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Everyone is still working out what hybrid means for them
It's undeniable that we are walking through new territory. Many of us are still in a haze from the past two years, and trying to keep up with the Joneses is the last thing anyone needs! Acknowledging that every team, let alone business, will have different requirements for hybrid working can go a long way to cutting ourselves the slack we all deserve.Coming together as different organizations can help us brainstorm and share solutions for this new way of working. But don't be afraid to be honest. Transparency is the best way to get the answers you need.
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It's a constant evolution. I don't think anyone can claim they've got it nailed down, but we have an iteration, and I'm sure that that will constantly evolve over the next few months.Rob Blair, Senior Workplace Manager, Sprinklr.
Rob Blair, Senior Workplace Manager, Sprinklr.
We all have different needs
We need to teach managers and leaders in business to have better conversations with their teams about what works best for them.Elyse Hamilton, HR Project Manager (Ways of Working), Aesop.
Elyse Hamilton, HR Project Manager (Ways of Working), Aesop.
At their root, some roles can quickly adapt to being in a home office, while others are impractical or impossible to operate remotely. Equipment can play a prominent role in this decision. Developers, for example, require far more complicated kits for their work, often needing more powerful computers and extra screens to handle complex coding tasks.Without a designated desk when they come into the office, they can waste vast amounts of time finding everything they need. Employees in these roles might prefer to work from home to avoid the hassle of hot-desking and to focus without interruption.Other admin-heavy positions such as finance teams might also want to opt to work from home to minimize unwanted distractions. On the other hand, marketing or sales teams might like the buzz of the office because their tasks thrive on the energy that comes from being in the same room as their teammates. The challenge comes from where to establish parameters and where to allow freedom for employees to choose how they work best.For some businesses making it mandatory to attend team meetings in person could be the place to start. Coming together face-to-face to communicate key concepts can help teams reconnect as they can see colleagues' mannerisms and body language without being hindered by a screen. For other organizations hosting regular social events can be the way they help new starters find their feet and bring in departments that usually work from home.Ultimately there isn't a one size fits all solution to hybrid or remote working, and you can't please everyone. Working from home doesn't suit every employee, and forcing workers into a less flexible system could spell disaster. The isolation and frustrations some people experience working outside the office can seriously impact their mental and physical well-being, so any remote work policy should be more about setting parameters and expectations than a long list of rules.It is worth keeping in mind that many employees will not be ready to return to a shared office for mental and physical health reasons. It's important while we continue to combat COVID-19 that we remain understanding and empathetic to individual situations and come up with virtual solutions to keep home workers in contact.
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Coordinating in-office days can be a challenge!
During the pandemic, many organizations were forced to rethink the future of their office spaces. With leases up, it made sense to scale back and think about hot-desking or other methods of sharing a work environment when we could come back together.But organizing a successful shared office space has proven a challenge! Some days the office is like a desert, and others it's jam-packed with employees trying to nab a free desk. That's before we even mention the perils of securing a meeting room!No one missed the days of jostling for space even before our paired down post-COVID edition of the office. One route that has been working for some is to set up a registration system where employees can book a desk or a meeting space in advance online. This route allows office managers to keep track of numbers and avoid overcrowding ahead of time.Another technique is to mandate that each department has one designated in-office day. For example, remote work policies might require Marketing to come in on Tuesday and Sales teams on Wednesdays. If other colleagues want to work from the office outside of their set day, they are welcome to, but they must reserve a desk. This approach sets a new challenge for office managers to make sure everyone has an opportunity to come in and that the same suspects aren't hogging all the desks each week!
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The days of the head office aren't dead
Offices will always be huge in terms of their importance to a company, we just need to rethink what their purpose is.Rob Blair, Senior Workplace Manager, Sprinklr.
Rob Blair, Senior Workplace Manager, Sprinklr.
With these subscriptions, employees benefit from some human interaction, lessening the loneliness and isolation that can lead to burnout while still visiting company headquarters for social events and essential meetings.
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The office is a tool, a resource for people to use. That's the shifting mentality that we're seeing in this trend of workplaces becoming a destination rather than something that's always there. With that, there's going to be an element of enticing people to come.Rob Blair, Senior Workplace Manager, Sprinklr.
Rob Blair, Senior Workplace Manager, Sprinklr.
The ways we get together are changing
Corporate retreats used to be reserved for high-flying sales teams or digital nomads working for trendy global start-ups. As restrictions lift and the days of full-time office work rescind into the shadows, companies are shaking up how they bring their employees together for crucial team building.In the future, we may see more organizations opting for annual or even quarterly offsites to gather workers to deliver critical updates and schedule in time for socializing as a team. Choosing an exciting destination and weaving in meetings with more informal opportunities to chat and toast to your success could be a vital method of bonding staff who are spread out geographically or who rarely cross paths on their in-office days.However, extensive measures will still need to be taken for the foreseeable future to meet government regulations and put employee safety first. Mandatory testing and asking staff to limit their interactions in the run-up to offsite events are just some of the methods the panel has been using to minimize the risk of team meet-ups.
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When organizing events for different teams we always communicate its totally voluntary. We also pay attention to any restrictions imposed in different countries and we try to use preventative measures to make everyone feel safe.Kerttu Leetus, Regional Office Manager, Bolt.
Kerttu Leetus, Regional Office Manager, Bolt.
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