Last updated 18 October 2021 ·
Possibly the biggest impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been remote work. Amidst the uncertainty, most companies had to rapidly learn to implement the right remote working strategies to retain employee performance and keep their businesses up and running.
Now, with life slowly regaining some of its original momentum and offices opening back up, many companies are adopting a more hybrid workplace model instead of abandoning remote work entirely.
Provided it finds the perfect middle-ground and the right balance, hybrid working can propel a company’s long-term success forward. However, managing a distributed team comes with a unique set of challenges.
Here are 4 ways you can create an effective hybrid workplace model to boost employee productivity and increase your overall business performance:
1. Offer hybrid working as a choice
The first step in building a hybrid work environment is to ensure that your employees feel comfortable adopting such a significant workplace change. Many employees have been working from home during the past year. Expecting all of them to make the switch back to a traditional office environment suddenly can damage productivity. As part of the planning process, talk to employees at all levels and allow them to feel their input is valued and considered, giving them the choice to transition back to the office slowly or remain working remotely.
2. Clarify expectations and goals
Hybrid working can change the way you measure the performance of each employee, and in some cases, traditional key metrics may no longer suffice. Here, your approach should be to set clear expectations right from the start. Having clearly defined objectives and key results (OKRs) allows employees to work hard on the right things from wherever they choose. Aim to be entirely transparent on what the outcome deliverables are for each team member. Your employees should have a clear understanding of what they are trying to achieve at all times in all of their work.
It is important to clarify:
- The goals each team member is required to meet, individually
- The collaboration that needs to happen across multiple teams throughout the company
- How the work produced by each employee can serve the end-user/customer needs
3. Work on building team spirit
To maximize your business performance with hybrid working, focus on building relationships amongst coworkers – both virtually and in person. Fostering a company culture that promotes teamwork and meaningful connection amongst workers creates a more collaborative workspace and boost employee morale.
4. Invest in the right tech solutions
As our workplaces are changing fundamentally, businesses need to consider the modifications that need to be implemented to move towards a seamless hybrid working model that does not affect team performance.
One of the most efficient ways to achieve that is by choosing the right technology to do the right job. This includes considering which software would be best to help you achieve your desired outcomes, be it team collaboration software, project management software or OKR software.
At Reclaro, we use OKRs to drive high performance in a world of hybrid working. OKRs allow the business vision to be set and then broken down into Objectives and Key Results that are then cascaded from the CEO level throughout all teams in a business. In doing this, each team or individual can see the bigger picture and reaalise how their work directly influences business performance. As a very outcome-focused way of working, OKRs allow employees to work in a much more agile way, including whatever hybrid model they choose.
For more information on OKRs or anything else mentioned in this blog, please email us directly at hello@reclaro.com.
