8 Lesser-Known Benefits Of A Hybrid Workplace
One of the most important reasons for a company to implement a hybrid working system should be to make your employees happier. One study found that happier employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy employees, making happiness a fundamental requirement of any business. Some of the benefits of hybrid working arrangements for employees include a better work-life balance, greater ability to focus with fewer distractions, more time for family and friends, saved commuting time and costs, and higher levels of motivation.
Here are some other lesser-known benefits of a hybrid workplace.
1. More diverse hiring
Blending remote and office working can be a crucial driver for tapping into greater breadth and depth of talent, and so organizations that employ hybrid work models can attract more skilled and diverse employees across multiple geographies than those without one. Since more organisations have been more receptive to hiring outside of their HQ, the oil industry might finally get to more diverse, more dispersed, and more cognitively diverse teams.
2. Improved Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is a vital aspect of any healthy working environment. It helps prevent burnouts and minimizes stress, which can negatively impact employees’ mental well-being and lead to physical ailments such as hypertension, chronic aches and heart problems. An organization that prioritizes work-life balance maintains a healthier and more productive workforce and saves money. According to Mental Health Foundation, a staggering 70 million workdays are lost each year due to mental health problems, costing employers approximately £2.4 billion per year. And that’s only for the UK! A hybrid work model is a perfect fit, achieving this balance by providing employees with the option to work both remotely and in-office.
3. More inclusive practices and less bias
When the office was the predominant location, employees often sat near the same people, and attended meetings with those same people constantly. Online tools such as Zoom, Skype, Teams, etc. enable employees to see more people and hear from more voices, and cross-functional online meetings have a high possibility of inclusivity. This inclusive nature of more faces, more voices, more people, and more opinions and ideas helps to build smarter teams.
4. Better collaboration and work relationships
Traditional office-based working and its face-to-face interactions make collaboration easier. It allows employees to socialize with their colleagues, chat during breaks and discuss useful ideas during informal in-person conversations to help them innovate. On the other hand, working remotely gives employees a chance to focus on tasks that require a deep individual focus with fewer distractions. Deploying a hybrid work model allows staff to gain the best of both these two worlds.
5. Improved Employer-Employee Trust
A hybrid work model helps employees gain the trust of their employers by allowing them to show that they are just as productive, if not more so, working remotely as they are when in the office. The flexibility of a hybrid work model also improves staff loyalty by helping employees feel empowered by management to complete their work on their own terms. Ultimately employees get greater freedom to balance work with personal tasks, while management likewise benefits from not having to spend time micromanaging or constantly checking in on employees.
6. Lower employee turnover
Hybrid work policies can lead to lower attrition rates. When employees feel happy and satisfied with the company they work for, they become loyal and stay longer. Staff members who feel trusted and respected are more likely to stay engaged at work and with the company for longer. Lower overall turnover rates have significant benefits, including lower sourcing, recruiting, hiring, onboarding and training costs and greater employee knowledge and skillsets—all of which contribute to the long-term success of your company.
7. Increased Productivity
Productivity gains arise from three sources: greater flexibility, increased focus while working and reduced absenteeism. Remote working allows greater flexibility since employees can work from any location, at any time. As such, they can balance their workloads easily at lower personal costs. By contrast, in-office setups provide individual spaces that can be equipped with collaboration tools such as video conferencing facilities, decent audio and video capabilities and room displays. Employees can maximize productivity gains during office days by leveraging these technology capabilities while on-premises and save individual tasks for when they are home alone.
8. Better Visibility Into Employee Performance
Hybrid work environments typically employ the use of more shared technology and collaboration platforms as they allow employees to seamlessly blend in-office and remote work. These platforms allow managers to easily view employee activity on various tasks so they can get a clearer picture of what everyone is doing. Managers know how well staff members are hitting milestones and due dates when they (or their employees) are either in the office or working remotely.
The future is hybrid
Organisations have been adjusting their workplaces policies. Some are still struggling to bridge the gap between yesterday when most employees worked on-premises most of the time, and tomorrow, when the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines ushers in a return to the traditional workplace. Even when this happens, remote working has already earned a permanent seat in the workplace matrix. As such, organisations must learn how to manage remote working environments amid today’s uncertainties and prepare for the unexpected territory that tomorrow’s hybrid work models will bring. When implemented correctly, a hybrid work model can allow companies to maximize both in-office and remote working benefits.
