Creating a Hybrid Strategy Blending Remote and In-Office Work

With continuous updates to technology and the accessibility of software-based work, hybrid work has always been a debate, but with the turning point of a global pandemic, there has been an increased focus on how hybrid work can positively impact the workplace. 

As of April 2021, over 66% of business leaders are considering making the transition to hybrid work and redesigning their office space, making this a valuable tool to shift how your business runs.

If you’ve been looking for new ways to benefit from advancements in technology and keep your business moving upwards, there has never been a better time to transition your company to a hybrid business model. By bringing remote work and in-office work together, you can combine two effective strategies to reach maximum efficiency. Adapt to the ever-changing business industry by remaining flexible and staying up-to-date with technology, developing a seamless hybrid strategy for your business to fall back on. 

To create a thoughtful, balanced, and practical hybrid work strategy that works for your company, plan ahead, consider what your employees will need, and decide how you will accommodate this work style in your office space. For optimal success, introduce a hybrid work model into your business and see how you can continue moving upward in your field with ease.

What is a Hybrid Work Strategy?

When implementing a hybrid strategy into your business model, it is important to understand what makes up a hybrid work strategy and how it can improve the way work is done for your company. 

Hybrid work is the combination of remote and in-office work which blends these two strategies to help your employees be more productive and attentive while on the clock. With this business strategy, your employees will be given the option to work from virtually anywhere, not just the office. 

In most cases, your employees will get to decide how they split their days between working from home and spending time in the office setting. Depending on their preferences and where they get the most work done, they can decide where they spend most of their time during the week. If a meeting or face-to-face interactions are required, it may be best to utilize the office space but if everything can be handled via email or a messaging app, then remote work may be a more logical option. It all depends on who the employee is and what they prefer, along with what is required by your company as a part of your policy.

Why Switch to a Hybrid Business Model?

As flexibility becomes more and more valuable in the workplace, it is important to transition towards a business model that will accommodate this necessity. This will not only help your business become more flexible, but will allow you to take advantage of the technology that is available for software-based work, video conferencing, and messaging. 

While Covid-19 proved that an office setting isn’t the only place that work can get done, it also taught us that the office space is essential for collaborating with others, conducting face-to-face meetings, and working on group projects cohesively. 

Hybrid work combines all of these needs, giving employees the option to spend their workday at home or utilize the office space, depending on what makes the most sense for the project they’re working on. All of your employees will be different, some will enjoy getting extra time at home while others may prefer to come into work more often, but with this business model, you can accommodate all of your employees and make sure everyone is happy to be a part of your team.

Benefits of a Hybrid Strategy

By utilizing a hybrid strategy in your business, you will be able to maximize your flexibility, adapt to changes in technology, and continue to move your company upwards. It can also help to increase your retention rates, create a broader reach, improve recruitment, and better prepare your team for what’s to come in the business industry.

Retainment

When you implement a hybrid strategy, you will be able to increase job satisfaction easily and boost morale in your workspace. With the freedom to work from home or in the office, employees are given the choice to decide where they get their work done, leading to improved job satisfaction with your company and higher retention rates overall.

Recruitment

By promoting a hybrid work environment, you can appeal to a whole new audience during the recruitment process. By making flexibility and freedom a standard with this model, you will be able to attract a wide range of potential job candidates and build a team that will support your business. Reduce your hiring hours from 100s to 0 using AI Recruitment Bot. It assists in selecting the best candidates in less time without bias. This bot is designed to screen job resumes, shortlist thousands of candidates, send assessment invites, schedule multiple interviews, and create assessments.

Adapt

As the business industry continues to change with technology, it should be your goal to adapt every time. By shifting in the same direction that businesses are moving towards, it will be easier to get used to the updates that are coming in the future. With a hybrid model, you will be able to maintain an interchangeable workplace approach that will help your team adapt to change successfully.

What to Consider When Shifting To a Hybrid Business Model

When you decide to make the shift towards a hybrid work model, it will be essential to rethink how things have been done in the workplace previously. Taking new approaches will be a necessity, to make sure your workplace will run smoothly and seamlessly for success.

