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hybrid work changes

Hybrid workplaces need a business culture change to match

  • min read
    • Companies are struggling with how to move to let employees have the choice to work at the office, from home or somewhere else – known as hybrid work. A 2022 study by career consultants Zippia found that 84 percent of companies have implemented or plan to implement remote work. Employees are more than ready for it, with 83 percent saying they prefer hybrid work in Accenture's 2021 Future of Work study. Yet, as the economic outlook worsens, it's possible that employee urgency about hybrid work could wane in favor of job security, benefits and company culture. A 2022 Expectations at Work study by BCW (part of WPP) indicates that a certain "confidence across the different employee groups has been eroding, triggering a change in the core expectations and priorities employees now seek from their employers." In any event, implementing hybrid work well is harder than most leaders think. On top of general post-pandemic fatigue, there are hard questions. How much can you require workers to come into the office or stay home? When and why should we be in either space? Should we change contracts and compensation? Which IT systems will we need? The answers are complex, and there's no one-size-fits-all. Three things to think about Outside in-person roles and sectors like manufacturing, hospitality and medical procedures, many have now experienced remote work. In the US, thirty-five percent worked from home during the pandemic. In the UK, it was as much as thirty-eight percent, and in France, nearly thirty percent. Businesses must decide the future of their work conditions. Allowing office and remote work means adapting your reality, being more flexible and changing how you communicate. When considering hybrid work, leadership should assess three things: How to create a company culture that fosters optimal employee engagement, best serve existing and future clients, and give teams the right oversight and tech. Charting a post-pandemic path Effective change requires knowing where you come from. When a legacy company – one that's existed for decades – wants to make a significant change in how they work, it must understand its existing corporate culture. After years of working one way, principles and work styles become ingrained, including relationships with customers and suppliers. The pandemic created an exceptional moment when companies brushed existing culture aside. There will have been changes, many of which will be invisible. Still, there are also dark clouds on the horizon: Economic uncertainty, consumption habits and expectations changes, and social and political unease. Using empathic leadership to engage Research from the University of California, Berkeley Haas and Stanford University found the pandemic provoked many favorable changes in beliefs, behavior and relationships. They reported, "Organizational cultures in the pandemic era have generally shifted away from a high-performance orientation to one that prizes empathy, understanding and mutual support." Empathy – especially from leaders – has a direct, positive impact in the workplace, according to Catalyst research. With more empathic leaders, 61 percent of employees report being able to be innovative, compared with 13 percent of those with less empathic leaders. Increased uncertainty and the need for dramatic change will make leaders with empathy even more valuable to their companies. Leaders should especially watch employee engagement. In light of high resignation rates post-pandemic and recruitment challenges, HR departments should pay extra attention to onboarding in a hybrid environment. With recruitment and initial training done remotely, new employees struggle to understand the culture and establish trusting relationships with others. When you show up as your whole self, vulnerable and imperfect, it will help you to build trust and foster sincerity. Of course, that doesn't mean you shouldn't strive to be the best version of yourself. Being open, genuine and humble makes your colleagues and employees more likely to speak up and feel engaged. Two-way communication will be your bread and butter to survive the transformation to hybrid work. Focus on customers Since it's harder to manage communication in a hybrid environment, it's tempting to use data, financials and automation to manage customers. But the human element, in all its messiness, is more important. Employees' roles and engagement are critical to good customer experience. The pandemic, social movements (like Black Lives Matter) and global political turmoil have changed how customers feel, interact and buy. As expectations change, staying keenly attuned and finding ways to understand better your past, current and future customers will be essential. You'll also need to work to break down company silos and product-centric orientations, which put the focus a few steps away from the customer. Bill Kanarick of EY explains in MIT Technology Review, "Customer-centricity forces you to take a horizontal view where you're trying to orchestrate across the organization to the benefit of the consumer." In other words, customer experience relies on people in different departments across the company, often without a common line of command. While it may be challenging, winners know how to take risks, move fast and focus on a few key levers and performance indicators rather than trying to meet all needs and clunky dashboards. Support systems that facilitate your goals Systems support internal operations, so how you facilitate communications aligned with your business goals and leadership style should be a top priority. There are many communication tools, like Slack, Adobe Cloud and Microsoft Outlook, and great add-ons for hybrid work like Mural and Miro for brainstorming and workshops, Rally and Doodle for meeting management and Monday.com and Trello for project management. Another important aspect is configuring cybersecurity, especially for sensitive data. Your systems will need security tailored to changing locations, moving pieces and the varied tech found in homes and remote offices. Security responsibility in hybrid work falls more on employees, says Leonid Grustniy: "Transporting your work – laptop, files, flash drives – between the office and home can place corporate data in danger from carelessness or even theft." Regardless of tools, leadership must focus on human matters: Empathy, doing what you say and saying what you do, being fair and firm in how you treat employees, and most importantly, modeling the behavior you wish to see. The move to hybrid work will take much trial and error, and flexibility. Larger tech companies like Amazon, Apple and Google will likely pave the way in how we manage hybrid and remote conditions, but applying other organizations' ideas isn't enough. Every sector and different company culture will need its own solutions. Good luck on your journey.
going remote

Going fully remote? Here’s why trust will matter to your success.

