The new way of working — hybrid work

Still working from home? Returning to the office? Or perhaps something in between? With the pandemic continuing to keep society uncertain about the future, the business world has begun searching for the optimal work organization solution. And the hybrid work model is making its presence felt ever more strongly.

The best of both worlds

As the name suggests, it is a cross between working from home and working in the office, involving spending part of the work week in one place and part in the other. The advantage of hybrid working is the ability to combine the benefits of both models. Specifically, it gives the team the opportunity to meet in person for discussions, thereby providing relief from the now-tiresome video conferences, while performing routine work tasks at home. This allows employees to save time on commuting several days a week, work without distraction in the now-familiar environment of their home office, and plan their working hours more freely.

There is no longer any doubt that the majority of employees would welcome such a model. The Microsoft Work Trend Index 2021 survey conducted in the spring found that 73% of employees want to maintain a flexible work regime, and 66% of business leaders worldwide are prepared to accommodate their wishes, which is why many are already reconfiguring their offices for the needs of hybrid work.

The hybrid work model is not a new invention of the pandemic. Startups have been practicing it for at least a decade, at least in the initial stages of their operations. However, it is now experiencing an extraordinary surge in popularity as companies attempt to adapt to the new global reality.

Meeting for team cohesion

What is actually needed for a company to adopt such a model? In reality, nothing special, as those working remotely already have everything they need. This includes a laptop equipped with the necessary software and a secure mobile internet connection. Hybrid working does not mean that employees must necessarily go to the office. Meetings can take place in cafes, coworking spaces, or rented hotel conference rooms. US companies are increasingly using short-term office rentals to gather only when it is truly necessary. Consequently, this form of work is also available to small and medium-sized enterprises that completely gave up their offices and vacated their premises during the pandemic.

The purpose of meeting is primarily to maintain team spirit and exchange ideas. It is also necessary for motivating demoralized employees who, while working remotely, have developed the impression that they have been forgotten or are not being properly appreciated. Therefore, it is most important for business leaders to plan how to build communication as effectively as possible during these meetings and to get the team working together in close interaction.

New skills must be acquired

The hybrid work model requires the acquisition of new skills by both managers and subordinates. The former must supplement their arsenal of professional skills with knowledge from personnel management and psychology specialists, as in the future, alongside planning team work, they will also have to think about how to flexibly reorganize employee duties and how to motivate them to accept new challenges. Employees, in turn, must prepare to become more open to taking on new roles. The demand for narrow-profile specialists is expected to shrink, and employees who can flexibly take on new responsibilities will be valued more highly. Consequently, companies must think in advance about providing appropriate training programs and creating a rotation system. Employees will have to learn more and more and become more versatile. The 2021 Deloitte Global Resilience Report found that 54% of leaders already consider the ability to adapt to new circumstances to be the most critically important factor when selecting employees.

New digital solutions

By decoupling employees from a specific place of work, the need for comprehensive digital collaboration platforms, or virtual offices, will increase. While it is currently common to use separate systems for project management, customer relations, business management, and communication, in the near future these could be replaced by universal solutions, including those in the cloud, which will combine everything a company needs. These will be like virtual offices, perhaps even visually representing the company's physical office, so that employees can easily navigate the familiar layout—clicking on the accountant's desk to access financial documents, communicating with colleagues in the meeting room, viewing upcoming work plans in the hallway, and seeing client information in the manager's office. In such a platform, all forms of communication would take place in one place, meaning that those who were not present at a meeting could easily familiarize themselves with new ideas and problem solutions. For example, by watching a recording of the meeting. This also applies to meetings that took place in person, as hybrid work requires maximum recording and summarization of all communication so that information is always at hand.