Picture this. Soft jazz music. A mug of hot chocolate. Seated comfortably in a recliner, in your jammies. You and your laptop are ticking off tasks one after the other when your mom or your partner call you for lunch. Nice. Hot. Food. Serene.

Now picture this. An adrenaline pumping workday morning. You and your team are brimming with exciting ideas. The human interactions. Friendly jabs. Deadlines are met. Clients are happy. Appreciations. You step out for lunch or perhaps manage quick drinks with your colleagues in the evening. Lively.

Hybrid work culture enables you to have the best of both worlds. Well, almost.

More companies are leaning towards setting up a hybrid workplace and see it as the probable, permanent future. The employees can decide for themselves if they want to work from home or physically come to the office. They can choose to work from home full-time. They can schedule the days of the week they want to attend office. This helps the HR and the management handle the work space, maintain pandemic norms, and plan work accordingly. The switch is certainly going to be herculean yet imperative.

Here are our insights on Hybrid workplace.

Accountability:

If you are a control freak, read on. A hybrid workplace entails trusting your employees. Giving them the freedom as well as responsibilities. Letting them shine. If your workplace has micromanaging as the name of the game, then this one is going to be tough to pull off. Instead, use this opportunity to learn to relinquish control. Trust us when we say that your employees would rather be held accountable than be told what to do and micromanaged.

Exploring a global workforce:

Headhunters and hiring professionals can have a field day(s) hiring talent from across the world. The restrictions on geographical locations, availability, and such are negated. It comes down to having the right profile to fit the right requirement. Just so you know, there is an influx in the talent pool available online, thirsty for exciting new opportunities, waiting to be nurtured. Start digging.

Cost effective:

Larger companies have rewired their way of functioning and in physicality, scaled down to co-working spaces, smaller solo work areas and virtual offices. Naturally, this comes with the boon of saving some dough (for both the company and the employee). Rent, travel expenses, refreshments, electricity and other overheads diminish effectively.

Employee bias:

Most offices are never going to accept that there is employee bias existing within the system. They would prefer to remain oblivious to such issues. In a hybrid work culture, this could escalate. The ones present physically in the office become the most loved and hailed. The ones working from home are bound to feel undervalued. It is necessary for the managers and the management to very consciously address these issues to maintain a healthy work environment.

The most neglected aspect in our lives. Communication. Be it in our personal lives, with our colleagues. Anywhere. We avoid the mammoth task of communicating and whatever it brings with it. We’d rather inform. Allocate. Notify. Drop an email. Simply keep the loop closed. Are you ready for the truth bomb? In order for you to implement anything from this article, communication with a capital ‘C’ is the bedrock. Employee expectation is an important aspect of managing a team as much as an employer’s expectations. Employees will have tons of things to say. It is a matter of duty to listen to them, and support them with that which matters to them. Ever wondered why resources don’t last and you are filling positions endlessly? Now you know.

As we strongly believe at Dale Carnegie, leaders at all levels should be equipped to create a sense of importance in employees that sets individual talents and passion in motion toward achieving the shared vision. Most importantly, leaders should show employees a sense of meaningful appreciation, especially in a hybrid work environment.

However, to some, the puzzling question remains. To hybrid or to not hybrid. If you are still on the fence, take your time and figure out what works best for you and your industry. While the remainder of us can go back to gracefully embracing the new ways of the world.