Many post-COVID conversations in the workplace revolve around ‘new’ hybrid models of work. Beyond the fact that this approach is not new at all for many companies, the question is more about what is preventing its widespread implementation.
First of all, what is meant by “hybrid work”? We have the following definition: work activities carried out in various locations inside and outside the company buildings.
Considered as such, this means that many workers already carry out their activities with this model: the FM employee of a service provider going to his client’s premises; the commercial employee working sometimes at home and sometimes in the office; the site coordinator of a large construction company working on the sites and in the company’s offices, the internal auditor working in his workspace and in those of his colleagues during an audit, etc.
In other words, the hybridity of workspaces exists for many workers. It is rather the form and frequency that has increased sharply with the pandemic. The pandemic has acted as an accelerator of the phenomenon.
Hybrid working naturally brings management challenges, but it has many advantages, some of which are listed below:
• Increased efficiency through travel optimisation: I am where it makes sense and adds value.
• Flexibility of working hours with an output rather than an input orientation.
• Necessarily extended trust relationships between employers and employees.
• Workspaces resized in relation to the real needs of interaction and socialisation and not “administration”.
• Optimisation of working time for both sides.
• The need to structure processes and approaches through the extensive use of technology.
What is striking today is not so much hybrid work as the way it is introduced and managed by and in companies. Hybrid work requires management skills that are often beyond the scope of current training. It is a dangerous illusion to believe that every manager has these special skills.
Many CEOs still think - especially in the Latin regions - that by claiming that hybrid mode is the standard and that by changing 2-3 pieces of furniture the job has been done. What a big mistake: Latin culture is much more hierarchical than Anglo-Saxon culture, so it is essential to deconstruct some urban legends before we can build a new world of hybrid work.
Hybrid work? I am totally in favour of it, but it must be the subject of professional support and clear and audible messages from company management, otherwise my only advice is to forget about it, with all the possible consequences…
Good choice, good thoughts and good reading.