On this period of the pandemic where guidelines change every second, remote working has been seen as the best way to reduce the spread of the virus. In some companies, employees are working remotely and few others are working from the office, and exchange the working ways in weeks. This has been seen as a flexible strategy. Hybrid work is a flexible working model where employees work partly in the physical workplace, and partly remotely – at home or from another workspace. According to a blog called Qualtrics, while some people relished not having to commute to an office, and the chance to spend more time with family and friends, others found working from home isolating, mentally challenging, and creativity-stifling. As we come out of the pandemic, organisations are realising that there must be a middle way for the future of work, balancing between home life and office life and that the middle way is likely to be hybrid work. “I find hybrid working a more flexible convenient way, because as a person who works in a company that uses hybrid work system, it has helped me a lot and made my mental health ameliorate. Because there are times I miss my workplace a lot and it makes me very unproductive while being at home, but when my turn to go work in the office comes, I feel really happy that I am going to be productive and fine again,” says Evelyne Akayezu, who works in an advertising agency. David Musonera a marketing manager in Gulf First- a shipping company, says that hybrid working is a very good way that also benefits the company. Working from home for a long time can take a toll on an individual’s mental health and productivity which can affect the company’s performance and task delivery, he says. “But when a company allows hybrid working, it helps the employees to not feel isolated or some type of way because they know next week or the following day, they will be in office,” he adds. According to a page called Advanced Workplace Associates, one of the most stubborn misconceptions surrounding hybrid working is that while individuals stand to gain massively from these new ways of operating, the benefits to organisations themselves are far less clear. This is not the case. Moving into a new world of work, hybrid working is likely to offer a significant competitive advantage to those organisations that are able to make it work. Benefits of hybrid work to organisations The page shows the benefits below as some of those related to hybrid working: Reduced real estate costs Organisations that do not need to provide a desk in an office for every single one of their employees will be able to save huge amounts of money by reducing the size of their office footprints. Real estate costs – particularly in large, affluent city centres – can be colossal. Less space equals less rent. Improved worker productivity Organisations are also likely to benefit from the improved mental well-being that hybrid working offers their employees. Workers that are happy and well-balanced are far more likely to be productive. (This is what many recent studies have shown-productivity tends to increase when people work remotely). Improved retention rates One of the primary concerns that we hear is that hybrid/virtual working negatively affects retention. Organisations worry that if their employees are not coming into the physical office each day, then these employees will not have a chance to form close bonds with their colleagues or grow attached to the organisation’s vision. Benefits of hybrid working on individuals Advanced Workplace Associates notes that the most immediate benefits associated with hybrid working are those experienced by individual ‘knowledge workers’. These benefits tend to vary according to the specific form of hybrid working being implemented within any given organisation, department, or team. Improved employee well-being. People with experience of hybrid working tend to say that it gives them more freedom and autonomy over where and how they work and that it allows them to spend less time commuting. Increased mobility. Where once commute times were a decisive factor in determining where an individual was willing and able to work, hybrid working has loosened the constraints surrounding geographical mobility, allowing knowledge workers to work for organisations based in a much wider range of locations.
