To create a balance between leadership objectives and employee requirements, businesses must devise methods to allow people to reach their full potential while also benefiting the company in a remote setting. Here are some experts’ recommendations on how businesses can improve their hybrid working strategies in 2022.
The pandemic gave many businesses the opportunity to adopt remote working models, based on their respective needs, to navigate a phase of lockdowns. By 2021, hybrid environments had become a common phenomenon with 68%Opens a new window of U.S. workers preferring to work both remotely and on-site. In the coming years, 87%Opens a new window of employees who worked remotely intend to continue working off-premise at least once a week.
Even though hybrid work models offer many benefits, businesses face challenges in optimizing resources that ensure a healthy and productive workforce, regardless of location. Despite the hurdles, high-growth enterprises (63%Opens a new window ) believe a hybrid working model enables them to achieve bottom-line objectives, such as having a “Net Better OffOpens a new window †workforce. By efficiently managing people’s day-to-day work experiences, executives may unleash up to 5x more human potential.
Net Better Off (NBO)
Source: AccentureOpens a new window
Tips to Improve Hybrid Work Strategies
To ensure the efficiency and productivity of an increasingly scattered workforce, businesses need to invest in the right infrastructure and technologies. Below are some expert insights on how decision-makers at organizations can fine-tune their hybrid working strategies to enhance employee engagement and productivity.
See More: 4 Reasons to Prioritize Remote Manageability and Endpoint Security in the Hybrid Work Era
Boosting employee productivity, investment in the right technology, and more
Talking about how organizations can improve their hybrid workplace model, Ankur Goel, managing director for Poly India & SAARC, says, “The world of work has changed drastically. Having 100% of our colleagues five days a week at work is a thing of the past. Remote and hybrid working has become the standard way of doing business. While this new world of work offers a plethora of opportunities, one of the biggest challenges of managing a distributed workforce is ensuring that every employee, regardless of their work location – at home, in the office, or anywhere in between has the same work experience.â€
“Going forward, companies will need to actively build new habits and ensure that no matter where employees work, they feel like they belong, that they are being included in conversations, and that managers support their diverse needs and work styles.â€
He further provides insights on how organizations can improve the hybrid work experience for employees, regardless of their work location. These include:
- Use data analytics to improve employee productivity and understand their needs
IT departments can leverage data and insights to have a more objective view of employee productivity in the office and remotely. These inputs will help them decide what technology investments they need to make to support a hybrid workforce better.Â
By adopting AI and data analytics, organizations can boost their teams’ efficiency and drive business growth as part of their continued digital transformation plan. Â
- Boost employee experience by investing in the right collaboration technology
Companies should rethink their technology investments and collaboration strategies to improve employees’ work experience both remotely and on-site.
Organizations should embark on a no-compromise attitude to ensure that the highest quality video and audio solutions are deployed to help employees collaborate with their peers and stakeholders. Employees can work efficiently from anywhere if they have access to the right collaboration equipment, like high-quality USB cameras and Active Noise Canceling headsets.
- Office spaces reimagined for a hybrid futureÂ
With employees working remotely most of the time, companies should adopt a flexible and cost-effective approach for their office space investment. By investing in an on-demand approach, companies can effectively add on workspaces. Companies with existing excess office space can consider subletting part of that space as needed; this ‘core and flex’ model will enable a combination of long-term security for core operations while allowing flexibility for growth. Offices can become collaboration hubs, serving as a place for teams to gather to brainstorm in small groups, host client meetings, celebrate milestones, and work on joint projects.
“By making informed decisions on executing hybrid work strategies, companies can propel and thrive in the hybrid world of work,†Ankur added.
Increasing flexibility in workplaces
The entire pandemic experience has in some way become a giant social experiment, believes Simon Taylor, the CEO and co-founder of HYCU, who believes businesses were able to “brute force test†many things. Taylor thinks that pandemic has accentuated the real meaning of flexible work – how it works and how efficient it is for businesses to be in a flexible working model. “This makes me believe that hybrid work is not going away anytime soon.â€
Emphasizing on best ways to sustain a hybrid working model, he says, “The future of hybrid work is supporting an increasingly flexible workforce inside an increasingly flexible workspace. Almost every employer will have a heightened sense of comfort as it gives them the flexibility to hire people from relatively remote areas. At the same time, there will also be growing expectation to have regular office visits for important face-to-face collaboration time.â€Â Â
This way, the paradigm shift plays itself out, even in terms of real estate. “People are going to seek more office space, not less, Taylor predicts. “Employees will demand more areas for social activities inside office space and potentially outdoor areas around an office space. The urge to have more flexibility in a private area as well as a collaborative space, or even in a space that may reflect home comforts will be there.â€
The world will continue to see increased flexibility in both the workplace and the way we work, he adds. Companies just need to amp up their appetite for flexibility.
See More: CES 2022: Top 5 Solutions and Tools for the Hybrid Workforce
Preparing the team for cyberattacks in the remote working environmentÂ
Ransomware has made daily headlines for hitting businesses worldwide and shows no sign of slowing down. With the rise of an expanding hybrid workforce, along with the proliferation of IoT devices, the footprint of shadow IT has increased, and the attack surface has grown as a result. No individual or company is immune from the persistent threat of ransomware, which costs an average of $4.62 millionOpens a new window , according to IBM/Ponemon.Â
James Winebrenner, the CEO of Elisity, suggests, “By trusting nothing, continuously verifying identity, context and posture, and limiting access only to the applications and assets that are required for a role, organizations can help prevent ransomware breaches in a work-from-home set-up.â€Â
One strategy to help is turning to Zero Trust Access solutions, which are known for lowering the risk of an initial breach and boosting detection, response speed and effectiveness, and minimizing the impact by reducing the blast radius of the breach, Winebrenner adds.
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