Designing a hybrid workplace should be the first thing on your mind when half of your workforce works from home on several weekdays. But embracing a hybrid workplace doesn’t only mean making flexible schedules permanent.
Instead, when you’re designing a hybrid workplace, you will have to consider more than just your office space. Here are ten things you should keep in mind when going hybrid:
1. Workspace Needs
You can’t create an efficient workspace if you don’t have enough space to perform tasks. So, before starting on the nitty gritty, think about how much space your employees, equipment, meeting rooms, and other office requirements would take.
Once you’ve decided how much space you need, prioritize it. Think about it: Do you really need that meeting room if you’ve been conducting online meetings for the past year? Or that conference room if you’re an online first company?
Separate needs and wants. But never disregard your employees’ feelings about their workplace. What do we mean by that? In a nutshell, if your employees want a conference room, you should give it to them. If they need their own places, try to figure out how you can do that.
2. Employee Experience
Employee experience can make or break your business. For instance, if your employees are unhappy, you’re going to have lower task completion rates and delays. But if your employees are happy and live doing their work, they’ll help you propel your business high.
So, when you’re switching to a hybrid workforce model, find ways to ensure your employees are happy. This can mean getting a pay stub generator to create pay stubs, providing employees with the necessary technology, committing time to virtual get-togethers, and more.
You need to make sure your employee experience is positive because it’s going to influence employee satisfaction and churn, which has a direct impact on your business.
3. Technology
Technology is the backbone of any and every business nowadays. And when you’re opting for a hybrid workforce model, it becomes even more crucial. Employees on-site need to connect with employees working virtually, and if you don’t have access to software like Slack, Skype, Google Meet, and more, you’ll be left with communication breakdowns, which can increase delays.
Plus, project management and customer service management software can make even the most tedious of tasks easier for your employees. They also help you set easy-to-reach deadlines, which can improve your goal completion rates.
4. Equipment
Technology needs something to work on, and that’s your equipment. Your equipment determines how fast your employees work. For instance, having access to a printer in your office can help you perform work faster than normal. Why?
Because the printer is going to allow you to print necessary documents or prototypes and run them by relevant team members, which can improve the ideation process and make the idea-to-prototype process faster.
5. Communication
Communication is essential to smooth workflows, meeting deadlines, and ensuring everyone knows what they need to do. If most of your team members are virtual workers, you’ll need to be very intentional about implanting multiple communications channels in your office.
For instance, to ensure everyone’s on the same page, all deadlines are being met, and managers are keeping track of all deliverables, you’ll need to provide employees access to email, chat groups, Teams, or Slack.
You can use Zoom as well, but you’ll have to develop on-screen protocols and get creative with communication to ensure nobody gets “Zoom-fatigued.”
6. Meetings
Meetings are necessary for keeping track of employee progress, getting complaints and feedback out of the way, and learning where everybody’s at. They can also help managers become aware of issues like burnout, which can help them distribute work more wisely.
So, if you’re going hybrid, think about how you’re going to conduct meetings. Are they going to be on Zoom? Are they going to be in person? Are you going to invite everyone on-site on in-person meeting days?
7. Culture
Business culture determines how a company functions. It supports employee connections, influences employee engagement, helps employees improve and develop new mindsets, and allows managers to build trust with their teams.
When you’re going hybrid, always think about how your culture is going to be impacted by virtual workflows. For instance, if you have a collaborative culture where everyone helps each other with things, then you might need to implement technologies that help your employees maintain that culture.
8. Flexibility
Being hybrid doesn’t mean your employees are chained to the virtual world. If most of your employees prefer to work from the office, you should accommodate them, but if they don’t, then you should think about their opinion as well.
You should also help employees feel empowered to take care of personal responsibilities while contributing to greater company goals. How can you do that? You can do that by allowing employees to take time off without having to negotiate with their managers.
9. Productivity
Hybrid workspaces can run into productivity problems. When you’re planning your office, think about what you can do to increase productivity. For instance, you could improve productivity by giving your employees access to tools that reduce time to completion.
You could also provide them days off per month to make sure they don’t get burned out and in state-specific policies to prevent them from overworking.
10. Training
Providing training to new hires when you’ve moved online can be a challenge. But you can make it easier by thinking about how to provide training beforehand. For instance, if you think having an on-site location to teach your new hires what they need to know is going to do the job, go for it.
You should also be intentional about planning and never underestimate anybody’s needs. This can help you increase productivity, reduce waste, and offer a better work-life balance to your employees.
