What is Hybrid Work and Why is it Needed?

Executive Summary: Hybrid Work Essentials

What is a Hybrid Work Model?

A hybrid work model is a flexible work arrangement that combines both remote work and in-person work at a physical office location. It allows employees to have the freedom to work from different locations, such as their homes or the office, based on their individual preferences and the nature of their tasks.

This model typically involves a mix of remote work days and designated days for in-person collaboration and team meetings. The goal of a hybrid work model is to provide a balance between the benefits of remote work, such as increased flexibility and reduced commuting time, and the advantages of in-person work, such as face-to-face interactions, teamwork, and fostering a sense of belonging within the organization.

Hybrid Work Model Comparison Table

Try TrueConf Server Free!

• 1,000 online users with the ability to chat and make one-on-one video calls.
• 10 PRO users with the ability to participate in group video conferences.
• One SIP/H.323/RTSP connection for interoperability with corporate PBX and SIP/H.323 endpoints.
• One guest connection to invite a non-authenticated user via link to your meetings.

Learn more

How is the Hybrid Work Model Implemented?

This model has been implemented in many businesses for a couple of years now. Technological advances, for example, smartphones and cloud data archiving storage, have made it available for people to work and interact from any place. The world pandemic has led to new types of business schemes, technology decisions, and operating procedures. Their convenience and efficiency have become so obvious that many companies no longer want to follow obsolete algorithms. Therefore, today the following hybrid model is an important condition for competitiveness and future success.

Another important plus of this type of work is a higher chance of retaining valuable specialists. It’s evidenced by survey data, according to which no more than 9% of employees want to be back to office work. Therefore, neglecting the hybrid model can cause the business to be unable to engage and retain real professionals.

What are the Benefits of a Hybrid Work Environment?

The main privilege of this model is the versatility of work processes for both staff and employers, which has become familiar to them in a pandemic. Other benefits include increased employee productivity and job satisfaction, more opportunities for continuous learning, improved quality of cooperation and more favorable relations between employees, and also improved psychological health of the staff.

1. Increased Productivity & Employee Satisfaction

The hybrid model is more versatile, offering employees the flexibility to leverage their strengths effectively, thereby boosting productivity. With the option to work remotely, individuals can tailor their workspace to maximize comfort and efficiency. Some may thrive in a home setting, while others prefer the focused atmosphere of an office.

Autonomous work from home or office and their combination help not only to improve overall employee satisfaction, as seen through employee satisfaction surveys, and the staff’s contentment with the working proces.

Also, this approach allows one to achieve the necessary balance between job and personal life.

UltraHD Video Conferences

Create conferences on the fly gathering up to 2,000 participants in a meeting. Enjoy realistic communications with cutting-edge AI algorithms. Take an active part in online meetings without being distracted by taking notes! Record video conferences and share recordings with colleagues.

Learn more

2. More Opportunities For Continuous Learning

This aspect is not so obvious, but still very valuable. The staff gets rid of the constant office bustle and gets more chances for continuous learning and self-education. Even a partial exemption from the must-visit office leads to the fact that the staff gets more free time for self-development and achieving personal goals, which means their personal growth and growing job contentment.

3. Improved Collaboration & Relationships

The privilege of a hybrid work compared to a fully remote model is that it leaves a chance for personal communication and helps the staff to interact face-to-face to create a healthy team climate and to raise the quality of work. And this applies to departments, divisions, and the entire business. Today, when all communication moves beyond the monitor screens, this is especially important. Each conversation in person at a specific time during remote work is quite beneficial for mentoring and knowledge sharing, as well as improving professional relationships.

In fact, this model is being adopted by a multitude of industries, including tech-focused companies. For instance, a reputed company may use hybrid work to bridge the gap between remote collaboration and hands-on teamwork, enhancing the quality of their digital solutions while fostering a strong community within the team.

4. Better Outcomes For Mental Health

Working from home turned out to be extremely beneficial for the psychological condition of the staff because it relieved a huge amount of stress. For example, people mustn’t commute to the office every day or stay late there to finish the task on time. This versatility also helped the staff to improve their health and well-being. However, there was another side. People who realized themselves in the office in the best way felt devastation and loneliness. The hybrid model is excellent because it helps the staff to work remotely and in the office, and also to combine these approaches. So people can reach a good balance between job and personal life and ultimately refine both of these important aspects of life.

How to Adopt a Hybrid Work Model?

In order for the hybrid model to be used quickly in work and get the maximum benefit from it, we advise you to perform 5 steps sequentially.

1. Do an employee survey to find out what they need

The first and most important thing is to talk to employees and learn as much as possible about their wants and needs. Here are some possible questions:

• Can you stay focused when working from home?
• How many days a week would you like to work in person?
• If you had access to an office close to home, would you prefer to work there instead of at the company headquarters?

It is the consideration of employees’ opinions that helps you to understand what model of hybrid work for them is most acceptable and convenient.

2. Implement the infrastructure that will support flexible working

Effective work of employees is impossible without investments in the technological development of the company. Communication facilities, video conferencing equipment, collaboration tools – all this is important both for those who work remotely and for those who stay in the office.

During the working day, pay special attention to traffic management and make sure that the working conditions of employees are truly flexible. For example, if employees stay in the office only on certain days of the week, then planning can be transferred to the heads of departments.

Technology Requirements for Hybrid Work Success

Karnataka Bank|Case Study

Karnataka Bank implemented TrueConf platform, contributing to enhanced productivity and performance among its employees.TrueConf Server meets the bank’s high requirements for sensitive data security and ensures uninterrupted communication across all branches.

