How Business Owners Can Adapt To The Hybrid Work Model With Ease

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, business owners have been granted an opportunity to reinvent and reimagine the way that we work. The Industrial Revolution saw farmers transforming into factory workers; during World War II, women made up the majority of domestic workforces; and in the Nineties, the PC boom blasted us into the digital age, ushering in an era of quick decisions and major boosts to organisational productivity.

In a similar fashion, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 drove employees away from office settings to work from home and in 2021, thanks to the development and widespread distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, a similar opportunity for change now exists. 

Returning to the workplace is an opportunity to develop an operating model that works for companies and individuals who are still navigating a world of increasing uncertainty. From payroll solutions to customer retention programmes, embracing e-commerce, digitising processes and so much more, there are countless considerations for business owners moving forward. 

Continue reading to learn how business owners can adapt to the ‘new normal’ and find a way to navigate what is still an uncertain business landscape.

What Is A Hybrid Workplace?

Hybrid workplaces combine office work with remote work. Employees are given more freedom to choose when and where to work with this model, however, many companies are still fine-tuning exactly what this will entail in their day-to-day operations. Whilst the concept of a hybrid approach has been around for a while, many companies that have been doing this before, now face new challenges as, what was once a novel idea, begins to become our new reality.

Striking the Right Balance

The majority of business owners would like to see the average worker in the office for at least two to three days per week. Although most business owners will concede that the great “work-from-home” experiment was surprisingly successful, they also feel that it harmed organisational culture and employees experiencing a sense of belonging at work. There is certainly a desire for employees to return to work but to an office environment that is more flexible than what we experienced in the years preceding the pandemic.

The Employee Experience

Our constantly changing work environment can make it difficult to create a positive and sustainable remote team culture, but it’s something we need to become better at managing since this way of working is quickly becoming the norm. How business owners manage company culture in a remote environment is crucial to improving employee satisfaction, boosting morale, and creating a positive experience for employees in the workplace, whether that is remotely or in a physical office environment.

Motivation And Productivity 

Distributed teams face enough challenges to build connectivity, improve communication, and foster a transparent work environment. But what if your team is geographically spread out across time zones and continents? When most of a team’s staff are located on opposite sides of the world, there is more to consider than just time differences in a hybrid workplace. This needs to be considered when developing a hybrid system, as you need to be fair to all employees whether they are living on the other side of the world or down the street. 

Create A Happy Hybrid Environment For Your Employees

As the pandemic begins to ease, many companies are planning a new combination of remote and on-site working. A hybrid work model in which some employees are on-premises, while others work from home, is becoming increasingly common. This new model promises greater access to talent, increased productivity for individuals and small teams, lower costs, more individual flexibility, and improved employee experiences. 

The future is most definitely in the hybrid office setting, and business owners need to look at what systems will be the right fit for their company to ensure that they provide the right environment for their teams to thrive, regardless of where they are working on any given day.