What is a Hybrid Office and what are its advantages?
The hybrid office is a relatively new concept that has become popular with the impact of COVID-19 and isolation measures. It basically consists of a configuration of organizational layout and policies that allows human talent the flexibility to work from the office or from any other location. Having access in either case to the necessary tools to perform their work and communicate with the rest of the organization in an optimal way.
The advantages of the Hybrid Office are variousfor both employees and employers. Although the solutions have been around for a long time, organizations have always been wary of the performance of this type of remote work solutions. But, this pandemic has shown us that from many points of view remote work is possible and in many cases is even more efficient, compared to the traditional office model.
The Hybrid Office seeks to highlight the best of each model, traditional and remote, to optimize individual and group work. It also seeks to improve organizational communication and information tracking. In the following infogram we illustrate some of the advantages of remote work that, when combined with the physical or traditional office, enhance the efficiency of organizations.
Hybrid Office and its difference with the Home-Office
Home-office is a methodology adopted by some companies to improve their labor flexibility conditions. The percentage of home-office to total working hours is between 10% and 20%.
Unlike the Home-Office, the hybrid office is not a mere adaptation to make schedules more flexible. To implement a successful and productive hybrid model, it is necessary to restructure the work model and policies, invest in appropriate technology tools and even adapt the physical spaces to integrate them with remote work technology.
In the hybrid office model, the percentages of remote versus face-to-face working hours would range from 40% to 60% and even higher than 80% depending on the position of each employee. This represents an important challenge not only at a technological level but also at an organizational and cultural level.
The challenges of the office of the future
So what are the technologies that the company should implement, how should these technologies be integrated into the organizational culture and policies, what type of infrastructure should be implemented for the hybrid model to work in a unified and transversal way? We summarize in 4 main points the answer to these questions.
Establish a hybrid office policy
It is clear that not all roles are suitable for the hybrid model. Likewise, not all employees can have the same amount of remote labor-hour percentage applied to them. Therefore, it is important to establish the guidelines in such a way that each employee must/can perform their hybrid role in the most productive way possible. Some tips for outlining this type of policy may include:
- Define to whom the hybrid policy applies and in what percentage.
- Establish expectations, rules and/or objectives as to when employees can be remote and when they can be on-site
- Establish guidelines from those who have the authority or decision over the hybrid work. Will the employee be able to decide when, will it be certain fixed days of the week, will it be upon meeting an objective or expectation, will it be upon meeting an objective or expectation, will it be upon meeting an objective or expectation, will it be upon meeting an objective or expectation?
- Implement efficient communication so that everyone understands the hybrid work model, its advantages, rules, exceptions, etc.
- Emphasize security by establishing a data and information security policy.
Adapt your office spaces and accompany your employees in the adaptation of their remote workspaces.
Let's remember that one of the great advantages of the hybrid office is the money saving that comes from not having to have space for all your employees. You can design a quota that optimizes your space to the maximum and that gives priority to collaborative spaces rather than individual ones.
In the hybrid model, the office becomes a creative and social meeting place rather than a workplace. So your spaces should tend to be flexible, fun and relaxed, rather than corporate and gridded.
It goes without saying that the hybrid model requires the company to guarantee the right conditions for working at home. Providing its employees with the necessary elements and tools to perform their work well remotely.
Don't invest haphazardly in technology. Plan your investments and select tools that efficiently support your hybrid work teams.
Due to the sudden COVID-19 blow, many companies, in their desperation to connect their teams, invested in a disorganized way in communication and remote work tools. Acquiring various solutions that in themselves are very good but do not necessarily integrate or fulfill enough functions for the organization and employees.
So, now that we are witnessing the advantages of remote work and clearly, also those of face-to-face work, companies can take some time to plan for the future of work in their organization and optimize the investments they make in technology, both hardware and software.
Find the tools that best fit your business model or operation. Find a way to integrate all your technologies so that remote work is a productivity enhancer for your teams and not a communication barrier.
Take advantage of this new digital opportunity to rethink your operation or business model.
Now that we all need to be in touch with the digital world, it is the perfect time to creating new models and solutions. Your customers can now meet with you or learn about your product from anywhere, your sales team can optimize their visits by hybridizing their activity, your teams can have clearer spaces and times for creative work and operational work, improving their communication through digital tools they had never thought of before, etc.
Think of all that the digitalization can bring to your company or business model and see as an opportunity the fact that everyone now perceives digital interactions as more normal and more professional.
As it happens in the world of virtual eventsVirtual and hybrid offices are here to stay, they have proven to be efficient digital models, facilitating and generating an important impact on companies and economies. Implement your virtual or hybrid office by expanding your internal and external communication capacity, improving your productivity levels and optimizing your resources and those of your employees, in a way that is tailored to your organization.