Success story

3. Invest in corporate culture

Corporate culture is one of the cornerstones of a hybrid work system. Invest in team building activities and build camaraderie among team members outside of just work tasks. In addition to these, you can also reward your staff for their good performance, which can increase their desire and motivation to continue working within your culture. The investment doesn’t have to be big, but it does require consistency and interaction from upper-level management.

4. Improve the workplace experience

Make the office convenient and attractive for work, so where you want to be, spend time, and communicate with colleagues. A comfortable office greatly increases the productivity of staff and allows you to justify the financial costs of it. Other than the basic amenities, you can add a social wall to your workspace to keep your employees entertained and invested during work hours. Social walls function in real time, so you can showcase engaging social media content or even host interactive sessions for your employees.

5. Collect ongoing feedback

Introduce innovations only after you talk to your staff. Be sure to find out their opinion about the work and what is happening in the company in general. Without collecting feedback, it is simply impossible to build a successful hybrid model of work. Utilize multiple channels to gauge employee voice, such as anonymous employee surveys, and focus groups. This will provide you with a well-rounded perspective on employee sentiment and concerns.

What are the Challenges When Switching to Hybrid Work?

Next, we will look at the main difficulties associated with the transition to a hybrid working model, and analyze exactly what management can do to overcome them.

1. Inequality between hybrid and non-hybrid employees

Remote work is not suitable for all employees, and some of them are simply deprived of the chance to take advantage of it. This is especially true for employees who, in their opinion, perform the key, most difficult work in the office and think that their colleagues are just resting at home. Remote employees have other difficulties: they may feel like a kind of outcasts who, due to their physical absence from the office, cannot fully participate in the work process and influence decisions made.

Do not ignore the need to ensure constant quality interaction between all employees and investment in it. Video calls and all other means of communication should be as accessible as possible, and every employee should be able to easily get involved in the work of the team and share their opinions.

2. Getting collaboration right

The old work model assumed that all employees were always in the same room, but now everything has changed. Employees are the main resource and capital of the company, so management must do everything to ensure that the sense of unity and the possibility of productive communication does not disappear.

3. Managing split teams

Coordinating teams located in different places can be difficult, especially if it is necessary to fulfill the task of ensuring equal opportunities and rights for all its members. 20% of British workers say that in their opinion the recognition of their merits has decreased after switching to remote work. And this opinion takes place because according to statistics for 7 years (from 2013 to 2020), people working remotely had a 40% percent lower chance of receiving a bonus compared to those who continued to work in the office.

4. Communication glitches

Communication problems reduce the quality of the workflow and lead to the fact that important data is missed, but correcting them in the case of remote work may not be an easy task. This is because we all mostly communicate non-verbally, that is, through gestures, body language, intonation, and even glances. Therefore, if we do not see a person with our own eyes, then it may be much more difficult for us to understand him correctly.

5. Effective onboarding

The introduction of a hybrid work system may be fully justified and effective in the future, but here and now it often causes significant problems, especially for new team members to have a smooth onboarding process. The adaptation of newcomers can already be a difficult process, and it becomes even more complicated if the new employee is not in the office and does not communicate with colleagues on a regular basis.

What are Various Hybrid Model Types?

There are 4 models in total: at-will, split weeks, shift work, and week-by-week.

1. The at-will model

According to it, the staff can select the most suitable working scheme for them every day. This is especially effective when it’s needed to hold an important meeting in the office today and work calmly in a relaxed atmosphere tomorrow. Some businesses made a “work from office (WFO)” request to maintain social distance.

2. The split-week model

It involves 2-3 days of office work and 2-3 days of work from home and is currently the most popular among employees. As a rule, the division of office work occurs between all departments. So when the sales department is in the office, the technical team stays at home. And vice versa. This helps managers to keep in touch with the entire staff and communicate with each of the departments personally.

3. Shift work

In this case, employees alternate between remote work and office shifts (in the morning or in the evening). This scheme is more complicated to implement because lots of employees are not happy with arriving at the office very early in the morning or very late in the evening. And this is especially inconvenient for people with children who must additionally organize their care and supervision (beyond using devices fitted with a parental control app).

4. Week-by-week

In this case the staff alternate between a week of remote work and a week of work in the office. It is appropriate for large teams, which can simultaneously use limited office space and meet in person to communicate, exchange experience, check work, and meet deadlines. In this case, you may need tracking employee hours solutions to stay profitable, productive, and legally compliant. Utilizing coworking management software or coworking space app can further optimize the use of office space and resources, ensuring smooth operations and effective collaboration.

Deployment Options Comparison for Hybrid Collaboration Platforms

What is the Best Solution for Collaborative Hybrid Work?

If you do decide to implement a hybrid work model in your business, the first thing you need is the right communication and collaboration software. When choosing such a solution, you should consider the needs of your team, so it’s a good idea to ask your employees the following questions:

• Are you equipped enough to work from home?
• Can you collaborate from home as productively as you do at the office?
• Do you feel sufficiently engaged in the discussion during the meeting?
• Is the collaboration solution you use secure?

At TrueConf, we’re continuously innovating to make working from home and in the office an inclusive, secure, and connected experience for everyone. This self-hosted video communication and collaboration solution lets you hold secure and time-unlimited meetings for up to 1,000 participants and use multiple collaboration tools, such as team messaging, screen sharing, slideshow, recording, polling, reactions, and more to boost engagement.

The solution deploys locally and implements server data storage, which eliminates the possibility of unauthorized access to your confidential communications. Plus, TrueConf incorporates end-to-end encryption and strong GDPR compliance to ensure reliable communication privacy.