The hybrid work model is becoming the new normal post-pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many companies to adapt to remote work, and as a result, many have discovered the benefits of allowing their employees to work from home.
Hybrid work models allow for a combination of remote and in-office work, which provides flexibility for employees while also maintaining the benefits of face-to-face interactions and collaboration. This model also helps companies save on real estate costs by reducing the amount of physical office space required.
Many companies have announced plans to continue with hybrid work even after the pandemic subsides. For example, Microsoft has announced a “hybrid workplace” strategy that will allow its employees to work remotely up to 50% of the time, while Apple has indicated that it will adopt a more flexible approach to remote work. So it seems that hybrid work will continue to be a prevalent trend as companies have recognized the benefits of flexible work arrangements and employees continue to seek greater work-life balance.
Why Hybrid Work Is Gaining Popularity
- Saves Cost: It saves the cost of commuting and traveling for employees as they don’t have to travel daily to reach the office due to the hybrid work model. It allows companies to rent small office areas as the total workforce doesn’t come to the office daily.
- Increase Productivity: Hybrid work model increases productivity as it gives two working environments to employees. It would be boring for an employee to work sitting in the same place daily. Hybrid work provides such flexibility that an employee can work where he feels more concentrated and less distracted.
- Employee retention: In the hybrid work model, the time of commuting is saved which can be utilized by employees to do other personal stuff. It makes employees more motivated to do a job because such a working culture is being provided to them where there is less foundation and more flexibility.
- In-person interaction is maintained: In work from a home model, In-person interaction is completely missing. But in the hybrid working model, employees get a chance to work with colleagues and seniors together for a few days a week. It is required to stay connected to the workforce.
- Reduced risk of discontinuity: During covid pandemic, only those companies could continue their work, which adopted a new working culture ‘work from home’. Now, both employees and employers are familiar with working from home as people are still into hybrid working. So, it will be easier to continue the work for companies in the future if any natural disaster or any other pandemic occurs.
Challenges in Adopting a hybrid working culture
- Technology: Hybrid work relies heavily on technology, and technical issues can be a major challenge. Poor internet connections, video conferencing problems, and other technical difficulties can disrupt work and cause frustration.
- Work-life balance: Hybrid work can blur the lines between work and personal life, as employees may find it difficult to disconnect from work when they are working remotely or outside of traditional office hours.
- Managerial challenges: Managing a hybrid team can be challenging for managers, as they need to balance the needs of remote and in-person employees and ensure that everyone is working effectively and collaboratively.
- Employee engagement and motivation: It can be challenging to keep remote employees engaged and motivated, as they may feel isolated and disconnected from the team.
- Culture and team building: Maintaining company culture and building a strong team can be difficult in a hybrid work environment, as remote employees may miss out on important social interactions and opportunities for team building.
- Communication: Communication relies on technology in this working model. So if any issue like poor connection occurs, communication will be interrupted. The other thing is there will be a lack of effective communication and that will eventually affect teamwork. So this is always a challenge to be in touch with other team members and reporting managers.
- Lack of good Connections: it will be easier for a person who works from the office to build good connections with seniors in comparison to a person who works from home. So the chances are the person who is working from the office only will get more perks.
Final words
A few years back, there was no such concept. Work was meant to be done from the office only. Now there are many experiments done to change the concept of that boring office working culture, for example- coworking space and hybrid working models. The pandemic made hybrid work models and working from home more relevant and significant. Nowadays, Many companies are adopting a hybrid working culture. If this working model applies effectively, there are many perks that can be enjoyed by employees and employers. To overcome the challenges, this model should be applied after customization as per the need of the company.
