Hybrid and flexible working have evolved how businesses approach the day-to-day in offices. Research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that 66% of organisations believe that offering flexibility for advertised roles is important in attracting new candidates.
These changes to office environments bring plenty of positives, and it’s forcing employers and employees alike to embrace and adapt to them.
Here, Dominic Fitch, Head of Creative Change at leadership development specialist: Impact, shares a few ways businesses can continue to adjust their processes to account for these changes.
Scheduling and timekeeping
When implementing hybrid and flexible working into your working day, the most important thing to establish is what the split between office working and working from home will be. Building a routine on which days everyone commutes to the office can help keep productivity consistent while also allowing for the flexibility that hybrid working offers.
Finding the right divide between building a strong office culture where your full workforce is together and working while also feeling they’re trusted when working remotely. One way you can assess which days are best for in-office is by analysing your internal data on outputs and productivity, as these numbers can help you make informed choices.
One thing that’s important to note is that these days don’t have to be permanent. If you feel like they’re no longer the optimal working days as time progresses, fluidly transitioning to different days is possible with hybrid working.
Keeping communication open with your workforce can help you make these decisions, as transparency will result in honest responses and reasoning as to how well the split is working.
Communication
As a business owner or management, a huge concern might be how you contact your workforce without feeling invasive. That’s why communication technology that allows for everything from instant messaging to live voice and video calls is an important investment.
These can be synced to your pre-existing email systems so that when meetings are scheduled, emails can be sent that attach a link to the online meeting link. This provides more flexibility when it comes to meetings, as while you might prefer everyone to be present in person for it, those working remotely can still be included.
It also can help make meetings with clients more flexible. You might have partnerships and projects with companies all over the UK (and sometimes globally) with whom you can’t always be in the same room, so being able to tune in with them no matter where they are means more open communication channels.
Collaborative working
Hybrid working provides a new challenge of collaborating with a colleague if they’re working from home and you’re in the office. Investing in the right software bridges the gap between in-office collaborative working and keeping those working remotely involved.
Statista Market Insights has forecast that collaborative software is on track to reach around £610 million by the end of 2023. Thanks to the developments of Cloud-based programs, there are plenty to choose from if you want one that is pre-built.
Alternatively, you can invest some extra time and money into your IT team to allow them to develop bespoke collaboration software if you want something more customisable and purpose-built for your processes and needs.
Sources
https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/reports/flexible-hybrid-working-2023/