In this article you will find:
Section 1: Understanding Hybrid Work
In a 2020 study conducted by Gartner, results showed that over 50% of employees wanted a hybrid work model for the post-pandemic return to work. In comparison, only 13% of people wished to return to the office full-time, and only 25% preferred to continue fully remote work.
Taking this into consideration, the need for organizations across all industries to implement a hybrid work model is imminent.
The main objective of this course is to offer you a step-by-step guide on how to implement a hybrid work model across your entire organization successfully. Throughout this training, you will learn about flexible/hybrid work, the potential challenges and solutions attached to it, and how to prepare your organization for the transition into a hybrid work model.
The COVID-19 pandemic’s forced mass migration from office life to work from home has led numerous leaders from various industries to look deeper into the outcome of remote work on employees’ health and productivity.
While a hybrid work model is certainly quickly becoming a necessity for any organization, it is worth noting that not all positions and employees may be suited for it. In addition, hybrid work isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution and will vary from one company to another. The following section will detail what flexible work is and the different options available.
1. Types of Hybrid Work Models
The right hybrid work model for your organization will largely depend on the size and needs of the company. For larger businesses, it can be expected that different teams will have different requirements. Therefore, the right hybrid work model should accommodate the different departments of your organization, your employees and their various functions as best as possible.
Factors to consider when defining the requirements for hybrid work include location, time, and volume:
- Where is the work done? Remote work could be impossible for some. For example, employees requiring an ethernet connection could be limited to on-site work from the office at all times. In addition, some functions, such as engineering, could require particular hardware on-site and meaning that remote work would be impossible.
- When is the work done? What sort of timeframe is enforced in the organization? Are employees’ work dependent on one another in such a way that the work is time-sensitive?
- How much work is there at any given moment for the employees? What is the volume of work that is typically done by employees per day or per month?
Hybrid Work Model Option 1
In this hybrid work model, some of your employees are working on-site full-time while the rest work remotely full-time.
Hybrid Work Model Option 2
In this hybrid work model, all employees divide their time between working in the office and working remotely.
Hybrid Work Model Option 3
Alternatively, you can create a hybrid work model that combines the options listed above where some employees work full-time either on-site or remotely, and some share the week between the two.
This can look like alternating weeks between the office and remote work, letting employees choose at-will when they want to come in or not, dividing the day between on and off-site work, and so on.
2. Hybrid Work Benefits
The findings from the Gartner ReImagine HR Client survey & Indeed Remote work surveys consistently reaffirm what we know: hybrid work benefits both the organization and its employees.
Notable findings include:
- 82% report an increased feeling of well-being when working remotely
- 57% say that hybrid work reduces stress 50% report decreased absenteeism
- 58% of respondents feel fully productive at home
Additionally, implementing a hybrid work model in an organization brings the potential of sourcing workers from different geographic locations and increases the company’s ability to attract and retain top talent.
A hybrid work model is a sustainable option for companies for several reasons. Besides increased productivity, a hybrid work model can also decrease business costs. A typical U.S. employer can save $11,000 a year for each employee that works remotely 2-3 times a week
2.1 Increased Productivity
The Global Work-from-Home Experience Survey reported that 86% of respondents feel fully productive working from home.
Research conducted by Gallup found that the productivity increase among remote workers was equivalent to an extra day per person per week.
Additionally, it was calculated that for an organization of 500 employees working remotely three days a week, an average increase of 5% in productivity could save the company approximately $3,000 per employee. Comparatively, a rise of 15% in improved productivity could save a company up to $8,00 per employee for an annual $4 million premium.
2.2 Increased Well-being
Another benefit of hybrid work for employees is increased well-being and job satisfaction. Survey findings revealed that 77% of workers are satisfied with the flexibility they have working at home and that 69% are satisfied with their well-being.
2.3 Reduced Real Estate Costs
In the traditional work model, real estate costs are based on accommodating as many people as possible into one space. If your business grows, you will need a bigger space to accommodate more staff. With a hybrid work model, you will only need a certain amount of space that people will share based on their frequency of in-office work. Switching to an activity-based work model alongside part-time remote work is a great way to save up to millions in real estate costs.
