Hybrid Working - is it the new norm?
What is Hybrid Working?
At its simplest, hybrid working means some staff working from a central office and others working remotely from home or at another location. This can be contrasted to distributed working which enables companies to hire, train and support an entirely remote, full-time team across the country, or even multiple countries.
Is the Hybrid Working Model new?
Ahead of the curve, big tech, Silicon Valley companies such as Google, Apple and Twitter were well practiced in distributed working. In the UK remote working has been a gradually rising long-term trend, the Office for National Statistics reported that 6% of the workforce were working remotely full time and 30% working remotely for at least some of the time by the start of 2020.
As we all know, COVID-19 suddenly accelerated this trend. In March 2020 we were told to “work from home if you can”. Employers responded quickly and during the period 23 March to 5 April 2020, the average proportion of the workforce that was working remotely from their normal place was 48%.
Will the Hybrid Working Culture stay?
Individuals and many organisations have been pushed to the limit over the last 12 months. Feedback from Treehouse clients suggests that most have successfully made the transition to remote working. Programmes are continuing to deliver and special arrangements are in place for occasional access to facilities for those that need them.
So, will remote working stay? There seems to be demand from employees. In a study carried out for BBC News and King's College London, conducted by Ipsos MORI, a third of workers 32% say they anticipate working from home more post lockdown. Many employers have been conducting regular pulse surveys to capture employees thoughts on wellbeing and working arrangements. Some employers are responding quickly. This week the UK’s biggest building society, Nationwide announced that 13,000 office staff could choose where they work under a new flexibility scheme.
Most businesses are considering Hybrid Working
63% of participants who responded to the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development's (CIPD) employer survey said that they planned to introduce or expand the use of hybrid working to some degree, combining time in the workplace with time at home, depending on the needs of the job, the individual and the team.
Hybrid Model for the future
It remains to be seen how significant the move from office working will be in 12 months time. For many employees, some activities during a typical day lend themselves to remote work, while others require access to office or other on-site facilities. This suggests many sectors operating a hybrid model of some sort, with employees working remotely and from office/ on-site facilities during the working week. Treehouse sees an opportunity, or perhaps a necessity, to treat hybrid working not as something to simply get through but as the start of lasting change to the way organisation’s work.
References
Distributed Workforce Model: Why it could be the future of work (People Matters)
Coronavirus and homeworking in the UK labour marketing (ONS)
Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey, expectation responses over time, UK 1 June to 23 August 2020 (Waves 6 to 11) (ONS)
Covid: More walking and family chats post-lockdown - poll suggests (BBC)
Aerospace and defence organisations must use their experience from COVID-19 to change how they work forever (PA Consulting)
Flexible working: Lessons from the pandemic (CIPD)