Does the Future of Work Include a Shift to Hybrid Work?

Back in 2020 when the world went into lockdown many of us had to shift to hybrid or remote work.?Many companies used this an opportunity to reevaluate their overall work culture to ensure continued engagement and connection.?At the time, I was the Global Managing Director of Marketing at Accenture and was intimately familiar with the hybrid work model as I was already managing a global, geographically distributed team from a combination of our New York office and my house in Westchester, NY.?Similarly, my team was distributed across more than a dozen geographies with each person in-office, hybrid, or remote from their home. Thankfully, we were used to working in a variety of models simultaneously.

As the world is creating a new normal that continually evolves, it seems likely that the hybrid model will replace the conventional full-time in-office model, drastically changing how businesses manage operations, employees, and clients.?

It’s no surprise employers are struggling with whether they should allow employees to remain hybrid, demand people back to the office full time, or to offer a variety of options.?A McKinsey & Company survey released this summer found that 80 million Americans engage in hybrid work arrangements, but many want to work remotely for the much of the week when given the option.?More and more, not only are Americans embracing flexible work, but they want more of it!

Leading distributed teams for many years (even before the pandemic) has shown me that decisions around work flexibility as a part of the overall corporate culture must come from the leadership level to retain and draw in talent.?Leaders must be bold and lead differently to properly manage distributed teams working from a variety of locations and office configurations.?At the same time, bringing teams together in person may be necessary at times, but it must be done in a meaningful way that creates a value less likely to be achieved otherwise.

If you have the responsibility of leading a distributed team, please consider these tips and tricks as you fine tune your style and approach.

• Embrace the hustle.?Many of your staff are multi-tasking and trying to balance their work and home responsibilities. ?While this was always true, employees want to have more control over how they create their balance. It’s important to recognize that employees need flexibility to attend to things like school drop off, carpools and doctors’ appointments. ?Sometimes these activities of daily living will conflict with work obligations, and this is okay. ?There is very rarely something that is so urgent to discuss that someone can’t attend virtually or have the conversation scheduled to accommodate people’s time. ?As a leader, remember that you set the tone. ?Allow your teams the freedom to be productive when and how they can. ?As long as they are moving their work forward in a timely manner and delivering quality results, they should be able to structure their workday in a manner that works best for them.
• Bring back voice calls! We all felt the fatigue from video meetings during the pandemic, not to mention the pressure of being camera-ready at any point in the day. ?Instead of making every meeting a video conference, it’s time to make phone calls part of the mix. ?Striking a balance between video and audio will undoubtedly infuse greater flexibility in how teams communicate. Prior to 2020, we all did this so let’s find a more balanced mix going forward. Just because a conversation can be by video doesn’t mean it needs to be.
• Ask for communications preferences.?I’m a firm believer in offering my team a variety of ways to communicate.?In fact, one of the first questions I ask new employees is how they prefer to communicate.?Asking your team if they prefer bi-weekly or weekly calls or if they prefer video or conference calls helps you better understand their preferred style and whether they have any limitations throughout their workday.?Leaders must adapt and work with their stakeholders to speak with them and communicate in a comfortable environment to allow and foster productivity. While you will have your own preferences as a leader too, showing flexibility to accommodate your employees at times versus expecting them to always accommodate you goes a long way in building morale and loyalty.
• Respect boundaries.?Without a doubt, leaders must be compassionate and respectful of employees’ boundaries.?Compassion can mean excusing an employee from a work obligation when emergencies occur— whether that’s last-minute travel, a sick child, or other unforeseen circumstance.?It can also mean being considerate of people within different time zones and scheduling meetings at a reasonable time for them to attend.?Often when I hold later meetings within the US time zone, we’ll record them and share it with EMEA or APAC staff so they can review the on-demand meeting when convenient for them. I’ve also rotated the time for recurring meetings so no one group within my organization is always inconvenienced or left out of the live conversation.
• Embrace cross-generational work.?Over half of today’s workforce is now made up of people born between 1981 and 1997. And 68% of Inc 500 CEOs are GenXers. This means different generations with different styles, values, and goals—but that doesn’t mean they can’t work together. In fact, when generational diversity is embraced as an asset, organizations may discover new approaches to collaboration and productivity.?As a leader, remember that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and you are responsible for bringing different generations of workers together to help shape success.

In a Harvard Business Review article in 1992, the late Peter Drucker wrote: “Every few hundred years throughout Western history, a sharp transformation has occurred. In a matter of decades, society altogether rearranges itself—its worldview, its basic values, its social and political structures, its arts, its key institutions. Fifty years later a new world exists. And the people born into that world cannot even imagine the world in which their grandparents lived and into which their own parents were born. Our age is such a period of transformation.”

Drucker was ahead of his time discussing the power and introduction of the Internet and the shift towards a knowledge environment. Today, his commentary once again rings true as the future of work is shaped.?

It’s important to remember that competition for top performers and digital innovators demands that employers understand how much flexibility their employees are accustomed to and expect. Leaders are wise to invest in technology, roll out policies, and training for employees to create workplaces that integrate people working remotely and on-site.?All of this must come from the leadership level. Over time, employers can define the right metrics and track against them to make sure the new flexible model is working. Just don’t be surprised if adjustments need to be made along the way as is true for any model. When leaders embrace hybrid and the future of work as an opportunity, involving their teams in the solution an amazing thing happens… employees are happier; work is done and done well; and everyone can relax a bit knowing that their voice is heard and their needs are acknowledged. It’s good for culture and good culture is good business.