What Are The Types Of Hybrid Workplace Models?

These are the four most common hybrid work models:

1. Flexible hybrid workplace

Employees choose their work location and hours based on their daily priorities. For example, if they need to concentrate on a project, they can work from home or in a coffee shop. They can go into the workplace if they desire a sense of community, need to meet with their team, attend a training session, or participate in a town hall. Cisco is utilizing this concept by allowing its employees to choose where they work on any given day.

Benefits:

• Allows individuals the freedom and flexibility to choose where and when they work. 
• Establishes a trust-based connection with employees, which enhances loyalty and job satisfaction.
• Increases the talent pool, resulting in more diversified thinking.
• Improves the bottom line by saving money on office space and travel.

Challenges:

• Employees struggle to find an appropriate day or time for in-person teamwork.
• Lack of visibility into how many people are coming to the office on any given day and whether the building can accommodate them.

2. Fixed hybrid workplace

The organization determines which days and times workers may work remotely or in the office. For example, certain teams may come into the office on Mondays and Wednesdays, while others may come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Alternatively, an organization could allow everyone to work from home on certain days of the week. American Express is an example of a company that has implemented a fixed hybrid work model.

Benefits:

• Increases the likelihood of in-person collaboration and team building.
• Allows employees to book appointments or do small errands on specific days of the week.
• Allows you to simply forecast office capacity.

Challenges:

• Lack of individual choice, which may result in lost productivity if employees are not in the best environment for the task that needs to be done.
• Impossibility of reducing office space.

 3. Office-first hybrid workplace

Employees are expected to remain on-site but have the option to work remotely a few days each week. Google intends to implement a model in which employees work in the office three days a week but can work remotely the other two.

Benefits:

• Allows for flexibility and personal preference.
• Contributes to the preservation of company culture and community.

Challenges:

• Employees have little visibility into who will be in the workplace and when.
• Inability to predict how many employees will be in the workplace on any particular day.

4. Remote-first hybrid workplace

Employees work from home the most of the time, with just brief excursions to coworking spaces or the office for team building, collaboration, and training. The organization may not have an office location in this model and instead rely on team members in the local area to meet together when they see fit. Twitter has embraced a remote-first philosophy, allowing all workers to work from home.

Benefits:

• Improves productivity and job satisfaction for employees who prefer to work from home the majority of the time.
• Allows for financial savings by decreasing or removing office space.

Challenges:

• Employees may experience feelings of isolation.
• Increased difficulties in preserving the company culture and community.

5. What factors are driving hybrid work?

During the COVID-19 epidemic, businesses moved to remote work and employed virtual collaboration technologies to be productive, and hybrid workplace developed as a viable work arrangement. While some firms had hybrid and remote workers prior to the pandemic, the transition from in-person meetings to kitchen table virtual collaboration happened overnight.

Organizations are now implementing hybrid workplace models to provide greater freedom to employees while keeping the in-person connections that are critical for the corporate community and culture, after learning the benefits and limitations of remote work.

Numerous surveys and studies have revealed the factors motivating hybrid work:

• Remote work has been mainly successful: According to McKinsey, the majority of CEOs have witnessed significant improvements in individual productivity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Employees are expecting more freedom: According to Dimensional Research, 57% of employees would contemplate leaving their employer if they were to return to work full-time.
• Businesses perceive an opportunity to save money on travel and real estate: According to Fortune, 74% of CEOs of large firms anticipate to minimize office space.
• Sustainability is a priority: According to Nature, daily global CO2 emissions declined by 19% during the COVID-19 epidemic, approximately half of which was due to reduced ground traffic. Reduced commuting and business travel from hybrid work, along with lower office space heating and electricity costs, will contribute to a more sustainable future. These modifications can help the 60% of Fortune 500 companies with sustainability ambitions achieve their objectives.

Figure 1. What factors are driving hybrid work?

6. What are the benefits of hybrid workplace?

The transition to hybrid employment has significant benefits for people, organizations, and the environment. It promises to boost employees' flexibility, productivity, and job satisfaction. It benefits the company's bottom line and extends its talent pool. And less travel and workplace space mean a more sustainable future.

Dimensional Research recently conducted research that reveals:

• Working from home has advantages for 99% of knowledge workers, including improved flexibility, no commute, and more time to spend with friends and family.
• 95% of knowledge workers want to return to work for activities including team building, collaboration, and networking with peers.
• 53% of major firms intend to minimize their office footprint, lowering costs.

Figure 2. What are the benefits of hybrid work?

7. What is a hybrid work schedule?

A flexible work schedule is the foundation of a hybrid workplace. Your hybrid work schedule will be determined by the hybrid work model that your organization chooses to use. Some firms will allow employees to choose when and where they work on any given day. Others will have established timetables to ensure that teams in the same place may collaborate and team create in the office or a co-working space.

While hybrid workplace allows you to pick your own schedule, it is critical to discuss your working hours with your colleagues. Team leaders should address each particular scenario with empathy and compassion and collaborate with team members to find a schedule that works for everyone.

The change from emphasizing on location and hours worked to the outcomes provided is a crucial pillar of hybrid work.

8. How to build a hybrid workplace culture?

Figure 3. How to build a hybrid work culture?

When organizations provide greater flexibility to their workers, they may be concerned about sustaining culture and community. It can be difficult to foster idea cross-pollination without watercooler chats or opportunities to communicate with coworkers outside of your job function. And if the corporate culture and feeling of shared purpose deteriorate, it might result in less productivity and more turnover.

As a result, one of the most crucial components of hybrid work will be the development of a culture built on inclusivity, empathy, and trust.

As work has spread beyond the office walls, maintaining the culture needs a shift in how we think about shared purpose. Colleagues must collaborate and connect whether they are in the same room or virtually, and your collaboration solution must encourage interactions that would occur if people were there in person.

When organizations combine the office and virtual worlds, they can have the best of both worlds. Employees can pick where they wish to work while still benefiting from personal connections and team building that contribute to business culture.

9. What’s the best collaboration solution for hybrid work?

One of the most essential considerations you'll have to make when you transition to a hybrid work style is selecting the correct collaboration solution. When the epidemic struck, many firms were forced to make quick judgments about what technology they would use to support a remote workforce. However, hasty decisions are not always the best decisions.

In a more distributed yet more connected world, hybrid work redefines what it means to work and collaborate. This shift forces us to reconsider the experiences employees require to be productive and interact effortlessly wherever they are.

When determining the optimal hybrid work solution, consider the experience and needs of each individual in the firm. Begin by asking crucial questions such as:

1. Are my staff capable of working from home?
2. Can my staff anticipate the same level of collaboration whether they are at work or at home?
3. Can the solution enable IT to simply scale, monitor, and manage the experience while workers work from home or the office?
4. Are employees involved in meetings? Are there simple methods for them to participate and be seen and heard?
5. Is the collaboration software safe?

RICOH Spaces – Your Future Workplace

RICOH Spaces is a hybrid working solution which enables you to respond to changes in how people work so you can deliver a seamless employee experience now and in the future.

Bringing workplace management under one roof, it integrates activities such as desk booking, meeting room management, wayfinding and more retaining the best of the physical office experience and seamlessly combining it with the best of remote working.

Your platform to the future workplace, it unlocks the insights and capabilities required to adjust ineffective ways of working, improve collaboration, and reduce costs—preparing your business for how tomorrow will work.

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