2.4 Reduced Absenteeism
In a hybrid work model, people who are absent because of illnesses can have the opportunity to still do work if they feel up to it, without the risk of getting other employees sick. It is also easier for employees to attend personal or family appointments when necessary and reduces stress. A decrease of 30% in absenteeism levels would represent savings of $1.2K per employee.
2.5 Reduced Turnover
With increased employee satisfaction, businesses can save hundreds of thousands of dollars to reduce employee turnover. The money spent on recruiting, training, and onboarding a new staff member could be saved by reducing the need for turnover. A 10% reduction in turnover could mean savings of over $500K per year per 1,000 part-time remote workers.
3. Hybrid Work Challenges
Your organization’s transition to a hybrid workplace will come with a unique set of challenges influenced by your company’s size, industry, and needs.
In a 2020 Gartner ReimagineHR Client Survey, it was found that:
- 80% of workers expect to continue to work from home at least three days per week
- 51% of responses reflect the preference to work from a location of choice (home office or other location) and employer office on a weekly schedule
- By 2022, 45% of the workforce will be working from home two to three days per week
- By 2023, the percentage of employees in shared seating will increase to over 40%
Moving away from the traditional workplace model means your organization will have to rethink and redesign existing policies and procedures. Most, if not all, organizations will have to think about the future of the office space, the technology and processes used, and how to maintain company culture.
Your organization may need to revise more or less than what is listed above. It is essential to keep in mind that each company has unique requirements and parameters and that this course of action should be tailored to these.
3.1 Rethinking the Office Space
One of the main perks of the hybrid work model is the employer’s ability to reduce the square footage of the office space, thus saving rent, utility, and maintenance costs.
Although reducing the size of the office space is alluring, it is important to note that not all your employees may want to work remotely full-time or even at all in some cases. This means that the physical office space remains an important aspect of work even in a hybrid model and should be positioned as a valuable alternative experience to remote work.
The goal of rethinking the office space is to transform it into a more valuable experience than working remotely. Therefore, your employees should feel that they are gaining something by going in and that it is worth the time spent commuting there and back.
With a hybrid work model, the office will need to be reevaluated based on the new requirements of your company and employees. The goal is not to get rid of offices entirely but rather to repurpose them to fit the needs of a newfound working model.
Evidence suggests that businesses are considering smaller but higher-quality office spaces. In a hybrid model, necessary office capacity may vary over time, depending on the need for employees to be on-site.
3.2 New Technology Needs
New technologies to support new ways of work are integral to your success in this new model of work.
Digital tools can help create a hybrid office environment filled with effective communication, productivity, and organization.
With employees consistently switching between on-site and remote work, adequate organizational tools are a must as they will fuse the two for a smooth transition and operation. The challenge comes with providing the right tools and creating rules for engagement which you will develop during the implementation process.
3.3 Behaviour and Culture
Company culture is one aspect that will change most from the integration of a hybrid work model. For example, employers are used to monitoring their staff and measuring their performances based on input rather than output, which is not necessarily a good way to do so.
It might be tempting for leaders to keep this mindset even when switching to a hybrid work model, which can cause problems later. Things like lack of trust and fairness are all aspects that may affect performance and revenue if not taken care of before.
Employers may also feel that they are losing part of the company culture with a hybrid work model, but the truth is that it just needs to be modified to fit the new standard.
Research by Kotter shows that in companies where culture is more effective, they experience payoffs in revenue growth, retention, stock price and net income.
Encouraging internal networking and having frequent explicit communications about the changes and its objectives will help prevent a deteriorating company culture.
Section 2: Implementing Hybrid Work Model
The implementation of a hybrid work model in an organization can be divided into 3 phases, as detailed below.
