With the transformation of our working world and also the changing expectations of employees towards their employers, one favored working model is clearly emerging: the hybrid working model.
Who is this Hybrid Work Guide for?
When executives consider the shift to hybrid work styles, they often find themselves in one of these situations:
A) The company would like to offer its employees more flexibility to improve work-life balance and productivity while remaining competitive in the labor market.
B) The company is growing. The costs for a new office space or the conversion to flexible workplaces should be explored.
C) The company would like to reduce the existing office space in order to lower operating costs and the carbon footprint.
D) The company wants to create a motivating and inspiring work culture. To this end, the role of the office is to be transformed and become an attractive place to work and exchange ideas.
Do you find yourself in one of these situations? Then the Step-by-Step Hybrid Work Guide: Successful Transformation to Hybrid Work incl. Practical Example will be helpful to you.
What is hybrid working?
Hybrid working means that a company gives its employees the option to perform their working hours at different locations. They have the office at their disposal, they can work from home or at a so-called "third work location", e.g. a coworking space.
Essentially, this is a mix of office and remote work. In this model, employees do not work exclusively in the office or at home, but have the flexibility to switch between the two work environments. This means that on some days they can be present in the office to hold meetings or meet with colleagues, for example, while on other days they can work from home to focus on tasks that require fewer distractions or to take care of personal matters.
The hybrid work model further impacts these 4 areas of a business:
- Space (design of the modern workplace)
- Culture (trust and flexibility)
- Digitization (communication and organization)
- Inclusion (fairness and promotion of diversity)
What are the benefits of Hybrid Work?
The hybrid work style is the most popular form from the employee's point of view today. This is due to the fact that employees benefit from Hybrid Work and this form aligns with their expectations of work. The benefits for employees include:
- More flexibility: Hybrid working gives employees the flexibility to shape their working day according to their needs and priorities. They can adapt their working hours and location to their individual requirements, which can contribute to a better work-life balance.
- Higher productivity: Employees can be more productive if they can work in their preferred work environment. When they work in a quiet environment or have time for personal tasks, they can concentrate better on their work and work more effectively.
- Less commute time: Hybrid Work can help ensure that employees spend less time commuting and thus have more time for their work, family or leisure activities.
- Better health and safety: hybrid work can help keep workers healthier and safer by reducing the amount of time they spend commuting or working in an environment prone to illness.
These other benefits come from the employer's perspective:
- Cost savings: Hybrid Work can help companies reduce office space costs and other operational expenses.
- Larger talent pool: Companies can recruit talent from anywhere in the world by offering hybrid working, which can lead to greater diversity in the team.
- Better employee retention and satisfaction: The possibility of hybrid working can enable higher satisfaction and productivity, which can have a positive impact on employee retention and retention.
- Employee autonomy: Employee autonomy can lead to higher motivation and engagement, as employees have more control over their work and are able to tailor their work to their individual strengths and abilities.
Overall, hybrid working offers companies the opportunity to reduce their operating costs, expand their talent pool, and improve employee retention and satisfaction. By increasing productivity and improving the health and safety of their employees, companies can be more successful in the long run.
Preparation for the hybrid work style
The Covid 19 pandemic made working from home mandatory, and many companies initially saw it as a nearly impossible challenge to overcome. Difficult coordination, poor communication, and fears of lack of productivity on the part of employers led to rather ambivalent opinions about the hybrid work model.
It is important to note that many of these biases are based on false assumptions and can often be resolved through appropriate strategies and technologies. However, the hybrid work style also requires some discipline and organization to ensure that everyone remains productive, effective and connected.
The necessary preparation for the transformation is the key to success. The right preparation ensures that the company can opt for a form of hybrid work that suits the organization and its individuals.
Evaluation of the current working model
When choosing the right hybrid model, 2 factors must be considered: Work location and working hours. These factors need to be evaluated for your own company, because the choice of work model depends on the needs and requirements of the company and its employees. It is important to choose the model that best fits the company's culture, values and way of working, and gives employees the most flexibility and autonomy to do their work effectively.
The work location can be specified as follows:
- Office First: The office remains the primary workplace and home office is rarely possible.
- Partially Flexible: Team members have the opportunity to work outside of the office on designated days.
- Fully flexible: All team members are completely flexible in their choice of workplace. They can decide every day whether they want to work at home, in the coworking space or in the office.
- Remote First: There is no fixed office and home office is the default workplace.
The working time can be specified as follows:
- Fixed: The working time is fixed. This may be due to operational or industry reasons.
- Part-Flexible: There are core working hours with an additional option for flextime.
- Fully flexible: Employees work completely independent of time.
When both dimensions are combined, it quickly becomes apparent that there are many different hybrid working models. Likewise, a company organization is not one-dimensional. Different departments can bring different requirements with them.
Likewise, needs can change, which is why the decision on a work model should never be set in stone.
Evaluate your current work model based on the 2 dimensions of work location and working hours. Then determine what your desired work model is and what you expect from the new model.
Costs or cost savings with Hybrid Work?
A transformation is also always associated with investments. The specific costs or cost savings associated with Hybrid Work depend on individual factors. Financial costs are initially incurred, for example, through training, office equipment and, not least, new technologies.
The cost savings from the hybrid work style will be noticeable in the long term, making this new form of work an attractive and sustainable model.
- Rental costs: If fewer workstations are needed, companies may be able to save on rental costs by downsizing their office space or not having to move into a larger office space as they grow.
