Companies all over the world were forced to go fully remote during the height of the pandemic. But now that the world has reopened, we’re finding that not everyone is eager to fully return to the office and go back to the traditional 9 to 5 structure – and that includes both employees and their employers.
What happened during the time we spent working from home was a shift in sentiments about work environments and productivity. According to a study on work trends, 55% of employees want to work remotely at least three days a week and 59% of employees are more likely to choose an employer that offers remote work opportunities.
Leadership paid attention to the increasing demand for remote work opportunities and flexible schedules. And what came next was the rise in hybrid work environments, a compromise that combines and supports both remote and in-office work. Hybrid work models also provide benefits like reduced overhead costs, better employee experiences, work-life balance, and improved safety. And now, more companies are making it their goal to design a hybrid work model and environment that best suits their specific needs. Here’s how to design a productive hybrid work environment:
Determine the ideal hybrid model
Different companies have different needs, resulting in different hybrid models. Some companies using the hybrid work model give their employees complete freedom to choose when and where to work. With the remote-first model, team members only have to come into the physical office on a case-by-case basis. In an office-first environment, the company promotes the physical office as the primary place for work. And working remotely may be on a case-by-case basis or only apply to certain departments and employees.
Other hybrid work models to consider are the split-week model and the week-by-week model. In a split-week work environment, employees split the work week, working on some days at the office and other days remotely. Managers can either assign specific days or allow employees to choose. The week-by-week model may be ideal for teams that find splitting the week disruptive. It’s as simple as spending one whole week at the office this week and working remotely the whole week the following week.
Equip employees with the right tools and resources
Determine your communication channels and hardware requirements for both remote and in-office workers. For team members to stay connected and collaborative, they need the right software, hardware, tools, and resources. This may involve providing employees with mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and phones – along with ensuring they install all the necessary apps and software so they have access to shared platforms. Technology helps ensure that people don’t end up working in silos and feel disconnected from their colleagues and managers.
Maintain clean and standardized data
One of the biggest barriers to a productive hybrid work environment involves challenges in collaboration. Team members working on the same project may not always be working in the same place – one may be working remotely while the other is in the office. And if they don’t both have access to the same data, they may end up with different results. A solution for increasing collaboration and productivity within hybrid teams is cloud-based solutions that help deliver a real-time API that can be utilized for both real-time and batch data verification, corrections, and standardization.
Runner EDQ recognizes organizations have specific issues regarding their data integrity. With CLEAN_Cloud™, your organization is empowered to enhance and control the data you access or leverage every day. Whether it’s data needed for collections, point of sale, data entry, finance, data migration, or Geoanalysis, Runner EDQ has a data solution.
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