Everybody will have you believe that hybrid working is the secret sauce to attracting top talent, I believed it fully at one point, so much so, that I designed a hybrid work policy at a previous employer.
But I could sense something was off, it was incredibly divisive among senior staff. The majority weren’t really on-board with it and that’s when I realised it was signed off as a thinly-veiled attempt to attract staff, and that, my friends, is no recruitment strategy at all.
You see, going hybrid when you’ve been in-office for a number of years is a mammoth change, and far too often, employers blindly sign-off a hybrid work policy without understanding or believing in the fundamental change that they’re about to make to their business.
At first, it turns out to be a great strategy, all of a sudden you’re opened up to a greater pool of candidates, you have the office for those that want it and for the other half of the market that want flexibility (Source: Gallup), you’re giving them the flexibility that they want.
But you’ve done it for the wrong reasons. You’re recruitment efforts of late have fallen flat and you’re struggling to retain your top performers and attract fresh talent to your team, so you look to hybrid working as the silver bullet instead of taking a deeper look at your company culture.
So before you jump the gun and change your office to hybrid in a last-ditch attempt to boost your employee acquisition, ask yourself, is this what you really want? Because, genuinely, you can run a full five-day-a-week office if you want to, there’s a market for it still, and there always will be, even if it diminishes over time.
Still here? OK, here’s what you need to consider before going hybrid:
Understanding The ‘Why’ Behind Going Hybrid
No, I’m not quoting Simon Sinek, you can relax. I’ve covered it pretty well above, but it’s really important to be crystal clear about why you’re making this change. If it’s about bettering employee well-being, increasing productivity and improving diversity & inclusion, then you’re on the right track.
Gauge Employee Sentiment
Remember, it’s about them. Hybrid working might look really cool when you read about it on LinkedIn, but what does your current workforce want? Remember that this isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution and you’ll need to strike a balance between the needs of your team, the needs of the business and also anticipate what new talent will want as well. No small feat, admittedly.
Define Hybrid For Your Organisation
Are you going to have a set number of days, specific days, hours or leave it entirely up to your team? There’s no right or wrong way to do it, but you have to make sure that you’re clear about your definition of hybrid, so that the team understands and uses it properly. Define it, communicate it, deploy it.
Have All The Gear As Well As The Idea
How are you going to support people working hybrid? Making sure that people have the right equipment at home, that their laptops are suitably secured for working somewhere other than the office, do you have a reliable suite of collaborative tools for a distributed workforce?
Are you starting to see why it’s not just a simple switch to flip now? There’s more…
Train Your Managers
Managing a hybrid and distributed workforce requires your managers to bring new skills and a new mindset to the table. Invest in training them to learn how to lead a distributed team, how to build and maintain trust remotely and also to ensure they continue to treat their team fairly, regardless of their location.
Update Your Office Space
Take this as an opportunity to change up your office space. A hybrid workforce will come to use your office space as somewhere to come together and collaborate, not to work in silo.
Think: fewer desks to support collaborative work and hot-desking, more breakout areas and quiet areas for focused work.
Your office is about to become a tool where your team can come together when they need it, rather than just to satisfy the age-old need for presenteeism.
Prioritise Inclusion and Fairness
Hybrid work can unintentionally create disparities between in-office and remote employees. You’ll need to take proactive steps to ensure that everybody has equal opportunities for recognition, promotions, and to have their voice heard. Consider how to equally involve all staff, particularly remote staff, in decision-making and team bonding activities.
What Gets Measured, Gets Managed
Hybrid is still pretty new and it’s continuing to evolve all of the time. You need to define what success looks like, so you can manage it, do you want to attract a more diverse workforce, reduce staff turnover or improve employee wellbeing? Make sure that you set benchmarks and actively track against them.
Be ready to adapt too, because there’s nothing guaranteeing that you’ll get this right the first time, so be transparent and be agile.
Remember to include your team in this process and make it a collaborative evolution, you’ll thank yourself for it in the future.
Hybrid work has the potential to be truly transformative to your organisation, but only if you truly want it for the right reasons and that you approach it with care. Remember that this is a key strategic decision that will entirely reshape your organisation and if it’s done right, it can transform it for the better. But if you do it wrong, it can create confusion, inequity, and leave you in a worse place than before you started. Choose wisely, Dr Jones.
