Hybrid work models employee experience

Is hybrid work the best of both worlds?

In 2019, about 73 percent of survey respondents said working remotely positively affected their well-being. In 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also correlated remote work with productivity.

Throw in the fact that more and more business tools are hosted in the cloud—free of the limitations of physical, in-person office environments—and suddenly remote work looks like a competent method of doing business.

Maybe we’re crazy, but does anybody see a downside to working remotely?

Well, maybe. Working from home cuts down on the time and money costs of commuting and taking lunch, but one crucial element is missing from the remote work lifestyle: people. Real, breathing, stomping, joking, laughing, distracting people.

Humans are social animals. Therefore, our identity comes from our connections with others and from how we are different from others. However, widespread remote work may have long-term consequences. We don’t know those consequences yet.

Despite this, some people miss the relationships they had with coworkers. Some say that losing these relationships has damaged their mental health.

In 2023, a study conducted by the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) found that full-time remote workers were about 5 percent more likely than their office-first counterparts to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression.

In addition, the academic journal
Nature published that “remote teams are less likely to integrate the knowledge of their members to produce new, disruptive ideas.”

Media suspicions aside, could hybrid work be a happy medium between remote and in-office work models? What are the real benefits of a hybrid work environment, and when should one be implemented?

In this post, we’re discussing how hybrid work arrangements improve employee experiences.

Why go back to the office?

Most people interpret the phrase “work-life balance” as how much time you spend working vs. doing something else. It might manifest as turning off work-related phone notifications at 5:30 p.m. or turning on away messages when on vacation.

Hybrid work, however, adds a whole new dimension to the concept of work-life balance: the location of where people
do work, be it from home, at the office, or as a combination of both.

More and more job listings are asking applicants to spend 1-2 days a week working in the office, which seems like a decent compromise—managers like to have eyes on their teams, and employees like to work from home.

Other benefits of a hybrid work model include:

  • Improved employee morale: Letting teams work from home creates trust, which makes employees feel more valued and invested in contributing.

  • Opportunities to socialize and make friends: Many lifelong friendships have started at the workplace. Socializing may not seem directly connected to productivity, but healthy workplace cultures are more productive. Having a strong office identity helps people take pride in their work.

  • Attracting and retaining talent: Hybrid workplaces are attractive to prospective new hires because they lack micromanagement (at least on paper). If your company can let employees work remotely, you will attract more qualified applicants than with a fully in-office policy.

Before the COVID pandemic, giving employees a few work-from-home days was considered generous, but today, it’s all but mandatory.

Suppose you’re worried that letting employees loose will irreparably shift the balance of power; however, fear not. Businesses also benefit from a hybrid work model.

Hybrid is better for business

Another reason for the inevitability of work-from-home policies is that Boomers are dying off. They comprise a huge chunk of America’s current population.

Since young people don’t seem to have enough kids to replace them, a lot of real estate will become vacant in the coming years—real estate that will become harder and harder to occupy.

There’s never been a better time for businesses to downsize and reduce their office space overhead costs. Unless your company owns its office space, switching to a hybrid model offers a clear-cut opportunity to cut operating costs and increase net revenue.

Other business-oriented benefits of hybrid work include:

  • Wider talent pools and networks: With a flexible work model, companies aren’t limited by geography regarding who they can hire. If the best candidate for the job lives across the country, they can contribute just as much as someone who lives around the corner.

  • Simpler collaboration: Slack and Microsoft Teams have revolutionized collaboration. Remote employees don’t need to reserve a meeting room. Instead, they can quickly answer questions using messaging apps. Alternatively, they can have a short conference call if needed. This eliminates the worry of everyone attending a meeting.

  • Way less overhead: Espresso machines, vending machines, custodial services, and other on-site amenities can become a thing of the past when employees take care of all those things at home.

One survey conducted by Global Workplace Analytics finds that remote work can reduce costs by $11,000 on average per worker annually. If true, you’d be hard-pressed to make a business case for keeping employees in the office.

