Hybrid Workplace: What Is a Hybrid Model and How Can We Make It Work?

The hybrid workplace model is a location-flexible arrangement that allows employees to combine onsite and offsite work as they and their employees see fit. Further, as we all reimagine the future of work, the benefits of remote and hybrid work for employees and employers are becoming more evident. 

Besides, many large companies around the globe have announced that they will allow more workers to continue working from home even after the pandemic, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Effectively managed hybrid work models allow organizations to define a more flexible, digital, and rewarding future for their employees. As a result, many businesses benefit from better access to top talent, happier employees, and improved innovation. 

What is the Hybrid Work Model? 

The hybrid work model is a business model that combines a mixture of both remote and office work. Instead of structuring the workday around a desk in a physical office job, it creates a flexible work schedule. Employees have the freedom to divide their time between working at home and coming into a physical office. 

Further, it is similar to a remote workforce in that employees work from home, but the difference is it isn't completely remote. Companies instead retain their physical office spaces yet use them differently from the traditional model of working. 

The way employees work in a physical office has changed for companies that have embraced a hybrid workplace model. Although physical office spaces are now reserved for in-person meetings and collaboration between team members, other days of the week are explicitly allocated for working from home. 

Office time is now used for collaborative initiatives. That includes anything from presentations, team building activities, introducing new projects, or any other task where you need to bring employees together for face-to-face communication. 

In the meantime, remote working days allow individual team members to focus on the work they need to perform while they aren't actively working with their colleagues on projects. 

Consequently, employees have access to all aspects that make remote work desired, but none of the challenges lead to reduced communication. They can work from home yet still come into the office each week to collaborate and socially interact with their colleagues. 

The Difference Between Hybrid and Remote Work 

The hybrid workplace model combines employees who work from the company office with employees who work from home. Here's how the two work models differ from each other. 

Work Environment

Hybrid: Being more flexible, employees can choose whether they want to work remotely or in an office environment in a hybrid team.

Remote: In a remote organization, all professionals invariably work outside of a conventional office environment. 

Productivity

Hybrid: In the hybrid approach, choosing the work environment significantly improves employee productivity.

Remote: Only those employees who can adapt well to remote working can have better productivity. And not everyone can perform well at their home office as they would have in an actual office. 

Communication 

Communication is the key to run an organization successfully. 

Hybrid: A hybrid company needs to create policies ensuring all information is passed uniformly to the in-office and remote teams. 

Remote: Since all employees work remotely, the organization already has a consistent network to communicate all information. 

Team Meetings

Hybrid: In a hybrid team, the meetings can happen virtually or sometimes in the office. 

Remote: In a remote company, the meetings are usually virtual and held via video conferencing apps such as Skype, Zoom, Teams, etc. 

Top 3 Benefits of a Hybrid Workplace Model

Managing a hybrid workforce means your organization can connect the advantages of remote work with the collaborative opportunities of face-to-face work in a physical office environment. 

Here are some key benefits of the hybrid workplace model:

1. Increased Productivity

Allowing employees to work from home has long been a fear of making them less productive. Remote workers are often revealed to be more productive when compared to regular office goers.

Nevertheless, remote employees working from home run into some challenges around feeling siloed, lonely, or out of sync with their colleagues.

Thereby, the hybrid work model is the best of both worlds. It combines the increased productivity of remote workers with the superior in-person collaboration and communication of physical office environments.

In other words, hybrid work grants employees the freedom to tailor their professional and personal lives to their unique preferences, offering them the flexibility to explore passions beyond the office. This journey not only enriches their lives but also paves the way to a deeper connection with their true ikigai, where joy infuses all aspects of their daily life.

2. Improved Employee Satisfaction

An improved work-life balance is one of the most sought-after offerings you can present to your employees. A hybrid work model provides employees more leeway about when they can work and where they can work from. As a result, this increased autonomy to employees allows them to fit work around the rest of their lives. 

Offering flexibility to your employees is one of the key benefits of the hybrid work model. Further, this improves employees' job satisfaction. 

The hybrid workplace model increases employee happiness, reduces staff turnover, and brings in a highly driven workforce to help your business achieve its goals. 

3. Reduced Business Costs

The primary benefits of a hybrid work model include increased productivity and high employee satisfaction levels, but there's another benefit—reduced costs for your business.  

With an increased employee satisfaction, your company will save money on staff turnover and the resulting expenses it takes to find a new proper candidate to fill a skillful role. 

Besides increasing the productivity of your existing employees, the hybrid work model also leads to better quality work completed for your clients and an increase in profits. 

Conclusion 

The hybrid work model might be an undeniable arrangement for many organizations in the future. But now that you have a clearer picture of the benefits of the hybrid work model, think about what works best for your organization's unique circumstances and employees.

While thinking about the benefits of the hybrid work model, don't forget about group health insurance. Like the hybrid work model, group health insurance is the best of both worlds - remote as well as office environments.