Remote work was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly businesses were scrambling to operate their businesses safely amid quarantine mandates around the globe. This wasn’t always a smooth transition, and we are still feeling the repercussions today. Businesses are trying to navigate the new normal, including returning to the workplace, balancing hybrid work and remote teams, and creating long-term policies that work for their organization.
Let’s investigate the challenges your business may be encountering with hybrid work and some strategies for circumventing problems.
“For those who have not been in the office regularly yet, we understand that it might seem daunting combined with a sense of comfort that has set in for many to work primarily from home,” says investment bank executive Brian Friedman. “Yet, we strongly believe the negatives of these realities are far outweighed by the magic of being together in person.”
Not Every Industry
Some businesses are simply better suited to hybrid work. Service industries are a notable example of challenging or impossible hybrid work environments (you can’t really get your hair cut virtually).
When your industry or certain roles require onsite access to specialized tools, hybrid flexibility is more difficult to achieve. Another significant challenge can be balancing different teams with varying flexibility. The software engineering team may prefer remote work while the sales team needs to be meeting with clients onsite. This can cause friction for employees and managers who need to balance resources and policies between groups.
Communication
How do you keep everyone on the same page when they’re in different buildings, different cities, and even different time zones? It’s not impossible, but it does take conscious effort. Hybrid work includes a large amount of asynchronous communication, which can affect productivity. One Microsoft study even found that hybrid and/or remote work lead to “static and siloed” team collaboration.
Connection
Beyond the communication challenges, hybrid work can make it more challenging to form working and personal relationships with coworkers. Working from home is comfortable and convenient, but it can also be incredibly lonely and isolating.
Racial, Economic, and Gender Disparities
Hybrid work doesn’t affect everyone equally. Hybrid work can level the playing field for many employees, since the obvious in-groups and out-groups that you might encounter in an office aren’t dominating the conference table.
On the other hand, hybrid work can also add increasing burdens to certain populations, while others get upgrades. For example, entry-level jobs and unskilled labor roles are less likely to offer hybrid work that is convenient and lucrative. People with children at home may find themselves with more distractions and increased workloads, plus the added childcare for days they’re expected to come into the office. It’s important for organizations to take into account the varied needs of their employees.
Security
Secure data is an important piece of compliance for many industries, especially SaaS. The shift to hybrid work introduces a significant challenge: how do you keep data secure when employees are accessing it from home (or somewhere else!)?
Managing security may mean upgrading your methods and procedures to protect both clients, company, AND employees. This cna be time-consuming and costly, not to mention risky.
Burnout
A report on switching to fully remote work found 71% of employees working longer hours than normal and 42% experiencing lower levels of life satisfaction. The switch to a permanently hybrid workplace means workers must be more intentional about their work/life balance, and it can be rough. Employees may find that they’re answering emails after dinner time, or working through their lunch break because they’re afraid to be away from their computer. Eventually, these practices will force the question of employee turnover.
Different Management Needs
Hybrid work just requires different management. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can be difficult for managers to adapt their tried-and-tru management styles. Managers need to develop their soft skills, such as giving feedback and creating connection, in a more comprehensive way.
According to a McKinsey survey, organizations that have successfully transitioned to hybrid work have trained managers to lead differently, including creating small connections, increasing empathy, and developing soft skills.
Is Hybrid Work Worth It?
Now that we’ve covered some of the most common challenges observed in the hybrid work model, it begs the question: Is hybrid work worth it?
It appears that, if you want happy and productive employees, the answer is a resounding yes. 58% of employees have reported that they will leave their jobs if not offered some flexibility in where and how they work. Productivity, satisfaction, and work/life balance are all reported to improve under a hybrid work model.
The question for you is are you ready to do the work to make a hybrid model successful in your business?
To learn more about hybrid work for your business, read Kudoboard’s comprehensive guide of hybrid work statistics, findings, and recommendations.