What Hybrid Work Looks Like

A hybrid worker will spend time in the office and at home, typically splitting the time between the two places, taking into consideration where they are the most productive. They will be able to utilize the office space for in-person meetings, while also utilizing video conferencing tools like Zoom or messaging apps like Slack to keep in touch with their team while at home. 

With the accessibility of different online tools and apps, hybrid work is becoming even more innovative and advanced.

Accommodating the Workplace for a Hybrid Model

If you want to make sure everything works out when teams are spending time in the office setting, it will be important to make sure the workspace is designed to accommodate your new hybrid business model. 

By making it possible to work from any desk, having multiple spaces open for meetings, group collaborations, or larger projects, and using “room booking” to help keep spaces open for scheduled meetings so times don’t overlap, your workplace will be ready to welcome hybrid workers in no time. 

Managing Hybrid Teams

To successfully manage a team of hybrid workers, it will be helpful to create a common structure for how work is done, adjust your onboarding processes as needed, stay organized in the office space, have a plan for conflict or tech errors, and keep employee burnout on your radar so that you can prevent it from happening. 

While managing hybrid teams may be a little more complex, with the right skills to keep your office running smoothly, you will be able to continue building up your business.

How to Begin Creating a Hybrid Strategy?

If you want to create a seamless hybrid strategy, you have to start by planning ahead, defining your office’s primary function, figuring out your employee’s schedules, creating new policies that support this switch, and equipping your team with the tools they will need to excel in their new role.

Plan Ahead

While the hybrid work model may look different for every company, depending on what their goals are or what they want to achieve, it will always be important to plan ahead and be prepared for what’s to come. 

With a plan in place, your team will be one step ahead and ready to take on what’s next.

Define Your Office Space and Its Function

By getting a better understanding of when employees will be in the office, what they will be doing in the space, and where everyone is the most productive, you can make better judgments when scheduling who is in the office and when. In recent years, companies like Apple have hired shared office space in Miami to foster employees' creativity and have experienced positive effects.

This will also help you decide what tasks are better off being done at home or in the office setting, to help your hybrid strategy take off.

See What Your Employees Prefer

If you’ve been looking for new ways to increase the productivity of your employees, you need to figure out how you can best accommodate them moving forward.

If they seem to work better from the comfort of their home,  take note of this, or if they work better when collaborating with teams but enjoy a couple of days at home to work alone, keep this in mind too. This is what will help you develop a schedule that works best for your employees, preparing them for optimal success with your company.

Create Policies to Support the Hybrid Model

As you make the transition to a hybrid work model, you will need to implement new policies that support this change to guide how everything runs in the workplace. 

What Your Policy Should Address

• Office attendance and what is required 
• How to incorporate fully remote teams 
• Online hours and availability 
• Local workplaces and jobs sites

Redesign Your Workspace

If you want to make sure your hybrid strategy works, it will be beneficial to redesign your workplace and prepare for the change your business is about to make. You will want to make more areas for group collaboration, utilise private rooms for meetings, and single desks available too.

With these alterations, you can transform your office space and turn it into a place where your teams can work cohesively and come together as needed.

Equip Your Team

A hybrid business model comes with requirements that your team will have to meet to remain efficient and focused throughout their workday. You will need to make sure your team has portable computers, reliable and secure internet access, and any other equipment they will need to work remotely with ease. 

This will not only help your business run effortlessly, but with this, your team will have all of the right tools to reach peak productivity.

Build Success

With an all-new business model in place, you are in the perfect position to continue pushing your business forward to move upward in the industry. With the right team behind you, a business strategy you can rely on, and the ability to adapt to changes in technology, you will have everything it takes to build success in an ever-changing field. 

By introducing a hybrid business model, you will be able to combine the benefits of remote and in-office work to reach maximum efficiency and productivity while boosting your company's success rates.

Creating a Hybrid Business Strategy for Your Company

To keep up with technology as it changes over time and continue to see your business moving upward with ease, there has never been a better time to introduce a hybrid business strategy to your team. While you may need to rethink your company policy, redesign your office space, and prepare your company for what’s ahead - it will all be worth it to see your business take off. 

By adapting to change, making flexibility a standard, and being open to new opportunities for your business, there is no limit to the success you can obtain now and in the future with a hybrid work strategy.