- Phase 1: Pilot or trial phase
In this phase, the change is implemented lightly and rapidly. This is a period for testing different policies and procedures and receiving feedback from management and employees. During this phase, you should also be observing real needs emerging, how the space is used, arising issues, and so on.
- Phase 2: Broad launch phase
In this phase, the change is implemented more broadly and in-depth. With the learnings from the previous phase, policies and procedures are made more defined and permanent. This phase is the longest and most costly one.
- Phase 3: Iteration phase
In this phase, you are fine-tuning the changes implemented previously. At this stage, the policies and procedures are well-established and should remain broadly unchanged.
An important part of all three phases will be effective change management communication across the organization. Moreover, you can expect to repeat some or all of the steps from one phase to the next depending on your organization’s specific needs and size.
Phase 1: Pilot or Trial
During this initial phase, the change is rolled out lightly to test the model without too much impact, study and costs. Ultimately, this is a learning phase where data and feedback should be collected and analyzed in order to adequately prepare for the upcoming phases.
The steps for the implementation of the trial phase are broken down as followed:
Step 1: Understanding Survey employees
- Draft a flexible work policy
- Define office supply needs
- Establish change processes
- Identify security and equipment requirements
- Form a budget Step
2: Planning
- Create a plan of action
- Communicate change
Step 3: Implementing
- Roll out change
- Collect data and feedback
This process is a cross-functional project and will require hands-on participation from different departments. To facilitate the collaboration needed for this change, a clear framework detailing the driver, approver, and contributor(s) for each initiative must be put in place.
Step 1: Understanding
The goal of this step is to understand why your organization needs the change and to establish key objectives of the initiative.
All involved should have a clear vision of the change’s benefits and the associated positive impact. Moreover, you should define the things needed to successfully achieve the change and identify ways it will affect the current way of working.
Surveying
The main goal of this survey is to find out what your employees’ expectations are regarding remote and on-site work. Additionally, the survey will indicate how well members of the organization understand the proposed change, the reasons driving it, and their response to it.
There are different methods of surveying your employees. For informal surveying, you can use communication channels such as Slack and poll team members directly through the platform. For more formal surveys, you can build survey forms online with Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, and SurveyPlanet to name a few.
Depending on the size of the organization, multiple surveys may need to be rolled out. For example, for larger organizations, you may choose higher-level employees such as managers and directors to be surveyed prior to surveying their respective teams. Alternatively, for smaller companies, you may decide to survey all employees each time.
Survey Questions
The answers you get from the survey questions should inform the decision for change. For example, think about what employees might need or want to productively work remotely, the sentiment behind remote work, and the implications of a hybrid work model. In addition, think about what else you want to know from your employees’ perspective, such as how many employees wish to work off-site and how many days per week they would like to do so.
For example, in the current context of the pandemic, you would survey employees on how the transition out of the office went, how it is in the present time, and what the expectations are for the post-pandemic return to work.
Ultimately, you will want to create a survey that helps you understand what is needed to accommodate hybrid work.
You want the questions to answer questions such as:
- Who wants a dedicated desk?
- Who wants to come into the office?
- Who wants to work remotely part-time?
- What hardware do you need to buy (home hardware + new office hardware)?
- Will employees need lockers?
- Do you need new software?
- How many days per week do employees wish to work from the office?
- Are there any issues or concerns regarding flexible work?
- What equipment do employees need to work remotely?
Section 1: About the employee
- Name and Workplace email
- Job title Department/teams Manager in charge
- How far from the office are you?
- How do you commute to the office?
Section 2: Transitioning out of the office
- How easy was it to access the things needed for success while working from home?
- While working from home which communication channels were most effective?
- How productive are you working from home? How comfortable are you in your work from home set-up?
- How easy has it been to effectively communicate with team leaders and members while working from home?
- How productive are you in your work-from-home setup compared to in the office?
- Have you had the necessary equipment to perform adequately while working remotely? If not, please specify which equipment you would need.
- What is the biggest challenge you encountered while working remotely?
- How comfortable returning to work in the office?
- Before the COVID-19 pandemic, how often did you work remotely?
