Will we ever be ready for hybrid working?

Every week I look at the news and try to digest what's going on at a high level and the one thing I keep coming back to is that we're simply not ready for hybrid working.

In some respects, we're bang on it. Take technology for example, there is enough tech available to support us working from anywhere. We can stay in contact with our colleagues and we are processing information and workloads in new ways via our mobile devices. The productivity argument is also strong with several different surveys all spitting out similar findings that people are productive from home.

Now, one of the main sticking points here is whether people can be as effective, as productive, at home versus what they can do in the office. And honestly, it depends. Only as individuals do we know whether we’re performing at our best while working remotely but this is another debate altogether. I feel that the conversation around productivity has turned into one of whether you can still perform tasks while balancing other things you’d quite like to do or get done during the day. Scathing but it’s true – if there isn’t a term for getting your laundry done while you’re on a team catch up call, then we need one. And don’t pretend you don’t know why.

Back to hybrid – the tech is there. Sure it will get better but it’s in a place where we can perform tasks and communicate remotely. The other aspect which I believe is ready for hybrid is the spaces in which we work. The beauty of design is that it evolves around behaviour and it happens fast. Home offices, coffee shops and offices are all primed to support us working. In some cases, again, we could improve but that also relates back to the objectives of the space and the common user. A coffee shop is probably never going to get areas with dual screens set up but their seating, WIFI and lighting could foreseeably improve as I’m sure some are already doing/done. The point is though, that we have unlocked the opportunity to work in a variety of settings and that is a positive thing.

Where this falls down is the complexities of these environments and whether they support all the activities that we would demand from them. I relate this back to ‘complete environments’ and this is where the office blows other spaces out of the water. What the office is particularly good at it – whether you’re aware of it or not – is that it collects all the best environments and brings them under one roof. This is where good office design comes in, as it becomes about blending these spaces together so that they fit when they wouldn’t otherwise and that’s where the office claims victory as a complete environment. This isn’t to say that a library isn’t a great place to work from but if you need to jump on a call, are you presented with the space to do that effectively? A coffee shop could be a fantastic spot but if it gets too loud, where do you retreat to for focused work? These things are possible in the office as the office is designed to allow you to pivot quickly. These other spaces are not complex enough for us to be fully productive all the time but we can undoubtedly still work from them and that satisfies our ability to work outside of the office.

When it comes to culture, leadership and responsibility, I think we're miles off it. Fundamentally, the office has become the scapegoat for a lot of stuff that it simply has nothing to do with. The resistance to coming into the office is not caused by physical aspects of the office.

The issues are arising around policy, leadership and culture time and time again. So while we have some strong aspects down such as the technology and the spaces to be productive, the intangible aspects of our workplaces are showing that we aren’t ready for hybrid working. This applies to employers and employees alike and until we see a shift in expectations from each side, we will continue to clash heads.

The change we need to see is compromise. Nobody likes to compromise because it means ditching values or giving up on something that benefits you but realistically, we have to see some sort of cooperation to make progress. And when I mention compromise, I don’t mean accepting the repositioning of the sofas on the ground floor. Employees may well have to accept the fact that employers want them back in the office more frequently or maybe even the whole time. Likewise, employers may need to accept that a portion of the week is fulfilled via remote working. Regardless of what these terms are, we find ourselves in the mindset of ‘us’ and ‘them’ which is not a position that lends itself to progress. Even though many of us are working remotely for all or part of the week, it would be extremely hard to say that there is no friction surrounding it. This is where the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, productivity paranoia and other alliterative HR workplace terms have stemmed from.

The points raised here undoubtedly open many cans of worms and while I’m fascinated by the workplace sector, the one thing I am worn down on is the perennial counter argument to everything. So to wrap up before I’m struck down by data that shows only 9% of the world goes to the office (I’m sure there’s a survey somewhere) the salient point is this:

Remote working is progressive and it should be built into our workplace strategies. Employers need to rediscover trust and empower people to work how they want. At the same time, employees have to accept the needle is moving back to spending some time in the office. While it is important to capture this moment in time to create a better work-life balance, we are now on the verge of things only happening if they suit us or are on our terms which is a negative place to be.

Regardless of what you think to the above statement or anything in this piece, it will prove that we’re still not ready for hybrid working and may indeed never be. The balance of power and control has fallen out of equilibrium which has created a constant grappling to get it back. The path to harmonious hybrid working is by no means clear and it may well be being laid one step at a time.