The hybrid workforce is here to stay.
In 2020, around 42% of US office workers became full-time telecommuters. In the UK, around 46% of employees switched to some form of remote work. Though some business leaders assumed the shift would be temporary, positive discoveries about the productivity and efficiency of remote workers were impossible to ignore.
Now, it seems that most teams will be taking at least a hybrid approach to work, with one study revealing that 89% of executives are expecting their employees to continue working remotely for at least one day per week post-pandemic.
Hybrid work promises companies and their employees all the benefits of flexible remote working, with the bonus of regular face-to-face interactions and in-office productivity. However, there are challenges to consider too. How do we protect the wellbeing of employees that we’re no longer seeing in-office every day?
Measuring Wellbeing in the Hybrid Workforce
When the hybrid workforce first began to emerge as the “new normal” for teams, many business leaders had concerns. They worried that some remote staff wouldn’t be as secure as their in-office counterparts. There were even discussions about whether there would be a sense of rivalry between remote and on-premises workers. However, one of the biggest concerns of all could be figuring out how to monitor and manage wellbeing in a hybrid workforce.
There’s plenty of research that shows happy and healthy workforces are more productive and performance. Employees that feel their best are more productive, committed and engaged in their jobs. They’re also more capable of dealing with the disruption of a new work routine.
A sudden shift to social interactions, and periods of isolated remote work for hybrid staff members could lead to a shift in the general atmosphere of the modern workforce. Companies that fail to measure and improve wellbeing could risk team turnover, low engagement, and poor results.
So, how do we monitor and protect hybrid team wellbeing?
Empower Staff with the Right Tools
For employees to remain happy and engaged in any environment, they should have the same access to valuable tools regardless of where they are. The cloud offers a simple environment where business leaders can support employees with access to the same UCaaS tools, contact centre equipment, and other valuable technology.
Aside from delivering the right software, business leaders will also need to ensure that their teams are equipped in other ways. VPNs that ensure secure connections to digital environments could be a must-have for some organisations. Access to cameras and microphones for video conferencing may be necessary for employees working from home. To empower staff, ensure you:
- Offer access to the right software for productivity, communication, and collaboration
- Invest in the right hardware and endpoints for your employees working remotely
- Provide support for getting better network connections and calling systems
- Teach employees how to use the same technology in every environment
- Ensure that every staff uses the same tools to reduce the risk of knowledge gaps
Use Video for Consistent Engagement
Human beings need social interaction. For employees who spend days in the office, it’s easy to connect with other people. For staff working remotely, it’s not so simple. Video is one of the most powerful tools for replicating the face-to-face interactions that we need. It’s also a valuable way to recognise signs of distress in employees.
Ensuring your employees have access to video conferencing software and they know how to use it is essential. However, it’s also important to set boundaries on how to use video. Teams should know which discussions demand video presence, and which are one-on-one or group conversations. Employees should also know how to schedule video meetings regularly and consistently.
In an era of issues like Zoom fatigue, using a calendar solution that allows employees to choose when they’re available for video meetings, like Timely, could make it easier to create a culture of positive communication. Employees can decide when not to interact with staff through video when they need a break, and business leaders can set meetings for group interactions regularly too.
Promote Proper Balance
Before COVID-19 arrived, one of the biggest worries that business leaders had about remote work is that it would lead to procrastination. What we really discovered is that people working remotely tend to work longer and harder than their counterparts. While this is great for productivity purposes, it also means that your employees are more likely to burnout.
Today’s business leaders should be giving employees more control over how they manage their schedule, to reduce feelings of overwhelm. Tools like Bamboo HR and other scheduling systems can ensure that your staff members are still taking time off when they’re working remotely. There are also various time stamp and shift tracking software solutions online that can help you to discover how long your employees are spending “in the office”.
Even some of the collaboration tools on the market today, like Microsoft Teams, can show when teams are spending too much time in video chat or not enough time on deep work.
Create Clarity
The shift to a hybrid work environment will be more difficult for some employees than others. For many companies, this move into the new age of work will come with a learning curve. With that in mind, it’s important to offer clarity and information whenever possible. Gartner research shows that an employee’s understanding of decisions made by an organisation about change is crucial to their continued engagement. Your hybrid staff should always remain in the loop.
Quick face-to-face conversations with employees to provide information about their roles, what they need to do next, and which changes are coming are far more immersive than email updates. Video conversations that keep staff members engaged and informed help to create a stronger sense of company culture.
Provide your employees with regular updates and insights into what’s happening in your business and set expectations on how you expect them to behave, and which values you consider important. Studies show that during periods of uncertainty, employee misconduct increases by 33%. Make sure your employees know exactly what’s expected of them.
Increase Recognition and Development
It’s easy to remember to give a pat on the back to people you see in the office. However, in a hybrid work environment, this could easily lead to an imbalance between the rewards given to different team members. With that in mind, it’s important to set up a recognition system that supports both groups equally. Effective recognition motivates the person in question while simultaneously reminding other employees of the behaviour they need to emulate.
Fortunately, there are various tools that can integrate with services like Slack and Microsoft Teams to support digital recognition today. You can give people digital “karma” or points which they can eventually trade in for prizes when they reach a certain level of accomplishment. You can also keep a close eye on who’s driving the best outcomes for your company with wallboards and tracking tools.
Analytics will show you which of your staff members you should be thanking for their work. You can even create digital displays where your staff can check on their performance compared to their peers, allowing for an extra level of gamification and casual competition.
Create a “Support” Program
Around 79% of British employees say they have stress related to work these days. Despite this, most staff members suffer in silence, and refuse to reach out for help. It’s even easier for struggling team members to slip under the radar in a hybrid working environment. A support program can follow any format that you believe is helpful to your employees.
Some companies might offer articles, guidance, and support on how to deal with common issues of stress and overwhelm. Others will invest in apps for employees to use to handle their stress experiences, like Headspace, or create a policy for employees to use when they need to reach out for support or a one-on-one with a business manager.
If you don’t regularly have one-on-one interactions with your employees, now could be an important time to set up regular discussions with everyone on your team. This is a chance for you to discuss the aspects of hybrid working that are suitable for your employees, and the things they’re struggling with. In between these meetings, you can use employee feedback tools that integrate with your team collaboration service as a way for employees to consistently make their voices heard.
Work on Creating the New Normal Together
Finally, as companies progress into a new hybrid working age, it’s more important than ever for every employee to feel like a true stakeholder in their organisation. Team members need to know that they can share their concerns with their employers and make an impact on how the environment is changing. Having a system in place where your employees can send anonymous or signed feedback is valuable here. However, you should also be creating meetings specifically for the purpose of looking for ways to improve.
Create a video meeting in your schedule once every couple of months where everyone can get together in an intimate environment, like a Together Mode session on teams. During that meeting, create an atmosphere that allows anyone to share their thoughts on how they would like their work experience to change.
Take notes, record the meeting if you must, and respond to the feedback that your staff give. We’re in a tricky period of growth right now, but the hybrid workforce could be an amazing thing if teams have a way to build it together.
More:
How to Make Working from Home More Fun
Improving Team Collaboration Using Video
