5 Inescapable Truths About Hybrid Work Models

After 18 months of Covid and hundreds of research studies, and thousands of employee surveys, we now have enough data to draw some serious conclusions about Hybrid Work models.?Here are my big five:

1-???The question isn’t ‘should I have a Hybrid Model’, but ‘which one should I have’.

The pandemic effectively took a workplace model that was 90%+ office-based and turned it overnight into 90%+ remote. Eighteen months of experimentation and learning later, we expect that 80-90% of organizations will move to some form hybrid as their new normal.?

Companies are facing a spectrum of choices – from a mandated full-time office return to pure remote.??Despite some bold pronouncements, there are exceptionally few companies at the extreme ends of the spectrum -- ‘pure’ office or remote models.?

The choice of a workplace model is highly strategic and rooted in business strategy and culture. The big surprise to many companies over the past 18 months was how productivity levels stayed the same or increased.?This exploded the old-school myth that working from home was for slackers, “if I can’t see them, they can’t be working.”?But leaders are deeply and legitimately concerned about the erosion of bonding, creativity, and certain kinds of collaboration.?

2-???Employees don’t love remote work per se - -they love the freedom and democracy that comes with it.

Many headlines observe superficially that employees ‘love remote work’. It’s true, but it’s much bigger than that- - it’s a powershift from employer to employee.

Despite the well-documented fears and limitations of remote work (video fatigue, meeting proliferation, invasion of the work-life balance, loneliness, isolation and anxiety) employees ended up being big fans of remote work. The technology functioned, customers got served, and work got done. Up to 2/3rds of US employees are now reluctant to return to the office. Many are willing to accept up to 20% lower pay to keep remote options. And up to 40% say they are willing to leave their companies if they lose remote.?

All true. But look deeper.?What employees are really responding to are the benefits underpinning remote work:?flexibility, inclusion, and empowerment. ?They love the ability to re-invest commute time into higher value tasks (business and personal). They love choosing where and when they can do their best work. They love the ability to access meaningful roles, assignments, and exceptional colleagues that would normally be out of reach. They love the inherent democracy of being one of many equal tiles on a video call instead of being excluded from conversations.??

The answer is not just to ‘give up’ flexibility. As we design the future, we need think about a new value exchange:?Employees demanding increased flexibility in exchange for higher accountability.

3-???If a Hybrid Model doesn’t work at the team level, it doesn’t work.

?????The CEO and the enterprise have a responsibility to set broad guardrails based on business strategy, culture, and careful employee listening.??“We have decided to go with an office-first hybrid strategy because ….”, or “We have chosen a dominantly remote strategy for the firm because . . .”?

I caution that highly prescribed centralized solutions are destined to failure.?Decisions on what work is done and how it is distributed happens in teams.?Solutions are designed by teams. Work is delivered by teams.?Customers are served by teams.?

So far, a great deal of corporate energy has been focused on polishing the CEO’s all-staff memo on the return-to-office policy. Now is the time to dive into the types of work and types of teams and ways of working that will deliver upon the pronouncements.??

????4-???The Office isn’t dead. It just needs to be completely re-imagined.

The Office is longer the default where all people go every day to do all work. ?It needs to become a special place for special moments and targeted activities.?Office space is expensive.?It is NOT the place to do Zoom calls, transactions, and e-mails to each other.?It needs to be re-designed as the beacon for culture, collaboration, and creativity.?More like Pixar meets Burning Man, and less like Office Space, the movie. Once again, the solution lies in deeply understanding what work people do, and where they do it best.

5-???Hybrid models are serious engines that require serious fuel to make them work.

???It is clear that we need a fuller, better Hybrid Tech suite to address growing needs for scheduling, workflow, cross-team collaboration and a more seamless video-live experience.?But also …

???Manager Training – how to lead effectively and inclusively when half your team is present and half remote. Almost no managers know how to do this innately- they need tools and training.

???Individual Training – how to build your presence when you are not always in the room – getting good assignments, getting work done, and advancing your career.

Senior Leadership Skills - how to resist the temptation to focus on activity metrics like hours worked, in-office attendance, and on-line key strokes, and really focus on the outcome metrics that matter – the quality of product, the quality of ideas, and the quality of relationships among your customers, employees, and business partners.

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The learn more about hybrid models and all aspects of The Future of Work, contact [email protected]. Brian is a talent strategist and consultant who helps companies plan for the future of talent in a new world of work.?He is a former global CEO, Chief People Officer and author of the award-winning book on career strategy, The Long View.????