As we all know, several businesses and brands are now making use of remote and on-site work to create a dynamic and productive work atmosphere. Imagine sipping your morning coffee while you log into your company database and catch up on all your projects for the day from anywhere in the world.
Remote and on-site work done together brings in greater flexibility for employees. This means you do not need to feel guilty for not contributing to your workplace even when you are enjoying a vacation.
However, the hybrid work environment is still quite new, and companies are still working on establishing strong rules and foundations to create a smooth and seamless hybrid work environment.
Here we will explore some of the ways you, as a business owner, can create a healthy and comfortable hybrid work environment for your employees.
Tips for maintaining a seamless hybrid work environment
Making the best of your hybrid workplace means that you need to create a flexible working schedule and structure for your employees. Moreover, as much of the success of the hybrid work mode depends on digital communication, strong internet connections and smoothly functioning software are also prime requirements.
So, where to start, and how to build your successful hybrid workplace, bit by bit and wire by wire? Let us find out.
Setting clear expectations and goals
Clear expectations and goals to be achieved in a stable working schedule form the first step towards achieving success by working in a hybrid mode.
These are some of the considerations to take into account –
- Fixing core collaboration hours, when both remote and on-site employees can communicate
- Response time expectations for different channels used for communication between employees.
- Project milestones to be achieved in collaboration while taking care of individually assigned duties
- How will success be measured for each role in a hybrid work environment
This level of clarity will allow seamless communication between remote and on-site employees. It also reduces the anxiety associated with a lack of clear communication when a few of the team members are working online.
A clear working schedule and structure honors individual work preferences and work-life balance.
Encouraging asynchronous and synchronous communication
Communication in real time (synchronous) as well as asynchronous (at different time intervals) has to be balanced to achieve perfect success with hybrid work.
For complex discussions, important projects, and resolving issues with project completion, synchronous communication should be scheduled at regular intervals.
At the same time, asynchronous communication in the form of text messages, email updates, and scheduled projects has to be maintained to keep everyone on the loop on the latest developments at the workplace. Routine decisions can also be made through asynchronous communications.
Outcome-based performance over time tracking
The main principle at a hybrid workplace should be the goals achieved in overall work schedules rather than timing employees with a clock for daily projects. Focusing on what your team has accomplished rather than when or where they are working is important.
At regular intervals, track the progress of employees on both on-site and remote teams based on how far they have progressed with their current projects. This should be the primary goal to achieve the highest productivity at a hybrid workplace.
You may be sipping coconut water on a beach holiday, yet make significant progress by working remotely. On the other hand, you can utilize the unused leaves to get to the office and get some work done on-site.
Tools to adopt for productive hybrid work
Online project management platforms are very important to keep up productivity in a hybrid work mode. These platforms serve as the central hub for coordination among all hybrid members.
Selecting the right tool means taking into account the size of your team, employees’ familiarity and comfort with technological tools, and the complexity of your workflow.
Here are some useful tools you can adopt to maintain a smooth workflow between remote and on-site employees –
- Effective communication tools: These are the heart and soul of any collaborative action. Some popular ones are Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom.
Employing proper communication protocols for sending messages and files across these platforms is also important. This will prevent important information from getting lost amid constant notifications.
You don’t want a hundred ‘happy birthday’ messages to a coworker clouding out the important client communication files, do you? - Cloud collaboration platforms: These are becoming increasingly important in a time when all types of business information have become digital. These platforms allow all employees to access files and data through a centralized interface.
It also increases productivity as all employees work and update projects from their end, and all of it is saved on one centralized repository. Tools like Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Slides allow employees to edit documents together in real time.
When implementing these platforms, however, you must establish strong ground rules for file organization. Naming conventions, color codes, and other like considerations need to be prefixed for uniform and stable editing. - Time management and productivity apps: Time management can become a bit challenging for companies with a hybrid work model, especially with remote workers working on their schedule.
Time management tools like Toggle and Rescue Time help employees to track the time spent on particular projects, apps, and websites. They will also provide detailed insights and reports on how productively employees have been able to use their working hours.
This helps authorities to maintain a balance in working hours, even with employees working at different periods.
Wrapping up
As more and more companies start adopting hybrid work models, creating ground rules and adopting tools for proper collaboration is important.
Creating flexible working structures and communication timelines, utilizing cloud collaboration tools, and setting predetermined goals can help businesses make the best of the hybrid work model.
Added to that, time management and productivity measurement apps can help authorities ensure the smooth progression of projects.
