Creating a High Performance Hybrid Work Culture

In this pre-post Covid transition, the prime importance for the business leader is to reinvent their business working processes, customer experiences, employee interactions and, more importantly, the transition to a hybrid workplace. This transformation was in years of anticipation that happened in just a few months. In essence, we have all experienced the future of work is accelerated.

Though the advantages of having a hybrid structure are undeniable, you will realise that this is much harder to manage, than having all your employees in the office or having 100% remote. Besides, not all your workforce will want to work from home, and not all of them will want to work from the office either. As businesses are reinventing their strategy, we still hear huge noise persistent in optimising the productivity levels. It is also required to go beyond the transactional work and to understand employees beyond the conventional workplace.

A recent study of nearly 4,000 employees and business leaders in 11 countries conducted by The Workforce Institute at UKG found that 55% of managers and employees trust people more in a physical environment than a virtual one.

Few managers feel insecure as employees working in remote might be operating in the dark. Some of them suffer from ‘perceived work productivity’ syndrome, where the manager believes their remote colleagues are not working as hard because they cannot see them. Few employees suffer from ‘grass is greener’ syndrome, where reduced career opportunities for their advancement as managers do not “see” their work in-person daily. It is also evidenced that the teams are now more challenged in making the right decisions, managing conflicts, and delivering a quality output.

The secret to making hybrid structure work is by making everyone in the group feel included. A cultural shift is needed to drive higher levels of trust, empathy, and ownership. Ensure a perfect work-life balance is followed - encourage your team member to pack up their laptop at the end of the day, even while working from home. Have a clear vision and guidelines of how you would communicate and connect. Be curious about your team’s challenges and their emotional state, and you will recognise hurdles early and overcome them more easily.

It is clear, a hybrid workspace is just the first step to a fully agile, modern workplace portfolio; however, building trust, empowering your team, having open communication, and making them accountable for their action irrespective of the work location are the same essential elements in creating a high-performance culture. It is also imperative to remove biases and syndromes to make a positive work culture that will help organisations to create a high-performance hybrid culture and a rewarding working environment for the long business haul. 

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