How to do hybrid work correctly?
Content
In 2020, Covid-19 came to visit and it was clear to every business that this was going to change the way they worked.
So thought Hiroki Hiramatsu, head of HR at Fujitsu.
Within Fujitsu, the new way of working had been on the to-do list for years, but in reality, little had changed. The company's managers still value face-to-face meetings and employees' long working days in the office. An internal survey showed the same: 74% of employees considered the office to be the best place to work.
The pandemic turned everything upside down.
By March, most of the 80,000 employees were working from home. Within a short time, employees also understood the benefits of the new approach.
The June survey was a shock. Only 15% of Fujitsu employees considered the office to be the best place to work. 30% said the best place for them to work was at home and the remaining 55% considered a combination of home and office to be the best possible combination = a hybrid model.
Instead of spending 2 hours a day commuting to work during the day, people could now spend time at home with their family or even go to the gym to work out.
For managers to make this transition successfully, they need to do things differently.
This article gives clear steps on how to implement hybrid working the right way.
Elements of hybrid work
When we moved to location independent work - where employees can work from anywhere - the situation changed.
Previously, the situation was that we were in the office from 9 am to 5 pm until we moved to telecommute. This effectively allowed employees to be anywhere between 9 am and 5 pm.
I illustrate the situation in the graph below.
Some companies even dared to move to the top right-hand corner of the table, which reflects working regardless of time and place, and started to monitor only the result.
But we are moving towards a time when an office is a place where you come when you need to.
Hybrid Work is here to stay.
What are the things to consider to ensure that your company can properly adopt hybrid working?
- the right tools for reserving space
- employee preferences
- workstations and facilities
- Jobs and tasks
Let's look at these in a little more depth next.
1. The right tools for reserving space
A challenge for companies is that managers may not know which system works best for tracking what their employees are doing.
Excel or just a calendar will not work.
A calendar and excel booking alone will not solve this problem.
To address this challenge, an app has been created: steer path, which helps employees find the spaces that suit them. Your employees can easily and effortlessly book a workspace for themselves in the office - when they want it. With the app, team members can also see where other employees in the company are working.
Read more about the Steerpath app.
2. Employee preferences
Our ability to be productive and perform at our best varies greatly depending on everyone's personal preferences.
At Hybrid Work, it is important to take into account and listen to the preferences of your company's employees.
Let's look at two examples.
Jarmo, 35, runs a home office. He commutes to work in 30 minutes and spends an hour in total traveling. He has a family and his children are at school during the day - no wonder Jorma wants to skip the commute and stay at his home office to work. He prefers to visit the office 1-2 times a week to meet his team.
Sonja's situation is very different. She is 27 years old and lives in the city center with her roommate. It takes 15 minutes to get to the office. Her flat is very small and there seems to be no quiet corner to work in. As a result, she is unable to work long hours at home without being disturbed, so she prefers to come to the office.
These people are on the same team. How do you link the activities between these two factors?
Using the Steerpath workplace app. Read more about the Steerpath workplace app.
When Jarmo comes to the office with Sonja, they can easily book a workspace for their team to work in.
3. Workplaces and facilities
The person in charge of the workspaces may need to make some changes to the functionality of the offices. The previous office model may no longer work. You may not even know what the actual occupancy rate of the workstations is, and whether there may be too much or too little space.
If there is too much space, do you need such large premises? Could costs be reduced by moving the company's premises to smaller ones?
What if the lease is long? How can the premises be used in other ways to increase the company's turnover?
We have a solution and a model. Book a free consultation directly from the calendar or leave your contact details on the chatbot - I'll be in touch.
4. Workplaces have a few very critical issues that affect employee productivity:
- Energy
- concentration
- collaboration
- organization
A key driver of productivity is focus - what do you do, when do you do it and how do you do it?
If your work requires a lot of concentration and planning - you need a workspace where this can happen. Is it an office or do you work remotely?
You need to have the tools in place. With the Steerpath workplace app, you can easily book yourself an office space where you can work in peace.
If, on the other hand, you're a team leader or manager - your work is different. You need tools and workspaces where you can talk and socialize.
Then use the steer path app to book yourself a space where this is possible.
Where do we go from here?
1. Want to read more about hybrid work
If you liked this article, I recommend you read more articles about hybrid work below.
2. Book a free Steerpath 30-60min consultation directly.
If you decide to use Steerpath, you will receive the service for your business at no start-up cost