- How many times a week would you like to continue working from home?
- Will you require any additional equipment to continue effectively working remotely long-term?
- What is your preferred method of communication moving forward?
- Have you read the company policy/principles/guidance on Hybrid/Flexible Working?
- Are you able to work securely from home, preventing unauthorized access and use? If not, what are the reasons?
- Do you have the necessary technology to effectively communicate with your team while working remotely?
- Do you have any questions or concerns about working remotely / undertaking hybrid work?
Interpreting Results and Applying Key Takeaways
Once the survey(s) is completed, the data collected will need to be entered into a trackable document. This will give a visual overview of where the employees of the organization stand in regard to hybrid work.
Present the findings to the executives to, in turn, collect feedback from them. You must ascertain what they are comfortable with in comparison to employee demands, understand the concerns of both sides and address them accordingly to find the middle ground in order to move forward.
Apply what you have learned from surveying employees to your hybrid work model. Then, use the answers and results to create a plan of action and flexible work policies in a way that manages expectations and needs.
Draft a flexible work policy
Moving to a hybrid work model will require flexibility to respond to changing workforce demands and expectations. When considering remote work options, it’s good to set clear expectations between employees, managers, and the company to ensure that everyone’s demands are addressed.
The most effective way to do so is to establish clear hybrid work policies for your organization. Your organization’s hybrid work policy will need to detail the agreement protocol, performance expectations, and terms for remote work.
Note: The sample policy can be drafted before the survey for employees to familiarize themselves with the potential changes and provide immediate feedback through the survey. Alternatively, you can draft the policy after you have compiled and interpreted the results of the survey.
Policy Terms
Performance Expectations
Clearly indicate the objectives for employee performance under the hybrid work model and the key performance indicators that will be used to measure it.
List the criteria and benchmarks managers will use to track employee performance and ensure deadlines and goals are being met without physical supervision.
Communication and Responsiveness
Specify what the expectations are regarding responsiveness in communication channels while working remotely.
How quickly can employees expect to receive assistance from a manager or director when requested, and in turn, how quickly are employees expected to answer their supervisors when working from home?
Project Management
Which tools and procedures will be used to virtually track assignments, files, progressions, and deadlines?
Include clear descriptions of each team’s tools, responsibilities, expectations and different roles.
Schedule
Include precise working hours in which employees must be active and available. Consider whether these hours will be enforced uniformly across all teams and which time zone workers should operate on.
Specify if employees will be expected to join mandatory daily or weekly meetings to facilitate team collaboration, reporting and updates.
Will there be any on-site requirements for certain teams or for all employees? Detail any dates, times, or tasks requiring workers to travel to the office or other workspaces and how often these occurrences may occur.
Equipment Expenses
Define the equipment and technology workers will require to work off-site. Physical equipment, such as laptops and webcams, may need to be supplied to workers. Furthermore, think about what your employees’ work is dependent on; do they need specific software, an ethernet connection, or require a minimum internet speed?
You will also need to define what is expected for best practices for information security, such as anti-viral software, firewalls, encryptions, etc.
Be sure to provide adequate instructions for implementing and maintaining all equipment and technology.
You also must include specifications on ownership of the equipment. List which expenses will be covered by the employer and which ones will be the employees’ responsibility and any long-term requirements for upgrades and maintenance of each tool.
Work Environment
Describe the standards of the remote work environment employees are expected to respect, such as webcam-on meetings, background noise control, etc.
Include a section with details on remote work safety and the well-being of the workers, such as break schedules, ergonomic equipment, etc.
Client confidentiality procedures should be put in place to protect sensitive information and clearly described in your policy, in addition to details about the organization’s liability regarding the worker’s compensation policy for injuries incurred off-site.
Support and Resources
Accessibility to support should include details on virtually accessing company resources such as HR paperwork, company guidelines, or project documents.
Tech support should be put in place and described in the policy. For example, include the process to follow for troubleshooting equipment or software issues for remote workers.
