Managing the Emerging Hybrid World of Work

Remote working has been a success for many companies, and HR professionals play a part in building on that success. PwC surveyed 133 executives and 1,200 office workers in November and December 2020 and saw a growing recognition of remote working success, compared with a survey six months earlier. At the end of the year, 83% of employers said the shift to remote work had been successful for their company, compared to 73% in a June survey. Less than one in five executives said they want to return to the office as it was pre-pandemic, and only 13% of executives were happy to scrap office working altogether.

82% of company leaders plan to allow employees to work partly remotely even after the pandemic ends. However, 30% of leaders find it challenging to maintain a corporate culture in the context of a hybrid workforce.

The emerging hybrid working model and learning model will drive a culture of change across global organizations, leading to more self-direction, collaboration, and less micromanagement.

Considering that in 2021 many businesses have found themselves with unplanned hybrid, flexible models of working and learning, it is vital to get on the front foot and proactively design a hybrid setup that delivers business objectives. At the same time, providing the flexibility that employees have become used to is key.

Drawing from our own experience (we, at Speexx, have had employees working remotely from locations across the globe, long before the pandemic), there are several tactics that HR and L&D professionals can implement to make the most of the hybrid world of working and learning:

1. Address the challenges of hybrid working and learning in tandem

Many of the challenges of developing hybrid models are shared across the workplace and learning, including virtual team structure, digital communication channels, and working and learning policies. HR and learning development colleagues can support each other to create a consistent approach to allowing employees to work and learn both in the office and remotely.

Return on investment on tools such as collaboration tools will be so much higher if employees are encouraged to use them for both daily workflows and as a support network to develop soft skills, starting with collaboration and broader communication skills and foreign language skills.

2. Review physical working and learning spaces

While companies have been pivoting quickly to remote digital working, the focus has been on getting the right digital platforms and connectivity in place. As the new hybrid workplace emerges in 2021, the physical workspace's needs will come to the fore.

Hybrid working might mean some employees come to the office some of the time and work from home part of the time. Employees might need to share workspaces, especially if the company takes the opportunity to make savings on office costs by downsizing. Traditional hotdesking has evolved into hoteling, allowing time for the space to be sanitized between users. Systems and staff will be needed to support this. Similarly, room booking systems may also need to become more robust.

If you would like to read more on the topic of how to manage the hybrid world of working and learning, download this Speexx whitepaper!