Hybrid Workplace is the Next Great Disruption in HR

A joint study conducted by Microsoft and LinkedIn across 31 countries reveals that employees are looking forward to the best of both worlds as far as workplaces are concerned. They want the flexibility to work from home along with the ability to reconnect with the physical workplace. If they don’t get this arrangement, they are likely to quit the organization.

With the threat of Omicron and other subsequent variants of COVID-19 looming large over the world, it doesn’t seem surprising that a hybrid workplace is here to stay. It is the next generation work model that is disrupting HR and organizations. It will be imperative for HR to embrace a hybrid work model to prioritize employee needs, recruit and retain top talent, and achieve sustainable organizational growth.

While hybrid workplaces seem inevitable, the big question is whether HR is ready. There is no doubt that most organizations have implemented and managed the hybrid model temporarily successfully in the wake of the pandemic. However, it is a different ball game altogether to adopt it on a perpetual basis. It will entirely change the dynamics of workplace strategy, productivity, engagement, and culture. It will redefine and reinvent the traditional characteristics of the workforce. It will rewrite the HR playbook.

Undoubtedly, HR has a big work cut out in front of it to make the hybrid workplace model adaptable. Let’s take a look at what HR can do to tide through this disruption.

·????????Survey the Employee Needs

The needs of remote employees and onsite employees are vastly different in terms of both personal and professional perspectives. A survey to gauge their needs and sentiments can help HR to understand what employees expect from the organization in a hybrid work model.

·????????Safety and Wellness

Employees who want to return to physical workplaces want to feel safe. HR needs to ensure that appropriate COVID-19 protocols are in place at the workplace.

Employee wellness in terms of physical, mental, and emotional health has also emerged as a primary concern for HR. The pandemic has triggered burnout among employees. It is crucial that HR monitors the workloads of employees, provides necessary work and holiday breaks, sets clear boundaries regarding work hours, and embed wellness programs.

·????????Ensure Fairness and Equality

HR will need to promote policies that ensure fairness and equality for both remote and onsite employees. If there is a gap between how both are treated, it will adversely impact organizational culture and productivity. HR will require considering fairness and equality across work allocation, work opportunities, employee experiences, diversity, and inclusion.

·????????Strengthen HR Technology

Technology has emerged as a key enabler for HR in battling against the pandemic. If HR has to sustain the hybrid work model effectively, it will have to further accelerate the adoption of technology and digitization. This includes establishing internal communication and collaboration tools, chatbots, self-service portals and HR management tools on performance, payroll, talent acquisition, reporting, analytics, learning, skilling, cyber security, etc.

HR will also have to look at implementing AI to automate repetitive, mundane, and administrative tasks. This will enable HR to standardize certain jobs and focus on strategic tasks at hand.

·????????Model Empathy

Empathy has emerged as the biggest HR and leadership trait in the pandemic. The human factor which had perhaps gone missing has returned with full force and HR is now showing empathy like never before to stand in solidarity with employees. Empathy will be a crucial enabler to sustain and thrive hybrid work environment and form a higher-impact relationship with employees.

Summing it up

A hybrid workplace is not just about letting employees work from home and/or office. It is about developing a range of flexible working options to bridge physical and digital workplaces. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to hybrid workplaces. The sooner HR understands this fact, the easier it will be to embrace the great disruption of hybrid workplaces. Then only, it will yield the desired people and business outcomes.