Six Things We’ve Learned About Hybrid Work So Far

Experts, entrepreneurs and workers have spent the past two years promoting hybrid work as “the future.” And now, it seems, the future has arrived.

As many countries eased pandemic restrictions, allowing employees to resume face-to-face work, many companies have opted for a hybrid environment: a combination of office days and remote work. It is true that a small number of companies have adopted fully distributed models, but most bosses have urged their employees to start returning to their desks, at least to spend some of their time.

As a result, we’re starting to learn what hybrid work really means — at least, to some extent. The new system is no longer a confusing concept. We now have research and worker experiences that better explain what it means for people to work in hybrid environments—what works and what doesn’t.

So as more and more employees return to their offices, here are some of the main points about the reality of hybrid work.

3-2 or 2-3 configurations face problems

One of the biggest decisions companies have had to make is how many days a week they will ask employees to be in the office.

Companies that have embraced hybrid work have taken different measures. Some asked for a single day at the office and others asked for four (mainly in the strictest sectors, such as finance and consulting).

In search of balance, many companies have tried to bring people back three days a week with two remote days (3-2) or two days at the office and three days of remote work (2-3). Google was one of the top companies to initially adopt the 3-2 system, bringing its employees back in April.

But while some workers would be happy to spend two or three days in the office (especially those who feel isolated amid remote work or simply don’t like being at home), these systems don’t work perfectly well with the entire workforce.

In some cases, workers who previously considered three days in the office to be a good solution changed their minds when remote work became the norm. Others never wanted to go back and are complaining.

Some even left the companies that forced their return. In the case of greater prominence, Apple has lost key talent (and hasn’t officially brought people back yet, although it’s unclear whether the extent of its remote policy is related to the reaction of its employees).

Many workers — and, with them, companies — are calling these in-between configurations a “failure.” And research is starting to destroy the idea that about three is the correct number of days in the office. A Harvard Business School survey from April 2022 concluded that the best number of office days per week may actually be just one.

Differences within companies

Even among companies that are planning employee returns, there really isn’t a one-size-fits-all model. There are a few reasons for this.

First, some company functions do not allow remote options for some groups of employees or entire departments. This is the case of people who work in research and development or face-to-face customer service.

On the other hand, some companies are also making some positions that used to have face-to-face components entirely remote. That is, hybrid configurations are often not homogeneous, even within a single company.

This isn’t necessarily bad. In some cases, these diverging situations mean that companies are making personal arrangements for employees, allowing them to enjoy some of the flexibility they’ve had over the past two years or so — something that has long been an important desire for workers.

According to a survey by the US consulting firm McKinsey in June 2022, this is especially positive for women, who use remote time more than men when given this option (3.1 versus 2.9 days per week, respectively). .

But there is also a downside. The same survey showed that men are more likely to be offered remote work than women. And some workers report that they don’t get the personalized deals that other colleagues get, which can create tension and even fuel resentment.

In addition, many employees are flouting the agreements. There are workers who report that some colleagues, particularly managers, are abusing remote work privileges, not answering callbacks, unlike their subordinates.

Another type of tension that is also growing is over the salary levels of people working in different locations. There is a growing debate over whether office workers should earn more than their remote counterparts. There is still no good answer to this question.

Hybrid work has different emotional impacts

For some people, hybrid work provides a much-needed emotional boost. Employees who have long been missing human interaction feel recharged when they’re back with colleagues whose faces they haven’t seen in months.

This was especially the case for younger employees or those without children. Some of them suffered reduced well-being while working in isolation. Hybrid work is also a welcome change for workers who live in poor conditions or who have never met their peers, like many members of Gen Z.

But this case is not universal. For other workers, hybrid work is emotionally draining. Some people are burning out with the continual shift between two types of schedules, workspaces and environments.

“It’s the psychological change – the changing environment every day – that is so tiring; this constant feeling of never settling in, getting stressed and having my productive work at home always interrupted,” British office worker Klara told the BBC. , in February.

Many of these discrepancies relate to workers’ personal and family situations in addition to their personalities, so it can be difficult for companies to create policies that can reduce stress for all employees.

Mission almost impossible

If there’s one thing employees and employers have learned about working during the pandemic, it’s that everyone has very different needs.

What is an ideal work environment for one employee may be the worst possible for another. It’s virtually impossible to design a policy that accommodates all situations—and fully remote working is no panacea either.

In some hybrid work environments, the new return policies are leaving some people behind, such as immunocompromised workers and those with long-term Covid, as well as those with children. And many people in these groups are having to make difficult decisions about their careers.

On the other hand, some companies are finding that they need to be flexible and accommodate needs, especially if they want to recruit and retain a diverse workforce. Those that don’t risk alienating entire groups of employees and ultimately losing talent in a currently competitive landscape.

The purpose of the office has changed

At the start of the pandemic, experts speculated that hybrid work would change not only what used to be the purpose of office use, but also your physical appearance. And, for the most part, they were right.

Several companies say they are upgrading their offices to meet the new hybrid models, including creating specific spaces for teams — collaborative areas for those much talked about water cooler conversations and better technology integration for presentations and video calls.

In the world of hybrid work, tasks that require concentration, with your head down, should be done at home, while the office should be a centralized meeting place to combat the isolation of working alone.

This means that, in some cases, many so-called “fun offices”, with perks scattered around to keep people at their desks longer, will also disappear. That’s not to say the hybrid office will be less welcoming—it’s simply less “must have fun.”

But this change is also not without its swoops. Some workers report that their colleagues have forgotten how to behave, now that they are back in the office and discovering exactly what a day at the office means in a hybrid world.

In this regard, experts say not to worry, as everything will settle down as hybrid work gains a little more normalcy.

the future of work

As much as many elements of hybrid work have been clarified, there is still much we don’t know.

After all, both companies and workers are still relatively early in this strange new experiment. And researchers also do not yet have significant longitudinal data to draw definitive conclusions.

Even when there is solid research, it can still be difficult to make sweeping generalizations because what works in a hybrid environment is very personal to each employee and each company. In other words, there’s still a lot to learn — and it’s not clear when or even if we’ll know everything.

External factors are also influencing what we learn about hybrid work. As the economy threatens to reverse in many countries, for example, experts speculate whether influence over the workplace could return to bosses, which would fundamentally change the way companies define and enforce hybrid policies.

And if the job market contracts in the midst of a recession, it will be impossible to know whether the remote work window will close, meaning workers may again find themselves in the office for even longer than they are today.

But for now, the focus is on improving the policies and routines that normalize hybrid work so that this phase starts to feel more conscious and less experimental. And even if progress is slow, changes around the world will help us solve occasional short-term problems and develop long-term solutions—perhaps, making hybrid work actually work.

This text was originally published here.