And finally, this hybrid strategy allows employers to allocate days where it’s fine for employees to work hybrid work from home from home. This could be on a “Quiet Friday” where there are no team meetings or collaboration sessions.

It shortens commutes, keeps the cost of travel down, and makes room for other obligations. Office work is best suited to those who live near work, require regular human interactions, actively collaborate on physical tasks, or lack on-the-job experience. Of course, individual preferences play a huge role in how the future of work is shaping up.

The Future of Working from Home: Hybrid Office or Remote Work?

What’s more important is your ability to find what works best for each project or task at hand. The more comfortable you are working remotely, the more successful you’ll be as a hybrid worker. Add coworkers on Facebook or follow them on Twitter if that’s where they hang out online. Keep the conversation going about projects you’re working on and events at work. Even though you can’t physically show up at an office happy hour, try to get to know each other better virtually before you meet in person for your first time. However, the hybrid model also comes with some challenges that you need to be aware of when creating your hybrid working schedule. Hybrid working from home means switching regularly between different environments.

The business, which started developing its hybrid model after the UK’s final lockdown restrictions were relaxed, has entered the “extended roll-out” phase. The Covid lockdowns gave many businesses an unexpected opportunity to sample remote working, given that they had little option but to try it. Grammarly, a business founded in 2009 by three Ukrainians, was valued at $13bn (£10.5bn) at the end of last year. The firm announced its move to what it calls a “remote-first” model in September 2021. Working from home is the focus, with its offices in Kyiv, New York, San Francisco and Vancouver rebranded as “hubs” for face-to-face collaboration. In theory, hiring the best talent should be a lot easier for organisations who utilise hybrid working, because they are no longer confined to only hiring employees in a specific geographical area.

Office occasional

Allowing employees to work from home to achieve a better work-life balance can also come with downsides. The office, colleagues, and commuting might be replaced by endless working hours. Most digital meetings today that combine people at the office with remote participants tend to be inadequate.

And your employees can easily check up on their upcoming shifts and request changes through an employee portal. The hybrid work model consists of teams who work in mixed environments, a combination of the office and remote work. Some of the team may work from home part of the week and the remainder in the office. Last year, a report by Accenturefound that 83% of 9,326 workers surveyed say they prefer a hybrid model — in which they can work remotely at least 25% of the time.

Back to the daily grind: returning to the office

Surveys are the best way to gauge how your employees feel about hybrid or remote work models. Ask questions about the working model they would prefer and include examples. In this competitive job market, companies must adapt their ways of working to meet the needs of the employee. A survey by Wakefield Research shows that almost half of employees (47%) would likely look for another job if their employer doesn’t offer aflexible working model. Workers at companies with this model are expected to be on-site, with exceptions determined on an individual or team basis. This model is common where the majority of employees need to deal with customers face-to-face.

• The proportion of people who work from home is captured in multiple surveys.
• Hybrid scheduling software means people can now co-ordinate their work patterns by task, by team, by time, or by the people they wish to spend time with for socialisation and workplace learning.
• Initial research has found that hybrid working arrangements can offer employees the ‘best of both worlds’ – greater work life balance whilst still maintaining social connection and bonds with colleagues.
• While necessitated for many by Covid-19, remote working is evidently effective.
• Hybrid working also provides other opportunities for organisations in terms of reducing estate and facilities costs, enabling employee wellbeing, and supporting inclusion and diversity.
• An essential part of hybrid work is ensuring a better work-life balance for your employees.

Initial research has found that hybrid working arrangements can offer employees the ‘best of both worlds’ – greater work life balance whilst still maintaining social connection and bonds with colleagues. Hybrid work is a flexible working model which is a combination of in-office and remote working. Sometimes employees have the ability to pick and choose when they would like to work from home and when they would like to work in the office. The thing about the hybrid model is that there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Therefore, companies must adjust the model to fit the needs of their company and employees.

Employers can implement systems to monitor and assess the productivity of their staff without constant meetings and updates. Providing the remote staff with a clear brief and ensuring that they are well equipped with training and tools to help them perform their tasks remotely is vital. Communication does not need to be constant, but finding the balance with remote and office-based staff will help everyone keep up to date.

• This includes things such as IT, leadership, working environment and cultural buy-in from staff.
• Typically an occupancy rate of 64% was the standard estimate pre-pandemic.
• If team members have the autonomy to choose their own playlists, they may bond with like-minded colleagues and feel happier.
• The most common disadvantage experienced by homeworkers was difficulty in working with others, with 48% of homeworkers reporting this in February 2022.