How to get hybrid right

Exclusive CMI analysis

None of us has done this before. We’re all feeling our way through. Every day there are new issues and curve balls. Our own decisions are under the microscope, too. What if our approach to hybrid working is out of step with the rest of the organisation or other businesses? Deep down, we all want to know: are we doing the right thing?

To help the management community understand how to get hybrid working right, we asked more than 1,000 CMI members what’s working in their own version of hybrid working, what isn’t, and what, in their view, does best practice look like.

These results give a clear picture of the main pressure points in hybrid working and provide a framework for building a sustainable hybrid model within your own organisation. This is what managers want from hybrid working – and what they hate. With many industries suffering from labour shortages, these principles could help you to secure the best talent available.

Managers were asked for their feedback in June 2021 as we approached the end of the COVID-19 restrictions. We asked about their experiences with hybrid and virtual working during the pandemic. For this analysis, we reviewed the key themes that emerged from managers’ verbatim comments.

The positives

The first thing to say is that many managers have had positive experiences of hybrid working. “My department is 100 per cent more productive,” says a manager working in a private-sector business in the south-east of England. He’s not alone. A leader in a small private-sector operation in the West Midlands says he now has the “independence to act”. It’s about “being allowed to get on with the job rather than stick to preconceptions,” says one boss working in a small business. Hybrid working has freed many people up to do their job better.

If you want to build a hybrid model that’s in tune with your people and attractive to potential recruits, then bear in mind the following pillars. These are the cornerstones of what the managers in our study believe to be best-practice hybrid working...

1. Does the new hybrid model provide people with genuine autonomy?

Implemented well, hybrid working should enable your people to decide where, when and how to work based on their tasks, meetings and workloads. It gives them the flexibility to adapt that work in tune with other life commitments, thus improving their work/life balance. Time previously spent commuting can now be spent with children, on caring responsibilities, hobbies, or simply being available for home deliveries. Managers and leaders will need to bear these factors in mind when developing hybrid working models in future.

One key thing to recognise is that, if someone spends a couple of hours during the day attending a medical appointment, they’ll be able to make up the time more easily if they’re working from home. The key message for managers is: trust your people. Offer flexibility over which hours – and days – they can work. And innovate: if they can’t attend a meeting, make a recording of it and share it with them.

2. Will your model really improve people’s productivity?

Many managers in our study have found that working from home has increased their productivity. This is definitely a positive. Peace and quiet, without face-to-face office distractions, also makes many managers more productive. But there are deeper themes at play here: many people are simply working longer hours and not necessarily working smarter.

3. Does hybrid working enhance wellbeing?

There are contrasting factors at play when it comes to hybrid working and mental health. Many people have suffered feelings of isolation during the pandemic; there’s been a surge in mental health issues. But our study also shows many managers reporting improved mental health, saying that they feel less stressed working in a hybrid fashion. Reduced travel/ driving time has also had a positive impact on managers’ wellbeing. Anecdotally, it’s reassuring to see so many managers and organisations establishing mental health catch-up meetings and clinics for staff.

4. Are we enabling an office-calibre homeworking environment?

To function in the same way as they would in the office, people need robust technology infrastructure and equipment. They need instant communications technology (ie, Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp, etc) to overcome challenges quickly. Some managers in our study were given help to purchase desks, chairs and monitors to get the full office set-up at home. But not everyone is so fortunate, so it’s a good idea for managers to acknowledge that they are lucky to have an effective home office space available to them.

5. Are we offering a genuinely “hybrid” solution?

Almost all of the managers in our study have been able to work in a hybrid way, the exceptions being frontline workers or people required to be on site. For those who can, the most common hybrid-working structure is to work two or three days a week from home, with the rest in the office, schedule-dependent.

But the growing appetite for hybrid working brings specific challenges around technology: do your people have the digital skills required to operate remotely? Do they have the best equipment? Might they even need duplicate sets of IT equipment to operate effectively at home and in the office?

The negatives

if you want people to love your hybrid working arrangements, address these common problem areas...

People feel isolated and disengaged...

The lack of informal communication and support is the big issue flagged up by respondents to our poll. “I’m not able to gather the informal feedback that I would get in the coffee queue. I’m missing the informal chat and interaction,” one manager said. Several people lamented: “Everything has to be planned.” Homeworking also means more emails and meetings, as you can’t have quick face-to-face conversations.

