Welcome to the modern workspace - where not every weekday has to feel like a typical Monday morning, something guaranteed to make any baby boomer envious. Now, we are at a point where meetings can be taken from the comfort of our beds and not every workday has to begin with the annoying buzz of an alarm clock.
Amidst this dramatic ‘revolution’ is a crucial concern on every employer’s mind: Employee Engagement. From a process that was primarily face-to-face even a year or two ago to something that now happens over Zoom Calls and feedback survey links, it is of paramount importance for employers to master the art of keeping their employees engaged and energised in a hybrid world.
So, how do we crack this code?
What’s The Big Deal With Working in Pyjamas?
In recent years, workplaces have started shifting away from the traditional on-site work model to more remote or hybrid setups. While some may worry that hybrid work could encourage employees to be less productive or slack off when not under direct supervision, recent research actually shows that hybrid workers are likely to be more engaged than both on-site and remote workers.
Considering the positive effects that employee engagement can have on various aspects like turnover, retention, productivity, absenteeism, etc, this is definitely a win-win for both employers and employees.
Tying the Knots Between Engagement and Hybrid Work
While hybrid work can offer the best of both worlds, it also means that tackling employee engagement in this setup requires an innovative and adaptive approach that is as unique as this work style.
Here’s why: Hybrid work offers employees flexibility that may not be achievable in a traditional on-site model. They can decide when to work, where to work and how to get it done. They can also establish a better work-life balance as they can leverage their capacity to free up some time to cater to their personal lives. But what about the employer? With geographical barriers no longer a concern, companies can hire a global workforce with diverse skill sets to propel the business forward. Also, let’s not forget the savings made on real estate for the business, thanks to less office space needed!
On the flip side, a hybrid setup is not without its challenges, with the first one being difficulty collaborating with remote employees, and the second one being the need for employers to exercise oversight, supervision and the appropriate policies regularly to ensure their employees are engaged and productive. Lastly, a hybrid setup is not easy to pull off for all industries, especially ones like the medical, manufacturing or educational sectors.
All things considered, it's clear that the secret sauce to perfect a hybrid set-up employee engagement doesn’t rely on just one ingredient. Therefore, companies can create a winning dish by blending the right mix of business practices to cater to the tastes of both the on-site and remote work models.
So, let’s review some of these practices below.
Which Practices Can Make Your Organisation Perfect?
An important first step is to communicate effectively with your employees. Whether you’re rolling out a new policy or making any other decision in the company, it’s important to loop your team in and hear out their opinions. This also includes crafting a value framework that resonates with your objectives, and communicating those transparently so that you can attract and retain the right people.
Another crucial step is optimising your HR and IT services to streamline processes and facilitate seamless collaboration between departments and business units. This approach ensures that everyone, regardless of where they’re working from, feels supported and connected.
A slightly unconventional approach can be to design your office space in a way that excites your employees about coming to work on their scheduled on-site days. In today’s era, modern times demand modern solutions. Your employees might feel uninspired and disconnected from those sombre, conventional grey cubicles. Instead, they may prefer spaces which foster collaboration, contain good-quality infrastructure and provide a comfortable atmosphere.
Regardless of their work mode, you can also find innovative and tested ways to connect all your employees. At the end of the day, your employees are social beings and will feel engaged when they experience a sense of belonging and connection with their colleagues. To reinforce this, it would also be helpful to invest in technology that enhances cross-functional collaboration by creating roster schedules that promote greater interaction.
No matter what initiative or combination you choose, be sure to run them in parallel with the needs and requirements voiced by your people. And how do you do that? By collecting their feedback and sentiments! Whether it is through surveys that capture their engagement levels, or conducting open-ended interviews, you can gain insights into what work mode suits them best, the type of workspace they prefer, how they would like to collaborate and connect with others, etc.
Using this valuable feedback, you can shape your organisation and culture to fit the uniqueness of a hybrid setup, but with the kind of swag, that keeps your employees feeling engaged and embraced, regardless of their preferred work mode!
Psst! This blog was created after a lot of thought by a real person. #NoGenerativeAI
