Strategy June 02, 2021
Tips for Making an Efficient Hybrid Workplace
Try these strategies to ensure all your employees, regardless of where their desk is located, feel connected and are productive.
Offices across the U.S. are reopening and many workers are excited to return, but not everyone relishes the idea of leaving the comfort of their home office. To handle the disparity, many companies are turning to hybrid setups – where some employees work remotely all the time or at least part of each week.
However, a hybrid office can be more challenging than either a fully remote or fully in-person setup. Maintaining company culture and camaraderie requires extra effort, for example. But it’s not impossible, and offering flexible working arrangements can be a winning strategy for attracting top talent to your team.
If you’re considering a hybrid setup, try these tips to keep your staff happy, efficient and productive, no matter where their desk is located.
1. Level the playing field. Research has shown that remote workers often have a harder time advancing their careers than their in-person counterparts. A 2015 study conducted in China by researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Business found that while people working from home were more productive, they weren’t given promotions at nearly the same rate as in-office colleagues. “Employees who work remotely miss more advancements, development and promotion opportunities than office workers,” says Rahul Vij, CEO of WebSpero Solutions, a digital marketing agency. “This decreases their motivation level, thus affecting their performance and quality of work. To avoid this pitfall, managers should equally reward the WFH employees based on their performance.”
2. Don’t give up on company culture. One oft-heard lament when it comes to remote and hybrid offices is the loss of company culture, and it’s true that remote employees on your staff will have little use for ping-pong tables in the breakroom and might not be close enough to congregate for company cookouts. Instead of giving up, however, think of creative ways to keep culture and morale alive for your entire staff. If you’re providing lunch for your in-person employees, consider sending your remote staff a DoorDash credit so they can enjoy a meal from the company at the same time, says Elizabeth Cobb, founder of CobbPsychotherapy.com in New York City. Another idea is to plan annual retreats where all staff can meet face to face to bond and build skills.
3. Share information at the same time. When you’re in the office, there’s a natural tendency to congregate around the proverbial water cooler, make quick visits to neighboring cubicles or set up an impromptu group huddle in a conference room. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with those tendencies, but they can lead to unequal information sharing – and make remote staffers feel overlooked and out of the loop.
4. Normalize webcams at in-person meetings. “Exposure and visibility are very important for career progression and the feeling of inclusion in team meetings and events,” says Kamaria Rutland, founder of OTM Coaching Group, a consulting and corporate training firm. “A best practice is to have in-office team members bring their laptops to meetings and turn their web cameras on so that every team member has an equal virtual seat at the table during the meeting.” During larger townhall-style meetings when that setup isn’t feasible, be sure there’s someone on hand to gather questions and comments from remote staff, so their feedback is heard.
5. Ask for feedback often. Conduct anonymous surveys of your staff to gauge their satisfaction with their current working arrangements. Find out what the pain points are for both in-person and remote staff and then work to implement them. Managers should check in regularly with remote staff to make sure they’re not getting burnt out or feeling isolated.
6. Leverage technology. By now, almost everyone is comfortable with videoconferencing technology. But that’s not the only way – nor is it always the most desirable way – to keep in touch with remote staff. Invest in collaboration software, like Slack or Microsoft Teams, that enables team members to message each other and share documents. Another option is Miro, a virtual whiteboard tool. Robert Kienzle, senior consultant for Knowmium, says it’s great for long-term projects and live training sessions. “It allows us to source questions, get ideas and do ice-breaking activities before the session starts,” he says. “In the live session, Miro allows visual and ‘hands-on’ engagement as participants type, add images, move objects, complete templates, post links and work either individually or in small groups.”
7. Consider a 3-2 schedule. If letting employees work from home full-time isn’t feasible, try a hybrid schedule that lets them work remotely at least part of the week for added flexibility. “Three days in the office and two days working from homes seems to be the best combination of hybrid working that we’ve tested,” says Peter Fishman, co-owner of MozartData, a company that helps clients understand data and set up data stacks. “We’ve tested other combinations, but our employees seem to prefer working from home on Monday and Friday, and working from the office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.”