more on workers during the pandemic. They are returning to offices after a 15-month gap gives the leader an impeccable opportunity to redefine their culture.

In contrast, some leaders are struggling to preserve their initial pre-pandemic culture. Still, rationally, there’s been a massive change both at the individual level and at the business level to return at the same level.

The abundance of fact-finding states that people have become more purpose-oriented and have reckoned that every minute they spend working is a moment they sacrifice by not spending it with their child, parents who need care, or their partners. Employees have now started considering their work more than just a job.

They instead want it in accordance with the purpose of their life. This new approach of people, if met via the work they are allotted, results in increased productivity, engagement and retention. Management practises were the core differentiators of firms that maintained a healthy culture during the pandemic. 

The free flow of information, knowledge sharing, rendition transparency, and some practices like role clarification and operational discipline was the critical emphasising factors seen in the companies getting a hold of a healthy culture. 

Prosperous companies imbibed innovation and new solutions into the systems and their processes. 

However, the need for the people to come in person and interact to stimulate engagement was still necessary. The notion is throughout the pandemic, the immediate team communication and connectivity has improved, but the linkages across the teams have gone down significantly. In a regular office, the rhythms of a workday offer lots of opportunities to collaborate outside the immediate team.

Leaders need to reimagine culture derived from new demands of a hybrid working model for which he is required to orchestrate based on tasks, interactions, and collaborations. It is a new skill that our future leaders and managers have to be well equipped in such a way that it leads to the maximisation of the actual value of an employee even in the hybrid working model.

The office’s role in a hybrid culture goes beyond collaboration as the earlier physical presence of people mattered, and each action had a massive impact on the whole event. The hybrid model has interrupted the potential for serendipitous interactions to spark ideas. The office’s plan must be meticulously orchestrated to focus on less structured programs. These building sessions bring together different groups trying to unveil new ideas and new thinking and foster new kinship.

A hybrid workplace risks remote workers as they might slide into second-class status. A two-tier system that emerges as a person implies a higher possibility of interactions with those in power, which may change the dynamics for those working remotely. Working women have been disproportionately affected during the pandemic, and precisely the working mothers are among those most inclined towards remote work, given the flexibility it offers. 

This, in turn, is a threat to make gender inequities worse. In order to circumvent it, various norms have been adopted by the companies so that the people who are not in the office feel embraced. This can be achieved by taking regular follow-ups and updating texting channels reflecting discussions ensued.

A hybrid workplace demands continuous brainstorming over employees’ sentiments. Regularly, multiple business-specific performance-based indicators looking at outcomes related to time to market or productivity are exercised. Broadly, every executive team should manage a dashboard indicating a mix of performances and health and developing clear metrics that allow them to steer towards success. 

On the basis of the surveys carried out, it has been reckoned that the hybrid working model is here to stay as it gives an employee leverage to omit the transportation costs, extra time consumption and energy. 

A successful hybrid workplace requires a more thoughtful conversation about what employees desire. Many employers have realised that this is relatively easy to offer, and it dramatically increases the likelihood that their employees experience and are motivated towards working well. 

It’ll be a net positive for the employee training, but the hybrid model is complicated since it revolves around many factors in the domain. In a survey conducted, it was found that 30% of the employees are willing to switch jobs if they were required to be entirely on-site, whereas more than 50% of respondents are willing to work partially remotely. 

Human capital being scarcer than financial capital enables companies to adjust according to their talents and adhere to the hybrid working model.

Authored By: Shubhangi Agarwal