Consider how team leaders will communicate announcements, warnings, or updates to offsite personnel simultaneously as onsite employees and the measures remote workers must take to acknowledge reception of the notice.
Engagement
Include guidelines and resources for continued engagement while working remotely.
What kind of resources will be provided for remote workers to prevent social isolation and upkeep company culture?
Specify which communication channel(s) should be used and for which purpose. For example, clearly state that internal communication should take place on Slack and client updates via email. Also include guidelines for feedback procedures such as who to contact and how.
Identify office influx
You won’t know yet what kind of influx and traffic you should expect in the office at once under the hybrid work model, but as mentioned in section 2 of this course, a reduced floor plan is synonymous with a hybrid work model. However, first, you will want to try and gauge how many of your employees might end up working on-site on any given day and make the appropriate adjustments.
At this stage of the implementation process, this can be as simple as moving some desks around at first. However, more permanent changes to the office will wait until phase 2, or even 3 in some cases.
Identify Security Concerns and Needs
Security concerns should be addressed as soon as possible. Because you are still in the initial phase of the implementation process, you won’t need extensive or complicated security solutions. Discuss what the fast and inexpensive options are with the IT and security teams and land on one that fits your needs in the short term, at least.
Identify Equipment Requirements
While the goal of this pilot phase is to test out the change inexpensively and easily, you will still need to make initial adjustments. Identify the criteria for equipment both in the newly repurposed office and for remote workers and make sure that everything is ready to go before rolling out this trial phase of the change.
Below is a list of equipment typically required for remote work:
- Desk
- Ergonomic desk chair
- Ergonomic keyboard and mouse set up
- Second screen or monitor
- High-quality webcam and microphone
- Laptop stand
- Noise-cancelling devices
Form a Budget
Once you have discussed the possibilities and have collected the necessary information on all aspects involved, you will be able to create a budget. You should be fairly strict with the spending during this phase as it is meant to test the change, and the requirements will likely be different than what was originally thought.
Step 2: Planning
The goal of this step is to develop a change management plan. Effective change does not happen by coincidence, and any plan you develop must be tailored to your organization’s needs.
Change projects can be managed in a number of different ways, depending on the organization, some strategies for change management can be quite rigid, whereas others can be more open and flexible.
For effective planning, you will need to consider how to secure support from high-level members of your organization, who is best positioned to be involved in the change processes and if you will need external support.
With the acquired information, you will then need to plan the change. You will need to create a vision for change that sums up the reason for it and the beneficial impact it will have and communicate this plan to your organization to obtain support from people at all levels across the company that support the change.
Step 3: Implementing
The goal of this step is to put into action the plan devised in step 2. The pilot phase should be inexpensive, and policies and procedures not set in stone. It is critically important that everyone involved in the changes understands what needs to be done.
At this stage, you can now put the plan devised in the previous steps into action. Set key performance indicators to track and assess the success of the change and make sure that they are regularly measured as you will need this data for the next phase.
Phase 2: Broad Launch
The goal of this phase is to take what was learned from the trial phase, make the necessary adjustments, and launch the change in-depth. This is a more permanent phase of the change management process.
This is the time to put in place policies and procedures meant to last. This phase will likely be more expensive than the others since it is meant to be a more finalized model for the change.
The steps of this phase are divided as follows:
Step 1: Analysis
- Analyze data and identify issues and areas of concern
- Survey employees
Step 2: Revision
- Revise office requirements
- Revise technology requirements
- Revise security requirements
- Revise equipment requirements
- Draft a revised action plan and budget
Step 3: Re-implementation
- Roll out change
- Collect data and feedback
Step 1: Analysis
The goal of this step, and overall phase, is to understand what worked and what didn’t in the previous phase to eliminate costly risks and obstacles for the long-term implementation of the change.
Analysis
During the pilot phase, you will have established and tracked various KPIs to measure the success of the change.
Now, you will need to analyze these results and interpret them to make the necessary changes for the broad launch phase.
