Hybrid work: Structure vs. Flexibility

Recent research from Microsoft describes the 'Hybrid paradox' - the simultaneous desire to keep working remotely but also the need to go back to the office for in-person interactions. I myself can't wait to go back to the office to see, interact, work and chit chat with my colleagues. We are a social creature by nature so of course we crave for in-person interactions. But at the same time, we have also found comfort within the boundaries of our home. We have appreciated the luxury of not having to commute and like me, many of us have also appreciated the short lunch breaks we have with our kids as they come home from school.

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Read more about this research in this great article below or get the full report

 

Other studies such as one from HBR show that the stage of your life or your current living status also influences your workstyle preference. One in three employees surveyed never want to go back to the office again. These are typically younger parents with small children or employees with long commutes. On the other end of the spectrum, 1 in 5 respondents never want to spend another day working from home. No surprise that these are the younger people, bachelors or those who live with their parents (and OMG do I empathize with them!). Whatever research you come across, they all reach the same conclusion:

 

Hybrid is the way forward.

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The extended lockdown gave rise to some new corporate buzzwords such as wellbeing (of course and rightly so) but also 'employee experience' - a nice-to-have corporate philosophy becoming a must-have. As offices around the world welcome back their employees, it's clear that most companies are making the hybrid option a permanent one as they seek to secure maximum employee experience. And yet companies who are 'forcing' their employees to a full return to the office managed to instantly 'kill' any form of employee experience.

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Hybrid work in a new post-pandemic era should be more than just continuing to give employees the option to work remotely. Taking hybrid one step further and ensuring a maximum level of employee satisfaction means allowing for flexibility.

 

But how do you strike the balance between offering maximum flexibility while at the same time ensuring harmony, a structure within which collaboration and productivity flourish and a work culture that does not create negative biases towards those who choose to work from home?

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I personally am of the opinion that too much flexibility may lead to chaos (and I intentionally use an extreme word here to emphasize my point). If managers don't know where people are on what days, or what their working hours are, this will certainly be much more difficult for managers to control (not in the authoritative sense but in the constructive and productive sense) but more importantly, may lead to weaker teamwork, poorer collaboration and lower productivity.

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It is therefore - in my view - imperative for management and HR to set clear guidelines as to what hybrid work means for their organization. Flexibility can then be offered within a well-defined framework. For example, an organization might decide to allow up to 50% remote work - a clear framework that allows for flexibility within.

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Companies may choose to set a second level of guidelines at a departmental level. A CFO for example might want to have all Finance staff in the office for the last week of every month. Other managers might work together with their employees to establish together what workstyle and schedule works best for them, while other managers might leave it completely up to each employee to decide how he/she wants to make use of the 50% remote work option.

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It's that silver bullet of balance between structure vs. flexibility that companies need to find and figure out how they can make it best work for them.

And what about managing this mix of different workstyles? How do Managers ensure fairness? They will need to actively work towards avoiding the creation of 'cliques' created by those who work more often in the office vs. those who have selected the remote option.

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Managers also need to ensure that there is no bias towards those working remotely and ensure equal treatment and equal access to all the necessary information and decision making moments that might be happening in the office.

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Building equal relationships may mean dedicating more 1:1 chit chat time with those working remotely to make up for the office chit chat that is happening with all others in the corridors, while making coffee or over lunch.

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While hybrid work requires a harmonious bridging of the two worlds of office and remote work, it also means having to redefine and subsequently redesign the physical office space. Fixed seating is a thing of the past. Free seating - where you simply place your laptop on the empty desk of your preference - has existed for a while in many companies but will now be adopted at scale. Fewer desks will give space for more meeting rooms, more areas of collaboration and innovation spots. When the offices at Microsoft Greece were renovated 10 years ago, they were designed to accommodate a maximum of 60-70% of the workforce at any one time because of the hybrid work policy that we had already adopted back then. We have 100% open-space free seating, many meeting rooms, collaboration areas and quiet rooms for individual calls and meetings.

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And yet there's still more innovation to come with the help of technology.

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Here's a video of how Microsoft reimagines the meeting room, one that bridges the gap between in-person and remote attendees providing inclusive experiences where everyone is equally represented.

 

With disruption comes opportunity. That hybrid is here to stay is a fact. That now is a one-off opportunity to redefine the workplace is another given. It is first and foremost a corporate cultural redefinition of work as the technology is already here to support all forms of hybrid set-ups.

Let's invent the future of work.