FUTURE OF WORK
5 TIPS ON A HYBRID APPROACH
Tribe’s most recent benchmarking study queried large companies on their approach to moving employees back to the office, now that vaccines are widely available. Participants ranged from New York to San Francisco and included companies in technology, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, retail, financial services and more. (For more on the study, you might like this piece on Forbes.com)
There’s been a sea change in leadership views of remote work, and there seems to be little chance of office life resuming the old model of five days a week. Not one respondent agreed with the statement, “We hope to get the majority of employees who previously worked in the office to return to the office full-time.” Most companies are planning to offer employees a hybrid approach, as shown below:
- A hybrid model of some days in the office and some working at home
- Some flexibility for certain positions, but most back in office
- Employee choice of working at home or in the office
- Remote until it’s clear pandemic is over, regardless of vaccines
- Long-term plans to remain remote full-time
- 64%
- 14%
- 9%
- 9%
- 5%
As your company is planning for the future, you might consider these five thoughts.
1. FIVE DAYS IN THE OFFICE WILL BE A TOUGH SELL
If you’re concerned about recruiting and retention, the notion of working five days in the office could be a deal breaker for some employees. You may not be able to offer employees complete individual choice on where they work but try to provide at least one day per week that they can work remotely.
2. NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO BE FULL-TIME REMOTE
On the other hand, the past year of working from home has been difficult for some employees, and they may not be excited about remaining completely remote for the indefinite future. Single people living alone, extroverts and some parents with young children at home have found remote work isolating and anxiety-provoking.
3. FLEXIBILITY IS THE NEWEST BENEFIT
We’ve learned in years past that employees appreciate flexibility, particularly in certain life stages like when they’re parenting young children. Now that they’ve experienced the convenience of fitting some home or family responsibilities into their workday, they may find being able to do that an important element of their work-life balance.
4. MAKE THE OFFICE AN APPEALING DESTINATION
Many companies have redesigned office space to reduce assigned offices, increase social distancing and provide space to work alone or in collaboration with others. Some are offering free lunch one or two days a week to entice employees to come in. You might also think about hosting on-site events for networking, collaboration and just plain fun.
5. EMPHASIZE THE POWER OF VISIBILITY
When employees aren’t working in the office alongside their boss and their boss’s boss, they can worry that their performance is invisible. One benefit of the office that you might stress is the value of seeing and being seen, of being able to learn from watching role models and the chance to build relationships up, down and across the organization.
HOW CAN WE HELP?
If you’d like to see Tribe’s capabilities presentation, please reach out to:
Steve Baskin
President and Chief Strategy Officer
404-256-5858
tribeinc.com