As the Covid-19 health crisis finally came to the end, many business owners expected their employees to flock back to the offices, and resume working like before the health scare disrupted the workplace and the entire business world.
These expectations may seem unrealistic since the pandemic has changed the way people work and live forever, changing employees’ needs and requirements. While some look forward to returning to the office, many hope that their companies would offer flexible work arrangements, allowing them to maintain the much-needed work/life balance they enjoyed while working fully remotely.
If you want to meet the changing employees’ needs and create a highly operational hybrid work environment where your employees will be productive and able to choose where and how they want to work, keep reading.
Here you’ll find answers to 4 questions that will help you gain a clearer picture of how a post-Covid workplace should look like to satisfy your employees’ needs and keep your business thriving.
Where will Employees Work in the Future?
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, only about 8% of American employees were able to do their work fully remotely. This number has changed dramatically over the past two years with almost 50% of American workers stating that they can work on their projects from home most of the time. These employees are referred to as “remote-capable workers.”
When asked what their preferred work model would be now that the health crisis is nearing its end, most of them, 53%, hope for hybrid work arrangements while 23% expect to remain working fully remotely.
These statistics show that offering the best of both worlds by creating a hybrid workplace may be the most effective solution for remote capable employees.
What May Happen if You Don’t Offer Remote Work Arrangements?
While you may support the idea of employees sharing their work hours between their home and the office, you may be reluctant to support fully remote employees. And many managers worldwide may feel the same about running fully remote offices because they fear they won’t be able to keep an eye on their employees’ performance when working out of the office.
This fear may be understandable to some extent, but various studies on the topic have proven that remote workers tend to be more productive than their office-based counterparts. More importantly, you can always rely on work tracking software to learn how your employees spend every minute at work without hovering over their heads.
If you are still on the fence about offering remote and hybrid work opportunities these statistics will help you better understand your employees changed perception of the workplace and embrace this change.
A soaring 54% of remote employees believe that they would leave their current positions if forced to return to the office full-time. 38% of hybrid workers share the same opinion.
Besides causing devastating turnover rates, forcing employees to give up remote or hybrid work opportunities may lead to lowered engagement and affect well-being while increasing the chance of burnout.
Why Is Hybrid Work so Popular among Employees?
Even though the benefits of having the freedom to choose where to work are obvious, many business leaders still wonder why the hybrid model is so popular among employees.
Here are the top 5 reasons that go in favor of the hybrid work model.
- Many employees enjoy the fact that they don’t have to commute to work.
- Flexible work arrangements improve overall well-being.
- Workers can make a fine balance between work and private life.
- They enjoy occasionally working from the office and spending time with co-workers.
- Many think that they are more productive and connected to the company when working from the office.
- They can use a hot desk app to make office engagement easier as well.
While the absence of commuting and more time to spend with family and friends are significant reasons for working from home, employees still want to socialize and communicate with their colleagues in person. This social interaction can boost their productivity, engagement, and satisfaction.
Shortly by creating a hybrid workplace, you’ll encourage employees to make the most of their time while working at home and come to the office when they want to collaborate and bond with colleagues.
Should Office Time be Flexible or Mandatory?
Once you decide to offer hybrid work arrangements to your employees, you need to determine the way you want to structure office-based work hours. If you want to make an optimal balance between office-based and remote days, ask your employees about their preferences.
Research on the topic shows that 4 in 10 employees want to work from the office 2 to 3 days a week, while 3 out of 10 think that they’d spend 1 to 2 days a week in the office.
Also when asked whether office time should be flexible or mandatory, 40% of respondents state that they want the autonomy to decide when to come to the office while 60% of them want more structured and defined office days schedules.
These numbers show that hybrid is a preferred work model among employees but you need to work with them to create a structured hybrid work environment and deliver optimal results.
