Leave it to Josh Bersin, the well-known HR technology analyst, to deftly summarize the big workplace challenge we’re facing in 2021 and beyond.
“The world is going hybrid,” he said, “And while hybrid work may seem like a strategy for ‘going back,’ it’s really an opportunity to design for the future.”
He adds this: “The pandemic has broken the stigma of remote work and has created the moment for out-of-the-box creative thinking. This is a huge, multi-dimensional, and constantly evolving topic without a single one-size-fits-all solution …”
What Bersin is saying is that it’s time to drop any preconceived notions of hybrid work because the very nature of work is evolving dramatically as the post-pandemic workplace develops and takes shape.
In a recent article titled, The Next Big Disruption is Hybrid Work — Are We Ready?, Microsoft used its 2021 Work Trend Index findings taken from a study of more than 30,000 people in 31 countries, and analysis of trillions of productivity and labor signals across the Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn networks, to make a number of 2021 workplace predictions.
Two of them mirror Josh Bersin’s take:
- Flexible work is here to stay. Microsoft’s view: “Employees want the best of both worlds: over 70 percent of workers want flexible remote work options to continue, while over 65 percent are craving more in-person time with their teams. To prepare, 66 percent of business decision-makers are considering redesigning physical spaces to better accommodate hybrid work environments. The data is clear: extreme flexibility and hybrid work will define the post-pandemic workplace.
- Talent is everywhere in a hybrid world. Microsoft’s view: “One of the brightest sides of the shift to remote work is that it widens the talent marketplace. Remote job postings on LinkedIn increased more than five times during the pandemic, and people are taking notice. Forty-six percent of remote workers we surveyed are planning to move to a new location this year because they can now work remotely. People no longer have to leave their desk, house or community to expand their career, and it will have profound impacts on the talent landscape.”
What is hybrid work in the post-pandemic age?
Most people think hybrid work is simply an arrangement where employees split their working time between home and the office. That is the basic definition, of course, but like many things in life, hybrid work comes in several different shapes and sizes.
“We talk about hybrid work like it’s one thing, but it’s many things, and we’re still figuring out what all of those things are,” Mariel Davis, co-founder and CMO of Spokn, a platform that helps hybrid companies communicate, recently told the career management website The Muse.
But as Davis, who has spent 10 years managing employees in a hybrid environment, explained, “hybrid” can refer to a wide range of different setups and policies that will probably evolve as organizations figure out what works, and what doesn’t, for their own workforce.
That’s because hybrid work policies generally exist on a spectrum.
At one end of the spectrum, some employees have duties that let them work at home all the time, while others have to be in the office every day. On the opposite end are organizations with very flexible hybrid policies where employees work remotely part of the time and in-person part of the time, with workers having the flexibility to decide when they come into the office and when they will be remote.
However, there are other wrinkles that can complicate hybrid work.
“COVID has taught us that life doesn’t stop when your workday starts,” Mariel Davis says, and as she told The Muse, “employees and employers alike are realizing that having more flexibility to deal with non-work tasks during business hours is beneficial. So, while some companies might still require everyone (both remote and in-office) to work from 9 am to 5 pm according to the time zone of a particular office, others will allow employees to choose their own hours entirely. In the middle, some companies may mandate certain hours for in-office work and let remote work be flexible or require employees to be available for meetings at certain times of day but let them choose their own hours otherwise.”
Hybrid work is a natural next step from remote work
Organizations are taking a hard look at hybrid work as the logical next step as we come out of the pandemic-driven lockdown and the emphasis on remote work that it spawned.
Forbes cut to the heart of this discussion recently when they wrote:
“The data now confirms it: the work-from-anywhere/work-from-home model works, and has passed its most crucial test ever, bringing organizations through the Covid crisis and now a key productivity strategy for the workplace of the 2020s. In a recent report out of Accenture, 83% of 9,326 workers surveyed say they prefer a hybrid model — in which they can work remotely at least 25% of the time. …
(And) the events of the past year did finally put one misconception to rest — that enabling employees to work remotely means a loss in productivity. If anything, the past year showed the opposite to be true. The Accenture survey finds that 40% of individuals feel they can be productive and healthy anywhere — either fully remote or onsite or a combination of the two — as the hybrid workplace emerges.”
Microsoft’s research supports that argument and adds this: One of the brightest sides of the shift to remote work is that it widens the talent marketplace.
They say that “Remote job postings on LinkedIn increased more than five times during the pandemic, and people are taking notice. (Another) 46 percent of remote workers we surveyed are planning to move to a new location this year because they can now work remotely. People no longer have to leave their desk, house or community to expand their career, and it will have profound impacts on the talent landscape.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, another factor in the rise of hybrid work is this: “More U.S. workers are quitting their jobs than at any time in at least two decades … (and) several factors are driving the job turnover. Many people are spurning a return to business as usual, preferring the flexibility of remote work or reluctant to be in an office before the virus is vanquished. Others are burned out from extra pandemic workloads and stress, while some are looking for higher pay to make up for a spouse’s job loss or used the past year to reconsider their career path and shift gears.”
Whatever the reason that is driving so many to quit, smart organizations see hybrid work as part of the solution as well as a natural progression from the remote work policies that mushroomed during the pandemic.
“People are seeing the world differently,” says Steve Cadigan, a talent consultant who led human resources at LinkedIn during its early years. “It’s going to take time for people to think through, ‘How do I unattach where I’m at and reattach to something new?’ We’re going to see a massive shift in the next few years.”
In this episode of the Talent Experience Podcast, we were joined by Bretton Putter, the founder and CEO of CultureGene. Brett sits down with host John Hollon to discuss the future of remote work in the post-pandemic era, and the viability of both a remote or hybrid workforce. Brett shares his passion for culture development, and why building strong company culture is key. In this conversation, we cover employee retention, successful transitions to remote work, the death of the Mon-Fri office life, and the difference between ad-hoc and designed communication processes.
