The Future of Work: Hybrid is the New Cool

By Amsal Rahim – Consultant, Sales and Marketing (UAE)

Why Hybrid Work

We all witnessed remote work booming from the social-distancing demands of the pandemic. Having experienced the benefits of work-from-anywhere, organizations and employees alike are embracing the hybrid style of work – a combination of remote and on-site working – to accelerate productivity by optimizing the use of technology. 

To this end, HR and leadership teams are creating unique hybrid-work blueprints for their companies. Nine out of ten companies surveyed by McKinsey in a cross-industry study said they planned to introduce hybrid work in the near future. Business leaders are also seeing remote work culture as a plausible solution to stem the ‘Great Resignation’, the trend of mass resignations during and after the pandemic. 

At Michael Page, we noticed how the pandemic triggered deep introspection among people globally about the transience of life, making employees appreciate greater agency over where and how they work. Research shows that the presence, or lack thereof, of this agency has become a major determinant of employee wellbeing. Sample these. WFH Research’s survey of 35,000 Americans found that 32% of employees did not want to return to the office after the pandemic. The 2022 Microsoft Work Trend Index survey covering 31 markets found that 70% of workers, globally, want flexible work options.

Employee sentiment is loud and clear. The employers are listening, and offering flexible work arrangements to retain and engage employees. 

Flexibility and employee productivity

Employees are happier when they can work on their terms. A Cisco study found that for 82% of employees the ability to work from anywhere has made them happier. A global study by Tracking Happiness found that the ability to work remotely increases employee happiness by 20%. This employee satisfaction is the biggest attraction for organizations to actively adopt hybrid work. 

Another big draw for work-from-home is the substantial savings for employees. 76% of employees claimed to have saved up to US$8,000 a year, on average, in a study by Cisco. 

We have seen how employees are enticed by the lure of higher productivity that comes with choice and flexibility. This is the ability to choose to work when you are most productive. Some employees are most productive in the mornings, and others in the evenings. 

However, employees and leaders held different views of work-from-home productivity. 85% of leaders felt that the shift to hybrid work made it hard to have the confidence that workers were being productive. Leaders felt that productivity was down, owing mainly to family responsibilities, divided attention and over-dependence on technology. 

The process of arriving at the right mix of work from home and on-site is causing emotional stress compared to 100% work from home or on-site work. In its global study, employee engagement platform TinyPulse found 80% of HR executives report that hybrid work is exhausting for employees. This is due to the lack of consistency in the daily routine, requiring employees to be in the office one day, and at home the next.  

Inclusion and connection

We have all experienced that out of sight can soon go out of mind. Employers fear that workers who work at home in isolation could get too disconnected from their teams. Maintaining company culture and engagement are main concerns for 86% of employers surveyed in the Littler’s 10th Annual Employer Survey Report 2022. 56% of this same set of employers were concerned about applying hybrid-work flexibility fairly across the company, and 45% were concerned about hybrid work reducing the mentorship and professional growth opportunities.

We saw that when it comes to inclusion, employers and employees are on the same page. Even though employees are batting for flexibility and hybrid work options, they wish to stay connected to their team. Two-thirds of the employees surveyed in the Microsoft Work Trend Index said they wanted in-person time with their teams, wanting to be a part of the work culture. 57% employees said they felt lonelier at work since the pandemic, and 68% said that they had fewer friendships at work.

Oversight and maintenance of employee relationships takes a lot more work and effort. Managers have their work cut out for them. In this process, it is difficult to decide how to structure the hybrid work arrangement – let the employee choose the mix, let the company dictate, or let the manager decide individually. A McKinsey study shows that 57% of the leading companies are supporting their managers to lead differently in this changing work environment. They are training managers to be more empathetic and to gain essential soft skills. 

Apart from relationship management, companies will have to invest heavily on technology upgradation as it is the biggest enabler of hybrid work. This would include training teams to function in a tech-led culture. On the other hand, businesses get to save on real estate costs (up to 30%, according to this McKinsey study). For recruiters, remote work offers a greater talent pool from which to pick the best candidates.

The future of work is predicated on choice

The success of hybrid work arrangements, or for that matter, the future of work is predicated on choice – the choices offered by employers to workers. After all, greater choice creates more engaged workers. Arriving at the gold standard of work arrangement is a process of experimenting, learning, and adapting along the way to achieve desired outcomes. 

Employee choice remains at the heart of this process, and it seems hybrid work arrangements vie for a permanent spot in the future of work. 

Next steps

If you’d like to have a chat about hiring talent, exploring new challenges or better understanding the market, please reach out to me on amsalrahim@michaelpage.ae or request a call back here.