  • min read
    • After many learned fast to work from home during the pandemic, organizations now face a more deliberate choice on how to conduct business. How much do we really need to be in the office – if at all? The quest has provoked high-profile battles between employees and management. Apple employees petitioned to keep their flexible work arrangements. It may be complex to offer employees the choice to come into the office or work remotely – often called 'hybrid work' – tempting businesses to impose a set schedule for all. Big tech companies such as Google and Tesla are driving hard to get their employees in the office more often. Twitter offers full-time remote work if employees want it, but such arrangements are usually limited to techy start-ups. Why and how might other kinds of businesses go fully remote? At the heart of this question is trust between employees and management. I wrote in my book, You lead: How being yourself makes you a better leader, "Building trust is the critical glue to keep workflow and outputs effective." The intention to go fully remote must address three elements – in order of importance: Employee engagement, customer benefit and business results. Remote work upsides and downsides A Capgemini Research Institute study in 2020 showed remote work may reduce overheads by up to 48 percent. The remote option may be obvious for tech companies like pure ecommerce businesses or software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers, especially if they're already interacting with all clients digitally. But there will always be industries where fully remote just doesn't work – even desk-based businesses like legal may need central secure storage for documents. Even for a techy workforce, fully remote isn't easy and needs careful consideration. For example, work from anywhere (WFA) is different than work from home (WFH) or work from a specific geographic region. A Flexjobs study showed 95 percent of remote jobs still require a location. It's also easy to get lured into remote work because of the savings or because employees want it. Some companies, including Google, Twitter and Facebook, want to pay remote workers less, and some employees are willing to accept lower pay for remote work's convenience and flexibility. But different pay for remote and in-office workers will introduce a challenging variable in optimizing performance and recognizing contributions. Office-based workers already get greater recognition and credit than those who work from home. Productivity impacts A two-year Stanford study on remote work released in 2017 showed a 13 percent productivity gain and reduced turnover in employees working remotely, compared with their in-office counterparts. But the study didn't consider customer success or long-term employee satisfaction, and over half the remote workers felt isolated and wanted to return to the office at least sometimes. Productivity gains can also be elusive, depending on existing culture, sector and processes. The report Killing Time at Work '22 testifies to many companies' poor practice in trying to make working remotely function well. Study author Tariq Rauf, CEO of team software provider Qatalog, wrote, "Digital presenteeism is pervasive, with employees working an extra hour each day to show they're still online and contributing, due to fear colleagues and bosses will think they aren't working hard enough." Who's going fully remote? Few well-known companies have opted for fully remote. In Flexjobs' top 30 companies with the most work-from-anywhere job postings, recognizable names include Wikimedia and Airbnb. Then there are less well-known tech brands like open-source research and development provider Protocol Labs, services like content moderators ModSquad and naturally remote companies like Study.com for online learning. None are traditional businesses, suggesting legacy companies are staunchly anchored to their offices. So, leaders considering moving their whole organization or a team to fully remote work should consider these elements. 1.  Build trust and improve communication First, above all else, answer honestly: How much do you trust your team or workforce, and how much do they trust you and other leaders? Establishing trust and rapport is always important in business, but in remote conditions, you must be more attentive and intentional in fostering and retaining trust. Communications are particularly important, especially informal exchanges and channels. For example, when will you have a casual check-in to talk about more personal affairs and less official work? Tyree D. Mitchell, author of Searching for trust in the global economy with Jeanne M. Brett, says, "To unite a team, create a team charter representing how the team works as partners. Explain your objective, role and how people should communicate and be accountable." He also suggests taking into account cultural norms and differences around building trust when dealing with an international team. 2.  Make your intentions clear If going 100 percent remote is a radical departure from the past, be honest about the company's intention. Will it help achieve strategic goals? How does it relate to the company's overall purpose? Does it help your environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals? If your motivation is largely cutting cost through less or no office space, or improving efficiencies and productivity (for example, by eliminating commuting,) double-down on employee engagement and customer satisfaction. There are many reasons offices appeal to some people, like teamwork, socializing and status. Being transparent and including your team in your decision-making process will help the transformation succeed. Your action plan In constructing your action plan to go fully remote, there are five key considerations. First, take an honest look at your existing culture – how you communicate and behave, workflows and levels of trust. What should you keep and what needs changing? Second, involve your team in your decision-making around the transition. Third, consider carefully how to best serve your customers, including how to gain and onboard new ones. Fourth, embrace the messiness! Ensure constant feedback and stay flexible to work through challenges. Finally, ensure you have the right technologies to facilitate workflows and teamwork needed for customer success. Prioritise cybersecurity when choosing your tech and give your staff regular training in how to keep your business cyber safe.
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Secure Futures magazine is your go-to business guide for opinions, trends and insight into the world of technology and cybersecurity. We help your business to bring on the future. Brought to you by Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity experts.

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