The Future of Hybrid Working

The Covid-19 Pandemic saw UK businesses adapt very quickly to the sudden onset of change, with many smaller businesses rapidly adopting digital communications in ways they had not experienced previously.  Businesses were forced out of necessity to adapt their setup, and business processes to ensure continuity with a mixture of free and paid resources.

Now, with the height of the Pandemic behind us, businesses have adjusted to these new ways of working and adapted their technology infrastructure to thrive in the new normal.

What is Hybrid Working?

Hybrid working combines elements of both remote working and traditional office-based work. This can involve working from home some of the time, and from a shared office space or co-working space the rest of the time.  It’s a style of work that’s becoming prevalent in many big name corporates. The likes of BP, Twitter, Capital One and Microsoft have all announced their intentions to continue this indefinitely, giving staff the flexibility and freedom of working from home, with the social interaction and collaboration of working in an office.

Hybrid working certainly doesn’t come without it’s own set of challenges though. It’s important for employees to have a good work/life balance; but this can be tricky to achieve working from home, as it can be easy to work longer hours and ‘burn out’.

It’s also important to have a designated workspace at home that is separate from your living space, so that you can mentally ‘switch off’ at the end of the day. And it’s essential to have a good Internet connection and the right technology to support remote working.

The Commercial Benefits of Hybrid Working

Implementing hybrid working initiatives can be challenging for organisations, but it also offers them opportunities to explore new technologies and ways of working.  Creating an environment where employees can work in their most preferred manner has the benefit of maximising their potential output whilst also delivering job satisfaction. However it often requires organisations to adopt technology solutions and services to facilitate this.

The greatest enabler is the widespread adoption of cloud-based services. These facilitate ‘working from anywhere’ and are most often delivered as OpEx services based upon monthly subscriptions. Often they are accessible without necessitating further expenditure on on-site IT & Telecoms hardware. This makes the transition much simpler and more palatable for the Finance Department too. Then there’s the added bonus of improved cashflow due to reduced needs for upfront expenditure. Compliance, resilience and scalability are also improved with cloud-based services.

Some of the less tangible benefits begin to be realised over the longer term. These include lower office-related costs (especially requirements for office space), and internal technical support costs as many of these fall upon the cloud services vendor.

The Benefits of Hybrid Working for Employees

Many employees have become used to working from home and now that the Pandemic is behind them they no longer want to necessarily return to the office on a full-time basis.  For the majority of those in favour, the most tangible benefit of remote working has been the time gained by removing the need to commute. This has led in many ways to the creation of a better work–life balance for them; allowing them more time for family, friends, and exercise.

These employees also mention higher levels of motivation and reduced distractions leading to greater productivity.

There are roles where it is necessary for employees to be present in an office-based capacity however. And not all employees prefer to work remotely. Hence employers need to accommodate their needs also when devising a suitable Hybrid Working Policy. Ultimately this leads to a better work/life balance for all employees and improved metrics relating to absences and job satisfaction.

What are the challenges organisations face with Hybrid Working?

According to Gallup, one thing’s for certain: Hybrid Working is here to stay! More than half of those surveyed in recent polls expressed a preference for Hybrid Working, with many going further by expressing a wish to work exclusively on a Remote Working basis.  The challenge lies in the fact that whereas leaders and managers prefer to enable Hybrid Working for employees, many are not so much in favour of employees being fully remote. 

Then there are the administrative challenges associated with implanting Hybrid Working policies. These often involve legal, technical and HR considerations.  There are a number of associated requirements, such as changes to other company policies such as travel and expenditure policies, use of company equipment and Data Protection & Information Security for example.

HR Departments also have to give thought to management of employee mental health and wellbeing as this can be more difficult to manage without an adequate setup to manage communication, performance management, training, team and relationship building and collaboration in a Hybrid Working environment.

One of the biggest considerations for organisations to facilitate a Hybrid Working environment which accommodates these requirements is to ensure that the technology stack deployed encourages relationship building and collaboration.

Instant Messaging and collaboration tools such as Teams, Zoom and Google Meet promote ‘ad-hoc’ discussion, and enable easy setup of online meetings. But there are even greater benefits if these accommodate the ability to make and receive external phone calls also. Hence in some SME businesses and the majority of larger enterprises, a unified communications strategy is also an essential consideration for the rollout of an effective Hybrid Working environment.

There’s also a need for awareness of the Information Security considerations associated with working from home. Although, the increased challenges of managing remote security can be managed (and to some degree overcome) by implementing suitable IT and mobile policies, and threat defence & remediation software.

How to ensure you can meet the technology challenges of Hybrid Working

The commercial and employee benefits of Hybrid Working are undeniable, especially in relation to cost savings, improved agility and better work/ life balance. But there are definite adjustments required to ensure that organisational policies and technological architectures are set up to meet the associated challenges of delivering an ideal working environment. This may necessitate a requirement to invest in new technologies and also a shift in business culture and mindset; especially amongst leaders and managers.

We understand the technological challenges of ensuring ease of connectivity between people in the office and those working remotely. And in some organisations, older solutions may not translate seamlessly into hybrid work environments. Our professional team at Omni Communications can help you with guidance and services to effectively deploy, manage and support the next-generation communications architecture to support your organisation’s Hybrid Working needs.

For more information, contact us using the Contact Form below, call us on 0161 507 7999, or email sales@omnicom.uk