Is Your Organization Ready for a Hybrid Workforce?

Person Working Remotely

Is Your Organization Ready for a Hybrid Workforce?

Many months into the pandemic and the social distancing measures that also affects companies, the debate on the effectiveness of remote working on productivity continues. Many believe that working remotely has increased productivity, while others say that working remotely has had a negative impact on output.

Here, we’ll be focusing on two surveys about productivity by Radware, and Vanson Bourne. According to Radware’s survey of 260 C-suite executives, worker productivity has significantly improved since beginning to work remotely, likely due to factors such as the lack of a commute. The results of their survey show that C-suite executives believe that changes made during the pandemic will likely be permanent. Meanwhile, Vanson Bourne’s survey has a slightly different view, with its respondents believing that in-person communication is still necessary for certain processes, such as learning and development, and appraisals. 28% of the respondents of the Vanson Bourne survey also reported a lack of preparedness for remote work, caused by a lack of workflow solutions and communication technology that makes remote work run smoothly. Why is there this difference? The difference in the positions of the respondents explains part of the gap. For C-suite executives, working at home gives them freedom from distractions, while other workers are likely to need more guidance and support when working from home.

These results lead us to believe that after all this is over, workers won’t always choose to work remotely. Workforces are likely to become hybrid ones, consisting of a mix of in-office workers and remote ones.

As with the transformation to remote work, transforming your organization’s workforce into a hybrid one requires preparation. Workers need to be prepared with skills such as adeptness with technology, and the ability to work independently but also the proactiveness to reach out for feedback. The physical office will also face changes. With a hybrid workforce, days will be allocated for in-office work, such as brainstorming sessions, and project introductions, and workspaces will be open to enhance collaboration. Management will also need to adjust their budgets for investment in technology that’ll facilitate remote work, such as performance management tools.

Beyond introducing new tools, reshaping the physical office, and adjusting budgets, mindsets also need to change. In order to make the remote aspect of hybrid workforces work, these are some leadership mindsets that need to change:

  1. Focusing on results, not the time spent on the task. This will be facilitated through implementing goal-setting frameworks such as KPIs, OKRs, and others.
  2. To implement goal-setting frameworks properly, clear communication is key. Communicate clearly the goals and the results required of each individual/department.
  3. Hold your employees accountable. When they don’t perform, find out why and resolve the issue.
  4. Support them, both with empathy and from an emotional standpoint, but also provide them with the resources that they need, for example, technology that manages performance so they can get their jobs done.

 

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