Gone are the days when a 9-5 job was an ideal career choice of many. The growth of the corporate sector coupled with globalization, led to the massive growth of businesses worldwide leading to increased workload for almost everybody. A 9-5 job transitioned into working ‘overtime’, staying in offices till late into the night resulting in stress. Such was the extent of it, that employees began wishing they could work from home without having to step into their office space. Well, the COVID-19 pandemic granted that wish, giving birth to hybrid workplaces.
Today, it has changed the landscape of work culture globally. While it has left the office culture partially redundant, it has provided leaders/CEOs with alternative solutions that have proved to be more beneficial than damaging to the employees’ productivity and the overall performance of the company.
As life is gradually coming back to normalcy thanks to vaccinations, in most countries, companies across the world are yet trying to put in place a viable work culture to ensure maximum employee satisfaction and comfort. Although working remotely has brought about many positives, there are still leaders and even employees, especially in India, who feel the need for in-person communication and connection to be able to work better. To find a way out of this, adopting a hybrid work model is seen as a top choice by many.
What is a ‘hybrid workplace or workplace model’?
It is a newly emerging workplace model that lets employees work in a combined manner from the office as well as remotely. In such a model, employees can occasionally visit the office when required and work from home/remotely on the rest of the days. Since it is a very recent trend, there is no specific or rigid structure that a company needs to follow. Each company can set up this model by constructing it in ways that best fit their requirements.
As a result of the pandemic, countries went into lockdowns, each having different kinds. Back in India, as lockdown restrictions began to be relaxed, offices were guided to operate keeping in mind the ‘50% capacity.’ This led to many companies actually considering to keep working like that irrespective of the restrictions.
Microsoft, a global tech giant, shared how it has begun adopted the hybrid workplace model and what needs to be critically evaluated to make it work the right way.
It is essential for companies to draft hybrid work rules that benefit both, the employees as well as the business. If implemented well, the hybrid workplace model could offer some key benefits which can help a company in multiple ways.
Productivity booster
A hybrid workplace provides more flexibility to employees work-wise. They have the option to do their job in a way that works best for them. Sitting in offices for long hours have been impacting employees’ productivity for years. Work remotely and visiting the office twice or thrice a week ensures not just employee satisfaction but also accountability. It enables the employees to work as per their comfort while also allowing leaders to keep a check on the work being done.
Work-life-balance
This model especially will greatly benefit those who had to travel for hours to get to the office, pre-pandemic. Now, the option to work remotely will eliminate hours of time wasted travelling and give sufficient time to the employee to work as well as spend time with family and friends equally. This in turn will keep stress and exhaustion at bay, thereby keeping the employee satisfied, motivated and happy at work.
Reduction in operation cost
To run an office daily involves a lot of operation cost. With most of the employees working from home, companies can now shift to smaller spaces and resign them in such a way that can be used by different employees whenever it’s their day of working from the office. The extra cost can be invested into something much more pressing.
This model definitely does have its share of cons. However, will proper planning and implementation, keeping the best interests of employees in mind, hybrid workplaces will definitely be the next bing thing in the corporate world.
