Hybrid working and how to make it work: tips and pitfalls to avoid

Gummy Bears, Happy Cola, Jelly Beans, Tangfastics, Milkshakes… So much to pick from in a jelly and gum sweets mix. 

My personal favourites are the Heart Throbs: Those yummy heart-shaped sweets where red strawberry jelly meets creamy foam gum. To me, they bring together the best of both worlds: the sharp and tangy, mixed with the soft and comforting.

And that’s exactly how I personally feel about hybrid working: it brings together the best of both worlds.

Is hybrid working the best working model?

In my opinion, the right model depends on many variables, including the nature of a business, and its company culture. A hybrid approach may not be right for all; many businesses operate really well with a fully remote workforce, others with a primarily office-based setup. 

At Superscript, having successfully experimented with a hybrid model in between the two 2020 country lockdowns, and based on our culture and on employee feedback, we will be returning to this permanently when restrictions are lifted: a few days at home or remote, a few in the office.

For most our employees, it brings together the best of both worlds (just like Heart Throbs do to my tastebuds):

• Happiness at home or elsewhere, with more flexibility through your working week and working day to fulfil personal matters, and 
• Happiness in the office, with the meaningful face-to-face connections, the spontaneous interactions you can’t have over Slack or Zoom, the camaraderie and the stimulation of working out in a pack.

Nurturing employee happiness in a hybrid setup

Happy at home, happy at work... This sounds all too easy, but there's more to it to make a hybrid workforce truly happy.

I have observed over the years that for most people, happiness at work is more than being adequately paid to do the job, it’s more than aligning with your employer’s purpose and objectives. It’s also about feeling valued and cared for by the company; feeling respected, treated fairly and equally; and feeling like you belong. This leads to greater employee motivation.

So what has my positive experience of hybrid working taught me? How to best manage a distributed workforce which at any one time isn't working from the same central location? How does it need to adapt to deliver on these ‘happiness at work’ drivers?

The basics

First things first, employers need to get the basics right, and ensure all employees are appropriately set up for work whether they are based at home or in the office. Poor physical working conditions often are a key driver of dissatisfaction (Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory highlights them as a major 'Hygiene Factor' of employee motivation). 

It sounds obvious, but not many companies invest enough in the technology and communication/collaboration systems and beyond, i.e. in the physical setup: for desk workers, this means employers should commit to the provision of adequate workstations, ergonomic chairs and noise-cancelling headsets if necessary, at home and in the office. Employees’ work setting must be given the same level of attention, regardless of location.

Equality and inclusion regardless of location

In addition, with a split workforce, businesses must keep in mind that employees need to be treated fairly and equally whether they are in the office or not. They need to condition the hybrid workplace to facilitate authentic, meaningful inclusion for everyone, whatever their working location.

No one should feel like they are ‘missing out’ when not in the office. Employees working from home should be treated in the same way as those who are in: same attention from management, same care, same perks, same recognition. 

From a practical standpoint for example, those who attend a company All Hands remotely should be able to contribute or ask questions in the same way those physically present can. When organising a face-to-face social event, those unable to attend should be considered, and if possible, their participation enabled in some way even if for a short time, so they don't feel left out.

Social interaction

If a company’s culture has elements of trust and employee engagement built around social connections, it is imperative for employers to organise location-agnostic activities to enable these. At Superscript, these range from quick, randomly matched online social chats between team members from different departments; steps challenges between mixed teams; esports competitions; virtual drinks and fun games; social and fundraising activities that foster team-building.

Taking part in these team activities gives everyone a sense of belonging, and ensures employees don’t just show up through their physical or online presence, but also mentally, and engage with their colleagues whether at home or in the office.

One more tip

With a hybrid in office/at home working model, it is crucial to use the physical time in the office wisely.

I recommend:

• Working out a rotation to ensure employees get the opportunity to have face-to-face personal interactions will colleagues across all other departments, not just their direct teammates
• Use the time in office for activities that are more productive or effective if run face-to-face, such as creative brainstorms and ideation sessions
• When in the office, avoid swamping your diary with back-to-back meetings; leave enough free time to enable spontaneous connections with colleagues and to foster relationships with others

In a nutshell

Running a business as a hybrid workplace is an important decision and a big responsibility for employers.

Companies who chose to implement this mixed workplace model should commit to enabling their employees to best perform while working in the office and within their home/remote setup, to ensuring that they are treated fairly and equally regardless of location, and to conditioning the workplace for all to feel emotionally and mentally engaged with the business.

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Mai Fenton is Chief Marketing Officer at Superscript, a London-based Series A tech scale-up that provides flexible, customisable business insurance for small businesses by monthly subscription. 

Mai has experience of scaling brands and driving profitable growth across a range of businesses from start-ups through to multi-million pound global enterprises, with a diverse background which spans consumer packaged goods, lifestyle, retail, ecommerce and technology.