MESSAGE TO MANAGERS:

○ Keep up the regular catch-ups and all-staff communications. ○ Make sure everyone’s trained up on virtual communication platforms (Teams, Zoom, etc).

○ Virtual social events – “wine online”, virtual coffee mornings, staff quizzes and virtual escape rooms were all mentioned – may help to protect staff’s mental health and prevent the feeling of isolation.

○ More broadly, is now the right time for a social?

○ Try to find shortcuts to those old, informal interactions. Here’s how one manager is going about it: “Increased use of informal “coffee” moments, lunch-and-learn sessions and quizzes to build company networks. These have been particularly important for encouraging young, single colleagues who may feel more isolated than older ones with families.”

Difficulties building client and team relationships

Not being able to have informal “water cooler” conversations means that managers don’t have contact with the wider business and lose that easy knowledge transfer. “You lose contact with employees you don’t work directly with,” said one manager. It’s particularly hard to build connections with new starters. Even more seriously, people report that it has got harder to build relationships with new customers and other businesses. After all, it’s tough to read body language when you’re on a video call.

MESSAGE TO MANAGERS:

○ Ask your team about how client and stakeholder relationships are going. Could it be time for some face-to-face visits?

The emergence of a new technological order

Some managers report tech-related challenges. Common issues include: ageing tech that struggles to handle modern software and applications; poor WiFi that makes communication difficult (and could heighten feelings of isolation); and some team members not having the right kit – or not getting the financial support to purchase it.

MESSAGE TO MANAGERS:

○ The uneven allocation of technology can create morale-sapping “tech hierarchies” where senior staff have the best kit and can run all the best apps, and junior staff miss out or have to use their personal equipment.

○ Make sure your tech support teams understand these issues.

○ Think about offering financial help to cover any utility bill increases as a result of home-working.

New starters suffer

Training is increasingly being delivered online. But in a virtual world, it can be difficult to train new staff with the skills for the job. Similarly, it’s tough for managers to bring new staff on board.

MESSAGE TO MANAGERS:

○ Think hard about how knowledge gets transferred in your organisation and/or team. Does this happen quickly and effectively virtually?

○ Explore new online training programmes.

○ Consider whether onboarding and training may be activities that are best done face to face. That will also give you the chance to build relationships with new starters and, over time, give you the chance to teach them the expected professional behaviours, particularly among young people.

Lower productivity

Sure, many managers have seen their productivity increase when working from home, but many people don’t have the space or the equipment for an effective home office. And productivity can suffer if you become too comfortable working at home or are distracted by other family members. Many people find it difficult to switch off from work when their workplace is also their home. In time, this can lead to burnout and destroy productivity. Other common productivity issues include: reduced creativity; slower response times as managers have to wait for responses; and people “hiding” behind their computer.

MESSAGE TO MANAGERS:

○ Set clear standards and expectations about productivity.

○ Bear in mind this advice from one CMI member: “Use classical conditioning techniques when working from home – learn to associate part of the house with work and part of the house with relaxation.”

○ Some companies allow staff to take equipment such as office chairs home to help create the optimal work environment.

○ Staff who are required to have quick response times will need the best IT.

Overwork

This is a growing problem. There is an expectation among some managers that people should work the hours they’re saving on commuting. The sheer volume of online meetings can eat into working hours and mean that people have to work after hours to get the job done.

MESSAGE TO MANAGERS

○ Think about imposing a maximum meeting length or preventing meetings being scheduled in the busier hours.

Deteriorating wellbeing

Not having the support of colleagues face to face can affect an individual’s mental health. Many people are suffering feelings of loneliness and isolation. And the boundaries between home and work can become vague, with work time eating into family time. It can be difficult to switch off from work after hours.

MESSAGE TO MANAGERS:

○ Consider the effects that working from home can have on a person (mentally and physically).

○ Many organisations have email footer messages that explain how they respond to after-hours messages. Here’s CMI’s, for example: “At CMI we work flexibly – so whilst it suits me to email you now, I don’t expect a response or action outside of your own working hours.”

Illustration_Brett Ryder