It is possible that the data collected may not answer every question you have; in this instance, a post-implementation survey of everyone who participated or was involved in any capacity will be needed.
Surveying
Naturally, the questions for this second survey will be different from the first survey. Keep in mind what data you need to obtain in order to better your hybrid work model when building this survey, what the findings of the trial phase were, and what you are still looking to find out that isn’t already explicitly clear.
At this stage, you are trying to answer questions like:
- How productive were employees under the new hybrid model?
- Were the procedures in place efficient?
- How busy was the office, and on which days and times?
- Were there sufficient workspaces available?
- Was the software adequate?
- Were employees satisfied with the change?
- And other open-ended questions for more detailed feedback, such as comments on specific things to change or that didn’t seem to work.
Find our sample post-implementation survey here.
Step 2: Revision
After analyzing the results of the pilot phase and the additional surveys conducted in the previous step, you will be able to:
- Revise the office floor plan to accommodate your organization’s needs
- Adjust your hybrid work policy
- Identify long-term solutions for security and technology needs
You will want to eliminate further potential dangers so that the overall change can be implemented on a long-term basis. To do so, you will look at the risks and challenges identified from the data collected and apply solutions to ameliorate the tools and procedures.
This step is meant to create a more final version of everything that was being tested out in the first phase, as well as remove whatever was deemed useless or add anything that was missing prior.
Office Requirements
With needs identified based on your learnings from phase one, you will be able to make thoughtful decisions about the use of the office space. The best solution for your office space redesign will largely depend on your enterprise’s needs and size, so it is important that you closely look at the data you collected to make an informed decision.
The survey results and feedback you collected should indicate the floor plans requirements by answering questions such as:
- How much space do you need to allocate for individual workspaces?
- How much space should you allocate to collaborative spaces?
- How many employees typically work from the office on any given day?
- How often are employees coming into the office to work?
- Are employees coming into the office for individual or collaborative work?
- How much time do employees typically spend in the office?
The space distribution of a hybrid office largely differs from that of the traditional office. For example, before COVID-19, offices typically required about 60-70% individual space and 30-40% collaborative space. In a hybrid office, those numbers are reversed with more space dedicated to team collaboration and moving away from individual desks.
You should test out different options to find the best solution for your organization. To do so easily and inexpensively, you can use online software such as SketchUP or SmartDraw to mock up different floor plans virtually before settling on one.
Technology Requirements
Although tools are important, companies must be careful not to overload employees with too many different applications. Studies show that diversity in tools (and switching between them) is a source of collaboration stress.
With a new office, there will be different management needs to be filled. A great tool to use in a hybrid work model is a desk and room booking management software that can conduct all the bookings for you, and keep track of who is in the office or will be coming into the office, alongside who is using what area.
An excellent software solution for this problem is a leading management software that can automate your office and manage bookings. Archie has many features that can help you transition your team into a hybrid work model, such as analytics that allow you to see how your space is being used, as well as many community features which can help keep your employees stay in touch with each other whether they are in-office or at home.
Some key features needed for companies that need to go flexible offered by Archie are listed below:
- Hot desk, office & room booking
- Interactive maps & floor plan
- Mobile apps
- Analytics & reporting
- Calendar integration
- White label
- Unlimited live-chat support
Security requirements
At this stage of the implementation process, you will need to address security needs.
According to the Annual Cybercrime Report from Cybersecurity Ventures, Cybersecurity Ventures expects global cybercrime costs to grow by 15% per year over the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion USD annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion USD in 2015.
Given that companies sometimes work with data-sensitive or confidential information, cyber and physical security concerns are of the utmost importance for an organization looking to move into a hybrid work model.
Security requirements
At this stage of the implementation process, you will need to address security needs.
According to the Annual Cybercrime Report from Cybersecurity Ventures, Cybersecurity Ventures expects global cybercrime costs to grow by 15% per year over the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion USD annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion USD in 2015.
Given that companies sometimes work with data-sensitive or confidential information, cyber and physical security concerns are of the utmost importance for an organization looking to move into a hybrid work model.
