Practical tips for combining the office and teleworking.
Introduction
Given the choice, would you prefer to work from home because you know you can work undisturbed and thus be more efficient? Would you rather come into the office every day to see your colleagues? Or are you like most of us, and prefer a combination? Most people who worked from home during the pandemic want to continue doing so. Regardless of when the pandemic ends, employees will continue to demand flexible working conditions. While most people don’t want to work from home all the time, they do want to work remotely, at least to some extent, and 80% think working from home has worked well.
The workplace of the future will be made up of hybrid teams, with some working on site and others from home or a beach in Costa Rica. But it’s also important to remember that most people find that fully digital meetings work better than hybrid meetings. Finding the balance between the needs of those working remotely and those working in the office will be key to a successful workplace in the future.
So what does it take to make a workplace with regular hybrid meetings work as well as a traditional workplace? We believe that you need to build a sustainable infrastructure internally, with some staff in the office and others at home. In this guide, we will help you create a hybrid work environment that will help your company adapt to this new work format as well as future changes.
The definition of a hybrid workplace
For many, the pandemic was the first time they experienced a hybrid workplace. Some worked from home, while others were still stationed in the office, resulting in a new approach to digital meetings. The hybrid workplace is simply the combination of office and remote work. Although initially forced on many, the hybrid workplace has made it easier to meet the specific needs of each employee and achieve a better work-life balance.
Digital meetings where each participant sits behind their laptop usually work well. Of course, there are times when poor internet connectivity throws participants out, and the occasional puppy barks in the background, but generally the meetings are quite stable. However, problems can increase when meetings become hybrid. It is much harder to ensure that everyone is given the same space when some people are sitting opposite each other in a conference room, and others are sitting at home. This can clearly affect the outcome of meetings, as those meeting can more easily communicate with each other and thus get their agenda across. This is an area that can definitely be improved.
Employees want to continue working remotely…
Employees will continue to seek flexibility and more control over where and how they work. In a 2021 Microsoft survey, 73% of workers said they want to continue to have flexible options for remote working. In Swedes and the Internet 2021, half of all professionals in Sweden were working from home in 2021. 9 out of 10 who worked from home want to continue doing so even after the pandemic.
…and they should be allowed to do so too
But a hybrid workplace doesn’t just lead to happier employees; it is also a success factor in terms of productivity. In a study by BCG, 75% of respondents who had worked remotely during the pandemic said they were just as productive as before when performing their individual tasks. About 50% said they are at least as efficient even when performing joint tasks that would usually take place in a physical conference room with colleagues.
The office of the future
Better planning of office space
One positive aspect of hybrid working is that companies can reduce office space and therefore costs. But it can be difficult to calculate how much space you need when you don’t know how many employees actually come in each day. Designing the workplace in a way that supports both on-site and remote workers is of course possible, but there are a few things to consider, such as how rooms are designed and how workspaces are allocated.
Hot desking and hoteling
Hot-desking means that employees do not have their own workplace they sit at every day but just choose a free space. There are more employees than desks and you only use as many desks and rooms as you need. As the hybrid work environment becomes more common, so will hot-desking. Hoteling is essentially the same concept, but it means you have to book an office space through an app or other software before you can use it. You can set rules on how often each employee can book a space, deciding, for example, that each employee can book an office space twice a week.
Remember: take into account employees with specific needs. Those with young children at home whose partner is on parental leave will certainly want to come in sometimes, or all the time. And don’t forget that not everyone is comfortable working from home. The younger generation, for example, who are in their first jobs, often live in smaller apartments and want to experience working life “for real” and on the spot. So review the desk situation and weigh in if you want to prioritize younger employees and parents with young children, for example.
How should the offices be designed?
Combine meeting and collaboration rooms and ensure there are separate spaces for focus and social interaction. If employees come in primarily for socializing, meetings and collaboration, you want to create an inspiring, social environment. If possible, make sure you have some smaller focus rooms. If you only have larger meeting rooms, these may need to be booked for one-to-one meetings too. Ensuring that employees can make a phone call in privacy or just sit in a secluded space for a while is just as important as having larger spaces for social interaction.
How to adapt an existing workspace for hybrid conditions
A hybrid office environment should be suitable for all employees – whether they work from home, in the office or both. But since many offices won’t be able to expand the number of rooms, there are other smart adjustments you can make.
- Video conferencing – all companies will need a system that ensures smooth communication between employees and remote workers. Therefore, any conference room should be equipped with a camera, stable internet connection, VoIP, video conferencing software, and if it is a larger space – microphones to ensure excellent sound quality.
