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Thanks to the development of technologies and alterations in working models, the hybrid environment has become extremely popular among many companies around the world. The ability to choose between office and remote work provides additional employee comfort, but also creates certain challenges for managing productivity, engagement and team effectiveness.

How to optimize a stable balance and what tools can be useful?

Hybrid working environment: features, pros and cons.

The hybrid work model assumes that employees spend part of their working time in the office and part of it remotely. This allows for a balance between an office atmosphere to support a team spirit that positively affects work and the flexibility working remotely.

Pros:

• Expanding the talent pool: Thanks to a hybrid work environment, companies can significantly expand their search for talents without being tied to a specific region or country, thereby increasing their competitive advantage by attracting the best specialists.
• Savings on office rent: Companies can rent smaller offices, which reduces the financial costs of arranging and maintaining workplaces.
• Reduced stress: Employees who are able to partially work from home report significant improvements in mental health because they have more flexibility in how they work.
• Improved productivity: Studies show that having a choice of workplace and flexible work schedule actually significantly improves productivity and quality of work.
• A better balance between work and personal life: The hybrid model helps to more effectively control the execution of current tasks, which allows you to harmoniously integrate personal affairs into the work schedule, without losing productivity in both areas of life.

Cons:

• Difficulty in maintaining corporate culture: Remote work can reduce the sense of involvement and belonging to the company.
• Communication and reporting challenges: In a hybrid environment, employees may struggle to access the corporate information they need to work and interact productively with colleagues in a timely manner.
• Data security and privacy: The shift to remote work has increased data security vulnerabilities. In order to protect sensitive information, it is critical to define and continually review your company’s data security and protection protocols.
• Risk of Burnout: Employees who work from home may feel pressured to be constantly “on” which can lead to premature burnout.

Peculiarities of work in a hybrid work environment.

The hybrid model alters the approach to the organization of the working day and requires flexibility not only from employees, but also from management.

The need for proactive communication: Heads of departments and top management should more actively maintain contact with remote employees to prevent isolation and feeling of detachment from the team, to form a strong corporate culture for attracting and retaining talent.

Shifting the emphasis from working hours to the result: Management needs to focus on achieving the set goals, and not on the time simply spent “on the phone”.

Distribution of responsibility and autonomy: It is important that employees are independent in the performance of tasks and have clearly defined areas of responsibility and deadlines for completing tasks.

Providing a system of additional motivation: More actively involve remote employees in joint virtual events, send feedback forms in time to learn about urgent needs and possible problems of employees, implement gamification elements to increase motivation and team spirit, create interesting corporate merch that maintains a sense of belonging to the team and companies even when working remotely.

Types of hybrid work models:

• Employees work primarily from the office, but may work remotely on certain days.
• Employees mostly work from home, but can access the office any day if needed.
• In the company, certain days are fixed for work in the office, and others for remote work.
• Employees can choose where to work on a given day, without a fixed schedule.

It is important to choose the model that best meets the needs of the company and employees.

Methods of increasing productivity and flexibility in a hybrid work environment.

Effective planning of working hours.

Different employees are productive at different times of the day, so companies that allow employees to choose their own working hours can get better results. In large teams, it is important to set hours of mandatory presence for important meetings, calls or synchronization of plans, actions and tasks.

Provision of appropriate technologies for effective home office organization.

Some employers do not pay appropriate attention to the high-quality technical support of remote employees, which, as a result, negatively affects the quality and productivity of tasks.

Use of various communication channels.

Not all communication channels are perceived alike effectively. Some people prefer email, while others prefer video conferencing or instant messaging. By using different communication channels, the company can provide a more flexible individual approach and help employees stay connected and actively communicate.

Setting goals using OKR (Objectives and Key Results).

OKR is a method that allows you to define strategic goals and specific results to achieve them. Teams formulate key results or markers that allow real progress to be tracked.

For example, a goal might be “Increase productivity by 20% in the next quarter” with specific deliverables covering training, brainstorming and implementation of new ideas and tools, etc.

Agile methodology.

Agile allows teams to adapt to change and work more efficiently. The methodology breaks projects into short sprints with clear goals. This allows for quick task adjustments and increases adaptability even in a hybrid environment.

Tools for collaboration in hybrid work environments.

Communication tools:
Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams provide convenient team communication through chats, channels, and video/audio calls.

• Distribution of channels by topic: Create separate channels for different projects and topics.
• Status settings: Use statuses to broadcast your availability to teams.
• Scheduling meetings: Use video calling features for regular syncs with all team members.

Project management:
Asana, Jira, Trello help teams plan projects, control the setting and execution of tasks, and effectively distribute roles:

• Allocation of tasks: Define separate roles and clear deadlines for each task to keep the project under constant control.
• Tagging and prioritizing: Tagging tasks helps you sort them by urgency and type.
• Reporting and Analytics: Use the reporting feature to track real-world progress and performance.

Joint work with documents:
Google Workspace and Microsoft Office 365 – Both platforms provide shared file editing, which is essential for hybrid teams:

• Create shared folders: Set up shared folders for different departments to provide 24/7 quick access to files.
• Access distribution: Assign roles (view, edit) to ensure control over corporate documents.
• Real-time collaboration: Use the commenting and suggestion feature to quickly discuss and implement changes.

Work time and productivity tracking:
Toggl and Clockify – These tools help track employees’ working hours, which is useful for performance analysis:

• Allocation by task: Track the time spent on different projects and different types of activities.
• Performance Analysis Reports: View reports weekly to assess the effectiveness of your time allocation.
• Automatic Reminders: Use reminders to turn on the tracker during business hours to help you focus more on the most important tasks.

The use of effective tools helps establish communication, project management and timekeeping, which are important elements for effective work in the hybrid model.

Successful implementation of hybrid work requires clear communication, effective use of technology and support of an inclusive culture. Despite challenges such as isolation and overwork, the right strategies and tools can create a balanced, productive and satisfying work environment for everyone.