Is Your Office Ready For Hybrid Work?

In the Covid-19 situation, workplaces were forced to shut down and adopt remote work. Despite their clear dislike for the situation, it had to be followed due to the rules set by the government. Millions of people had to give up their daily commute in exchange for a two-second walk to the kitchen. People grew comfortable with this new situation, making the best out of it. 

Naturally, in a post-pandemic world, people were reluctant to go back to the age-old ways. This posed a conflict for many employers. How were they supposed to ensure their employees were appeased and maintain maximum productivity at the same time? This gave rise to a new workspace model: hybrid working.

What is hybrid work?

Hybrid working is a work environment that blends office work with remote work. This increases the employee’s freedom to work and gives them more autonomy over when and where they can work. This allows them to fit work around their lives rather than the fixed hours of slogging in the office. It mixes sociability with structure and is considered to be an ideal scenario for employees as well as employers. This hybrid approach to work provides a good balance to the employees, ensuring good results and maximum productivity with reduced stress and less commuting.

What does a hybrid workplace look like?

A hybrid workspace includes the presence of particular staff in the office, while others are allowed to come and go on their terms. This could vary from organization to organization. It could either be the same people who are asked to be present in the office or different people on different days. 

Certain organizations also may ask employees to be present on specific days for in-person meetings. Thus, the hybrid workplace may help ease the anxiety of employees returning to the workplace by making it slightly less anxiety-provoking for them.

How can your office be ready for hybrid work?

The most important aspect of initiating a hybrid working situation is asking your employees for their inputs. Not every employee may be able to return to the office immediately, for varying reasons. So, it is important to maintain an equal playing field for employees who choose to work remotely. 

Communication is the key to maintaining a unified workspace, so employers are expected to make the same efforts for remotely working individuals as they do for the ones working in the office. While asking employees to return to the office, their physical health must be given top priority; the workplace must satisfy all safety requirements and social distancing guidelines.

Hybrid working may seem like a temporary solution for this post-pandemic world; until things get ‘back to normal.’ However, really, it feels like the future of work; the pandemic equipped us with opportunities to completely redesign the traditional workspace. For hybrid work to be successful, it must be well-planned and executed and not treated as a temporary solution. It all just comes down to finding ways to balance work, communication, mental and physical health, and safety.