What Is The Hybrid Workplace? Defining Hybrid Work

Understanding the New Hybrid Workplace

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What Is the Hybrid Workplace?
CollaborationInsights

Published: April 14, 2023

Robbie Pleasant

Robbie Pleasant

Even before the Covid pandemic necessitated working remotely, technologies to enable  remote work had been growing at a steady rate. Employees wanted more flexible working opportunities to improve their work-life balance, while businesses were looking for ways to employ skilled workers that may not live within commuting distance. 

Then, in 2020, the global pandemic made remote work a necessity. Businesses had to quickly switch to work-from-home environments and began adopting tools to make it easy to collaborate and work from anywhere.

As employees started returning to the office, a middle ground between in-office and remote work emerged: hybrid work. With hybrid work, employees who prefer the structure of the workplace can work from an office, while those who prefer remote work can continue working from anywhere. Employees who prefer to find a balance between the two can also work from either location—perhaps two days from home and two days from the office.

The Hybrid Work Model

According to recent surveys, around 84% of businesses now take a hybrid approach to the workplace—a significant jump from 54% in 2022. A hybrid workplace, simply put, is any business environment that combines remote work with traditional in-office or onsite work.

Typically, this includes a group of team members who primarily work from the office, while others are free to work from anywhere, although the specifics can and will vary across businesses. Some businesses that are adopting a hybrid model set mandatory days for employees to work from the office while allowing them to work remotely during the rest of the week. Others allow employees to choose the balance that works best for them.

A hybrid environment supports employees who:

  • Work in the office full-time
  • Work remotely full-time
  • Alternate between working remotely and in-office (regardless of which they favor)

Hybrid workplaces need to balance the needs of each of these types of workers, alongside the need for productivity and collaboration. And hybrid work is in demand: a Zippia survey determined that approximately 44% of employees prefer a hybrid model over working fully remotely or fully on-site, with around 55% preferring to work remotely at least three days a week.

A Gallup poll also found that a majority of hybrid workers (60%) do not want their employers to set a universal scheduling policy, and would prefer to choose the days they work. In fact, employee engagement tends to be higher when companies don’t require a set number of on-site days.

According to the poll, only 12% of hybrid employees want to spend four or five days working on-site, compared to 29% who prefer two on-site days (with Monday and Friday being unsurprisingly the most popular days for remote work).

Why Hybrid?

Before the days of hybrid work, employees typically followed the same work schedule in the same work environment. While this was expected and considered the normal way to work, it wasn’t the most effective.

Gartner found that, for organizations where employees work exclusively in the office, only 36% of staff were considered “high performers.” But for companies that use hybrid models, that increases to 55% of employees.

When companies had to switch to remote work during the Covid pandemic, they were able to experiment with new working styles and utilize cloud and digital tools for communication and collaboration. As it turned out, employees could be just as productive (if not more) when working remotely.

However, there are some downsides to working remotely as well, such as increased isolation and a decrease in camaraderie. Hybrid work strikes a balance between the two, allowing employees to work in the way that best meets their needs and balances out the benefits and drawbacks.

Hybrid work is particularly popular among employees who enjoy flexibility in their work schedules. And in times of emergency, whether it’s a pandemic or natural disaster, a distributed, remote workforce and the ability to work from anywhere helps team members stay safe.

We’ve seen many benefits to a hybrid work environment, including:

  • Higher levels of productivity and engagement among staff
  • Better work-life balance
  • Saving time and money on commuting (in addition to lower emissions from reduced traffic)
  • The ability to attract and hire talent from around the world
  • The ability to build a distributed, crisis-resilient workforce
  • Reduced overhead costs from physical office spaces and equipment

The Challenges of Moving to a Hybrid Workplace

Creating a hybrid workplace still presents some challenges. Not every team member will have the tools and resources they need to reliably work from home (even a poor internet connection can make remote work a challenge). There are also some jobs that can’t be done remotely, such as those that involve dealing with on-site equipment.

Additionally, multiple employees accessing company software remotely has some security risks. For employees on the go, public networks can be unsecured and risky, especially if handling sensitive data.

There’s also the human factor: businesses need to train their leaders to manage team members in a hybrid environment. It’s easy enough to casually check in on employees in an office, but maintaining a remote workforce takes more conscious thought and effort. Failure can lead to issues with employee morale, particularly due to employee isolation and disengagement.

Tools for a Successful Hybrid Environment

Fortunately, businesses can face the challenges of a hybrid workplace by having the right technology and strategies to support hybrid work in place. Using the appropriate tools can provide seamless connectivity and collaboration without compromising security.

These include:

  • Unified communications platforms, which can keep employees connected and engaged no matter where they work, and allow employees to connect via voice calls, video meetings, instant messaging, and more.
  • Collaboration tools to maintain and improve productivity by keeping tasks organized, helping teams to work together, tracking deadlines, and keeping everyone on top of their workloads.
  • Productivity tools like time-tracking software and workforce management solutions can keep employees working at their best even when they’re out of the office.
  • Security features, which are key to ensuring that employees can work from anywhere without compromising sensitive data. While this includes tools like VPNs and firewalls, it also means using solutions that comply with the privacy and security guidelines for your industry.

These are all important for employees both in and out of the office. Employees shouldn’t be split into groups based on who’s working in-person and who’s working remotely, so it’s important to make sure everyone is connected and communicating no matter where they work.

With the right tools, technology, and strategy, companies can create a hybrid workplace that meets their employees’ needs and empowers them to succeed from anywhere and everywhere.

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