- Create different areas – although it is impossible to build out, you can designate specific areas for different activities. In an activity-based approach, some areas are turned into social spaces, others into places for focus work. A separate part of the office can be set up with desks where employees can book a seat for the days they come in.
- Room booking system – so that those in the office always have a room for meetings and remote meeting participants never have to wait for an empty room to be found.
- Modular furniture – use flexible furniture that can be tailored to suit your business requirements. You can assemble and disassemble them, thereby adjusting the number of desks used, for example.
- Outdoor environments – don’t forget that more light-hearted meetings can be held outdoors if the weather permits, and why not combine it with a walk to kick-start the pedometer?
Internet of Things tip: Install IoT sensors to count how many people are currently in the office. This way, you can also identify which desks need cleaning based on how often they have been used.
Creating better conditions for home offices
Ensuring a better work-life balance for your employees is an important part of the hybrid approach. They’ll appreciate not having to commute every day, finding time for exercise more easily, or just the ability to juggle their lives more smoothly. But in the aforementioned 2021 Microsoft survey, 42% say they lack office essentials at home, and 10% don’t have a proper internet connection. For the hybrid workplace to work, you need to create the right conditions for everyone working from home.
What technical equipment is needed?
Technology is of course a key factor and you need one or more smart solutions. Some prefer to use Microsoft Teams for all communication, while others combine Google’s various solutions with Slack, for example. Whatever the solution, you want to find a way for people working at home to communicate as easily as those sitting opposite each other in the office. One tip is to create channels and chat groups. You can categorize topics of conversation into different Teams channels or create chat channels that touch on work-related topics and other important ones like afterwork. Of course, you can’t offer employees bigger apartments or better indoor climate, but some practical arrangements are recommended. Providing all employees with a monitor, keyboard, desk chair and headset can make a big difference! Of course, a desk that can be raised and lowered can also bring significant improvements to the home, but there are limits to how much you can invest. Most employees will understand that you cannot take full responsibility for the home environment.
6 tips to succeed with hybrid video meetings
Online video meetings are usually more efficient than in-person meetings. In fact, they usually even result in people arriving on time for once! But there are some details to consider. Most digital meetings today that combine people in the office with remote participants often fall short. The priority should be to be able to collaborate equally well regardless of location.
Managing employees in a hybrid workplace
One positive aspect of managing employees digitally is the opportunity to form a closer bond. Even if you’re not sitting next to each other in the office, you get to see your employee’s kitchen, cat or partner and be introduced to their home environment. In fact, it often gives you a closer insight into their lives than if you had just met in the office.
Everyone should be treated equally
As a leader, you need to ensure that those working remotely have the same opportunities as those working from the office. The hybrid workplace should not result in special treatment of any kind. To get a better idea of what employees want, ask them! Send out surveys or talk to them separately and ask them about:
- How have they experienced working from home?
- How many of them want to work from home?
- How many days would they like to work from home?
- Who needs/must come to the office regularly?
- Are they missing any technical installations in the office?
- Are they missing any equipment at home?
- Does anyone need training in specific programs?
Extra tip Keeping track of who is available and who is not can be quite tricky in a hybrid work environment. But with smart software that allows employees to create personal profiles showing availability, it gets easier. You can easily see who is at lunch, home sick or in a meeting.
Executive summary
When planning a hybrid workplace, you need to look at the employees and what they need. Employees are the company’s most important asset, and implementing a higher degree of flexibility is important today and will probably become even more important in the future. The hybrid workplace is not a temporary solution, it is how a large part of companies will work in the future. We suggest you get started as soon as possible. One last reminder though: allowing employees to work from home to achieve a better work-life balance can also have negative elements. The office, colleagues and commute can be replaced by endless working hours. Some employees will realize that they can fill their calendars with meeting after meeting and be online in chat 24/7 if they want to. Microsoft’s aforementioned 2021 survey found that time spent in MS Teams meetings more than doubled in 2020. The average Teams meeting was longer, and time spent in chat rooms and in emails increased.
As many people feel they can work even more from home, they may risk burning out. In fact, 54% felt overworked, 39% exhausted. So our final reminder is to hold regular meetings with everyone and look out for warning signs. A hybrid workplace should be as beneficial to your employees as the company itself – never at the expense of your employees.
At Telavox, we are dedicated to making communication easier within and between companies. We have developed a solution that makes working days both easier and more enjoyable by using a single app for calls, texts and video conferences.
