Since the pandemic, we have recognized that many organizations are facing changes in their work arrangements. Many companies have adopted quickly to shift their conventional working models to ‘remote work.’ We have seen how surprisingly well employees could embrace the changes and advantages of more flexibility in work areas.

As things are getting better, companies are now looking forward to change to a work model that combines remote and office work. Read this article to figure out why ‘hybrid’ work model would be the next work model for post-COVID 19.

The concept of hybrid work is a mixture of remote and office work. It is a flexible form of working that allows employees to split their time between working in the office and remotely, (in most cases) from their homes. So, employees can choose when and where they will work away from the office in this type of work model.

Depending on the frequency of the work area, hybrid model structure can be various such as remote-first, office-occasional and office-first, and remote allowed.

According to a hybrid model suggested from HBR, it is important to design hybrid work properly along with two work arrangements in consideration : place and time.

Source : Harvard Business Review (May 2021)

Working in the office during the prescribed hours used to be the norm before the pandemic. Most companies offered a minimal flexibility in where or when employees worked.

Some companies are now allowing more flexibility in where and when employees can work, and even some are moving into the upper-right quadrant, which represents an ideal model of working anywhere at anytime, going hybrid.

A recent survey from PwC showed that the majority of workers preferred to work remotely at least three days a week and ‘83% of companies’ said they were adopting a hybrid work model.

According to another survey in PwC, Hybrid workplaces are likely to become the norm. By design or default, most US companies are heading toward a hybrid office workweek as more than one-third (32%) answered that they'll likely to increase the level of remote work since their business performance is not suffering.

Source : Remote work survey, by 133 US executives (PWC US Remote Work Survey of January 12, 2021) Q: which of the following statements best describes how you feel about remote work at your company?

What gives a significant benefit for adopting a hybrid work model?

For employers, hybrid working can be helpful to

• save on real estate expenses
• cut significant costs on office management
• empower employees to boost their productivity

For employees, hybrid working can offer

• a better work-life balance
• a better focus with reduced anxiety
• saved time and cost for not having to commute to the office
• autonomy in choosing a physical location

Hybrid work has many variations. Some companies might allow employees working on-site only part of the week. Other companies might offer employees more flexibility to where and when they can do their jobs.

• Google
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google mentioned in a keynote that the company will move to a hybrid work week where employees can spend approximately 3 days in the office and two days wherever they work best. He also mentioned that “the company will offer more opportunities to apply for completely remote work(away from team or office).”

• Adobe
Gloria Chen, Chief people officer in Adobe noted that its employees will have the option to spend half of their time working from home and half of their time working in the office. She posted on the blog “We'll gather for the moments that matter. We will have an intentional mix of physical and virtual presences, with in-person gatherings driven by purpose and designed for collaboration.”

• GoPro
Gopro is taking a more progressive step to hybrid work week. Nicholas Woodman, CEO of Gopro posted in a blog that “Gopro fully supports its employees who want to relocate for whatever reason, be it to pursue their passions, be closer to family or otherwise. We proactively encourage our employees to relocate if that will make them feel happy and appreciated.”

• Reddit

Reddit has posted on a blog that it will give its employees a change to work remotely full-time. “Moving forward, teams and team members will have flexibility to explore where they work: in the office, remotely, or a combination of the two.”

The conventional meaning of a workplace is now changing dramatically on how and where employees work. The office is no longer a place where all work gets done. It became clear that employees could be just as productive or even boost more productivity than they were in the office.

It's time to reimagine where and how work should get done. After all, what really matters is the work that employees do, not when and where they do.

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