While during the pandemic employees became accustomed to working from home all the time, employers now want them back working from offices. Coaxing workers out of their bedrooms has proven difficult, however. Two years’ worth of lockdowns emboldened employees and gave them the confidence to demand at least a few days of home working each week.
Faced with rebellious employees, companies have thought up a solution: hybrid working. In many ways, hybrid working is actually better for businesses.
This post will explore hybrid working in more detail so you can understand all of its benefits.
Increased Productivity
Improving the productivity of your workforce should be one of your main priorities. Research shows that workers are more productive when they are given the choice to work from home. According to a team of Audio Visual Technology Experts in Toronto, employees thrive in hybrid work environments. With all of the above said, it should be noted that underachievers will not improve when allowed to work from home. Carefully monitor employee performance and productivity so you can identify and punish such individuals.
Employee Savings
Commuting to work can be expensive, especially for workers who aren’t based in the same city as the office that they work from. Expecting employees to travel to work on the train or by bus every day is unfair and borders on being cruel. Nobody can afford to pay public transport and fuel costs right now as the economy is experiencing an unprecedented downturn, energy bills are rising, and the cost of living is higher than it has been in generations. Letting staff work from home for some of the week will save them a lot of money.
Overall Satisfaction
Building a workplace where everybody is satisfied, fulfilled, and content is not easy. Giving staff the opportunity to work from home a few days each week will significantly boost their overall satisfaction. Improving employee satisfaction will boost staff retention rates. A low staff turnover rate will make your company more desirable for new hires. When applying for jobs, high turnover rates can put people off. Nobody wants to work for a company where staff come and go like the breeze. That being said, hybrid working alone isn’t going to be enough to achieve total staff satisfaction. You will need to do other things like offering benefits, pay rises, and insurance plans.
Staff Retention
In the previous section, reference was made to staff retention. Low staff retention rates are an indication that employees are not happy working for you. A lot of businesses completely overlook retention rates, choosing to focus on other things like overall profitability or their marketing success. However, if you do not take care of your employees then eventually your business will falter. Employees are your business’s lifeblood. Without them, it will not function the way that it is supposed to. Research shows that giving employees the option to work from home can improve retention rates dramatically.
Energy Savings
Employee satisfaction, savings, and productivity are not the only things that you need to think about; you also need to think about how running an office five days a week affects you financially. Having your workforce stay at home for some of the week will cut down on your office building’s energy usage. As you probably already know, energy bills are higher than they ever have been before right now. Reducing energy usage will also draw back your company’s carbon footprint. Companies with lower carbon footprints are given tax breaks and sometimes even monetary gifts.
Training Sessions
No matter what industry your business is in, staff training will be a nightmare. Nobody likes staff training – not employees, management, or even trainers. Acclimating your staff to home working will then open the door for digital training sessions. When they are accustomed to working from home, being told that they are going to have to train from home will not shock or surprise them. Holding online training sessions can be a highly effective way of saving your company money. Instead of hiring trainers to lead sessions, you can lead them yourself. Virtual reality training is a popular business trend right now, so look into that too.
Team Collaboration
From time to time, your employees will need to collaborate with one another. Unless you teach them how to do this properly then communication errors could arise. Most people have never had to use Skype or Zoom for anything other than work before. If you are only just starting to incorporate these programs into your company’s operations then you will need to train staff how to use them first. Once they have been properly trained then intercompany collaborations will become much easier. Individuals from different departments will be able to reach out to one another using these messaging platforms.
Work Relationships
An important part of internal development is building relationships and networking. Unless employees do this, they will never advance in their careers. Making connections help people to learn new skills. When employees are working from home it is a lot easier for them to talk to new people. Approaching and starting conversations with unfamiliar colleagues can be nerve-wracking. When employees work from home, they will be able to send messages to their colleagues. Then, when they go into the office they will be able to comfortably approach these individuals, starting personal relationships with them. When employees have better relationships with each other, intercompany dialogues and projects will be easier to organize.
Mental Health
The mental health of your workforce is something that you need to pay a lot of attention to. Sadly, many companies do not care about how their employees’ work lives affect them on personal bases. Overworking staff and getting them to come to work every day of the week will burn them out. When employees are given the opportunity to work from home, however, they are able to build closer relationships with family members, work on their mental health, and get fit physically. Working from home is much better for people’s souls. Make mental health your priority and offer hybrid working.
Unless companies make proactive efforts to improve their employees’ lives they will find it difficult to retain staff. More and more businesses are offering hybrid working now. If yours doesn’t then sooner or later staff will migrate to a business that does.