Cyber Security Solution
A Zero Trust security model is a concept created because companies should not trust anything inside or outside its bounds and should identify everything before it grants access to their systems.
In a Zero Trust model, IT departments would authenticate individual users before granting access to the company’s networks. A network could also be set up to automatically check for unusual behaviour, for example, a user logging into an account on a different type of device than usual or a connection coming from an odd location.
As company data will be online and accessible to employees, organizations should consider cloud access security brokers (CASB). This can help companies manage various issues, like strangers listening to video conferencing’ calls or employees taking screenshots of sensitive company data.
A company will have to make sure that it can protect its secured data, by ensuring that everyone who accesses systems is either an employee or a customer.
Physical Security Solution
Managed building access control systems, or a keyless entry, is one of the easiest, most low-cost ways to increase security in the building.
One great thing to do is have management software that can handle booking as well as smart access. Archie is an excellent tool you can use that has integrations such as Kisi for security door access, which employees can use to access the building.
Another great thing about management software is that employers can also track who is in the building at all times and how long they will be there. This will help with contact tracing, as well as security.
There are several access control systems providers available, many of which offer integrations with management software:
Employee security training
Employee security training is vital because as they are working remotely, they are much more likely to be exposed to phishing and other social engineering styles of online attacks.
In a hybrid work model, businesses need to look at the full picture, like where the employees’ devices are, how they will communicate and work together when some employees are in the office, and the tools they will be using to do so.
You will need to develop a security training program that employees can learn to avoid being subjected to online attacks that can breach the company’s privacy and security.
Training should address how employees should handle their online work and teach them techniques to avoid potential security problems. Training employees is important to a company’s security and well-being, alongside its revenue.
Identify Equipment Requirements
At this stage, you should easily identify the requirements for equipment both in the newly repurposed office and for remote workers. For the hybrid office, you may need tablets for conference room and desk bookings, and for remote workers, you may need to supply your employees with the right equipment for a home office set-up. Below is a list of equipment typically required for remote workers: Desk Ergonomic desk chair Ergonomic keyboard and mouse set up Second screen or monitor High-quality webcam and microphone Laptop stand Noise-cancelling devices
Identify equipment requirements
At this stage, you should easily identify the requirements for equipment both in the newly repurposed office and for remote workers.
For the hybrid office, you may need tablets for conference room and desk bookings, and for remote workers, you may need to supply your employees with the right equipment for a home office set-up.
Below is a list of equipment typically required for remote workers:
- Desk
- Ergonomic desk chair
- Ergonomic keyboard and mouse set up
- Second screen or monitor
- High-quality webcam and microphone
- Laptop stand
- Noise-cancelling devices
Draft a revised action plan and budget
After reviewing all the procedures and requirements you will draft a new action plan and budget that you will communicate to your organization to get ready for this second implementation of the change.
Step 3: Re-Implementation
At the re-implementation stage, you should have a clear understanding of the office needs and transformations required.
You should have a good idea of what employee processes, security, equipment, and software are best suited to the needs of the organization and should be confident in the success of this continued implementation.
Evidently, you will want to set new KPIs to track and assess so that you can repeat these steps in the iteration phase.
Phase 3: Iteration
The iteration phase is meant to fine-tune the last unresolved hanging issues, small or big so that the change can be finalized and permanently implemented across the organization.
The steps of this last phase are very similar to those found in phase 2. You will follow the same process but with a slightly different goal in mind.
The steps of this phase are divided as follows:
Step 1: Analysis
- Analyze data and feedback from the broad launch phase
- Identify issues and areas of concern
Step 2: Revision
- Revise policy, processes, etc.
- Draft a final action plan and budget
Step 3: Final implementation
- Roll out change
- Collect data and feedback
Step 1: Analysis
Similar to phase 2, the goal of this first step is to identify whether there were any new challenges and roadblocks and analyze the success rate of the revised procedures and policies.