- Infrastructure: By reducing the number of workstations in the office, companies can save on costs for infrastructure such as electricity, heating and cooling.
- Travel costs: If employees come to the office less often, they may also have fewer travel expenses, resulting in savings for them and the company.
- Satisfaction: Higher employee satisfaction can help increase employee retention and productivity, which in turn leads to savings in recruiting and onboarding new employees.
It should be noted that, especially in times of high real estate prices, the office cost factor should not be underestimated. In this situation, it is necessary to weigh up: Is it worthwhile, in my growing company, to move into additional office space or to make the existing space flexibly usable? It is often worth investing in workplace booking technology to enable flexible use.
Technical setup and guidelines
The Flex Desk Principle and Workplace Policies
The principle of flex desk (also known as hot desking) refers to the practice of allowing multiple employees to use the same workstation without having a permanently assigned desk. Instead, there are a limited number of desks or workspaces that employees can use as needed.
The equipment of a Flex Desk should be standardized, so that everyone can work at every Flex Desk without restrictions. Should there be different equipment, e.g. in different zones, this should be indicated in the selected desk sharing tool.
A flex desk is often subject to a "clean desk policy," a policy designed to ensure that employees keep their work areas clean and tidy. The "clean desk policy" requires employees to tidy up their work area and store personal items such as pictures, plants or souvenirs when they leave the workplace. This makes it easy to hand the flex desk over to the next employee.
Review of existing technologies
Workers need access to enterprise applications, data and resources to do their jobs effectively. Various technologies and cloud-based tools can be helpful for this.
- Video conferencing software: To hold meetings between office and remote workers, you need reliable video conferencing software such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Skype.
- Project management tools: Tools such as Trello, Asana or Jira can be used to plan projects, delegate tasks and track the team's progress.
- Cloud storage: Cloud storage such as Dropbox or Google Drive allows employees to access files stored in the office, regardless of where they are located.
- Cybersecurity tools: It is important to ensure that IT systems and data are protected from potential cyberattacks. Investing in tools such as firewall, VPN, antivirus software and multi-factor authentication can help.
- Desksharing platform: A workspace booking tool such as. anny allows employees to reserve a workstation or meeting room in the office and then use it as needed. An interactive map also shows where which colleague is located and promotes collaboration.
However, depending on the size of the business and the specific requirements, there are many more technologies that you might need for a hybrid working model and remote set up.
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Establishing the culture of hybrid working
The shift to a hybrid work model will affect corporate culture. The fear is that cohesion between employees will be lost if employees no longer come into the office. This danger can be actively countered with the right preparation and equipment. It is also helpful to educate managers and team leaders about the dangers of so-called proximity bias.
On the other hand, hybrid working can do a lot of good for corporate culture. Hybrid work promotes culture by focusing on trust, autonomy and responsibility. Employees may feel more connected to the company than ever before, even if they are not in the office every day.
Especially given the current expectations of employees, it seems that a lack of hybrid ways of working is rather detrimental to the culture. This can lead to a "talent drain".
The office as a new place to meet
The office will take on a new role with the shift to a hybrid form of work. The office will continue to serve as a central place where employees come together to work, communicate and exchange ideas. However, it will be an important meeting place especially for team meetings, brainstorming sessions and collaborative projects. In this case, the office concept should be designed to be more flexible and versatile to meet the different needs of employees.
To meet the new needs, a hybrid office is often thought of in terms of zones. Different zones serve different purposes. There are quiet zones for focused work, creative areas, meeting cubes for undisturbed 1:1 conversations, and zones where people come together as a team as a whole.
Space repurposing of the office in combination with desk sharing can result in space being dispensed with or previous individual offices being converted into meeting rooms. Space and workspace management software facilitates reservations and avoids double booking among employees. A transparent overview ensures balanced utilization of your office space. In combination with an integrated access system, you can create a modern and digital office.
💡 Ask yourself the question: How different is the utilization of your office space on different days of the week or months of the year?
BABOR: Best practices for hybrid working
The cosmetics manufacturer BABOR, based in Aachen, Germany, has recognized the wishes of its employees and established a modern office concept. The best practice shows how good preparation, the planning of pilot phases and the use of technology can manage the transformation to a hybrid form of work, even in a large company.
To ensure efficient utilization of workstations, a project for flexible workstation booking was launched. The central added value of flexible workstation booking is the efficient and demand-oriented use of workstations, but also the possibility of collaborating with colleagues from other departments as needed, such as in the context of project work.
To this end, a pilot project was initially launched in two departments within the company. This allowed flexible workstation booking to be tested. Based on these findings, a zone concept was then created to divide the available work areas into quiet zones, meeting zones or open space zones. In parallel, the individual workstations were equipped spatially and with hardware with regard to the corresponding zone. From this point on, all employees were able to book their desired work areas digitally.
Following the successful completion of the pilot project, the flexible workstations are now being extended to other departments and zones.
Outlook for the future of hybrid working
The future of hybrid work is promising, as it offers many advantages, both for employees and employers. It therefore stands to reason that hybrid work will become the standard. More and more companies will implement hybrid work models to meet the needs of their employees while achieving their business goals.
Advances in technology will enable hybrid working to become even easier and more seamless, with improved tools and platforms for virtual collaboration.
anny makes it easy for you to get started with hybrid working with an intuitive workspace booking tool. Schedule your initial consultation today.