First, you will analyze the data that you collected with your phase 2 KPIs. Additionally, a post-implementation survey should be rolled out across the organization for a final evaluation of the success rate of the change.
Step 2: Revision
The goal of this step is to revise any aspects that still aren’t meeting needs and expectations. Normally, most of the processes and policies should be mostly complete, but depending on your organization you may need to tweak a thing or two.
At this stage, you will want to make sure that security requirements are met and all potential issues have been ironed out. Solidify your policy and ensure that all employees from all levels are up to date with the adjustments made.
Step 3: Final Implementation
The goal of this final step is to implement the hybrid work model permanently. Based on the data collected and the necessary modifications, your hybrid work model should be ready to be rolled out permanently without requiring any major adjustments.
You will want to continue tracking KPIs and ensure that the success of the change is continuing and that no new potential risks arise for some time after this final step. In the instance that a certain aspect no longer serves the organization, you can use the same steps explained in phases 2 and 3 and repeat the process until you feel that it is just right.
Section 3: Software for Hybrid Workspaces
Selecting the Software
The first thing you need to do is to establish the selection criteria for the software. The right hybrid work software will differ from one organization to another, according to their specific needs. That being said, there are some basics that should be considered regardless of size, industry, etc.
Here are the macro features that the right software should have:
- Intuitive and fluid: This will increase how well it is adopted across the organization.
- SSO login & calendar integration: This will minimize friction and provide added security.
- Quick onboarding and dedicated support: Having expert assistance will alleviate the deployment process and will reduce the chance of mistakes happening.
- Tailored integration options: For a fully integrated, seamless experience, custom integrations are necessary.
Must-Have Functions
The right hybrid work software will have a number of important features and will be able to answer your specific needs.
The best ones will have the following functions.
- Desk and room booking
- Interactive floor plan & wayfinding
- Reservation check-ins
- Searchable floor plan
- Workplace analytics
- Custom rules & permissions
- Door, calendar, & SSO integrations
- Tablet, mobile, and web app
- Automatic no-show booking releases
Implementing Software for Hybrid Work
Phase 1: Configuration
In the first phase of the implementation, the IT department’s implication is needed. Together, you will prepare a floor plan of the office, the access rules and permissions needed, as well as the authentication methods and integrations necessary for the software to smoothly complement the workplace operations. Essentially, the phase is dedicated to planning and configuring the basics of the new hybrid work software.
Phase 2: Deployment
The second stage is the deployment of the software. The first step is to run a trial of the system, usually on a smaller scale, to test it out and make sure that it works as planned. Once the software is approved and ready to be fully deployed it is important to put in place support for members of the organization. The change should be explicitly communicated to everyone and may require frequent and varied communication lines during the early stages. Consider which channels are best for the task at hand. You can use workplace messaging, such as Slack, traditional emailing, or any other channel that suits your organization best. Tutorial and training videos should be made accessible to employees and management. The support centre should be comprehensive and easy to locate.
Phase 3: Iteration
The last phase is iteration. Similar to the implementation of the hybrid work model, this step is meant to fine-tune the last unresolved hanging issues, small or big, with the software so that it is optimized and running at its fullest potential.
The steps of this last phase are relatively the same as those found in the previous sections. You will largely want to follow the same process.
The steps of this phase are divided as follows:
Step 1: Analysis
- Analyze data and feedback from the launch phase
- Identify issues and areas of concern
Step 2: Revision
- Revise raised issues and bugs
Step 3: Adjustment
- Make the necessary adjustments, fix bugs, etc.
Going Hybrid with Archie
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly altered all spheres of life, including the way people work. As a result, going back to the traditional office ways is no longer a reality, and hybrid work is quickly becoming a requirement for organizations of all sizes and industries.
Implementing a hybrid model will enable you to:
- Improve the ROI and efficiency of operations
- Streamline operations and reduce costs Increase the utilization, productivity, and experience of the workplace
Going hybrid is a significant undertaking, but it is worth it. Archie holds the expertise, experience, and technologies to help companies transition into a hybrid work.