Flexible hybrid work, however, isn’t without its unique challenges.

Challenges & considerations

Most workers today are accustomed to life in the office. You make the morning rounds, have a team stand up, work a while, and then go home. When there’s no office to host it all, however, companies have to adjust, which isn’t always easy.

Some work practices can be upended. Security and management practices change when you can’t control the physical dimensions of the workplace. However, many solutions to these challenges have been engineered in the few years we’ve had widespread remote work.

Still, your switch to a hybrid work model may involve a few new challenges.

Managing communication

It’s so easy for remote teams to fall off the map and stop communicating with their teams. The role of managers has to shift from not just assigning work and checking in to facilitating opportunities for team members to talk to each other.

On-the-job training

Remote work is taken for granted; about 75 percent of remote workers feel they haven’t been trained to do it well. Companies must plan to train their employees thoroughly and keep up with that training as time goes on. Also—and this should go without saying—”you’ll figure it out” is not a training strategy.

Maintaining company culture

What’s Halloween when you don’t get to see coworkers dressed up? Do loyalty and retention suffer if employees don’t occasionally see their CEO pace the office floor?

There’s a fundamental shift to the meaning of workplace culture when the only barometer is how you conduct business. In-person collaboration and events are much more impactful when people only mingle once or twice a year.

Information security concerns

Working from home means letting employees exchange privileged information over their home networks, which is unsettling. Protecting that information is vital to your company’s good reputation, so consider how you will do so when switching to hybrid work. This includes using VPNs, security dongles, private servers, etc.

Setting boundaries

Are you not big on seeing sweatpants on a Zoom call? Let your employees know! It’s perfectly fine to ask your teams to behave with traditional office professionalism while they work from home. Establishing clear boundaries between work and personal life is crucial for employees and employers.

There’s plenty of information on the internet about addressing the challenges of moving away from a physical office, but the best first resource will always be your employees.

Communicate with them to learn what they want, and incorporate their feedback into your business model as much as possible.

Tips to getting hybrid work off the ground

Just because people like working from home doesn’t mean they don’t need time to adjust. Switching to a hybrid model can be challenging, and you must be flexible to make it work. However, there are a few key points to focus on when making the switch.

Develop a clear hybrid work policy

When COVID first hit, many companies boasted about a visionary switch to fully remote work, only to force people back into the office a year later (the same was true for 4-day workweeks, which reverted to less exciting 5-day workweeks).

It’s essential to craft consistent policies that your managers can adhere to; otherwise, you could end up with frustrated employees. Managers should bring employees in for in-person meetings once a week.

Invest in the right technology

Your employees will need a few tools and technologies to work effectively from home. Many companies offer an employee home office budget. This budget helps employees buy furniture. For example, they can buy desks, task chairs, and monitors.

Additionally, it covers noise-canceling headphones and laptops, which come with all the necessary software. As football great Deion Sanders once said, “If you feel good, you play good.”

Stay in touch

Lack of office visibility makes remote teams harder to monitor. This means managers must go the extra mile to see how their teams are doing. It’s essential to use virtual communication tools to implement regular check-ins and team meetings; otherwise, employees could get distracted.

As mentioned earlier, training seems to be a huge blind spot for managers of remote teams. Don’t let this be you—ensure your employees have plenty of instruction and answers to their questions. Too much floundering can hurt employees’ confidence, so provide the support they need.

Get lots of employee feedback

Your employees are competent (hopefully). They know what works best for them and will gladly tell you about areas for improvement. Check in often to ensure they’re happy with the quality of their work and their ability to do it.

Going hybrid is a step in the right direction

Hybrid work schedules make companies more flexible and agile in the face of change. Yes, adjustments will be made, but they’re essential to providing a better work-life balance that boosts employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction.

Think about it: Wouldn’t the hybrid model offer more room for growth in the future of work? Is there any downside to being free to work from home while occasionally collaborating with coworkers in person? The choice seems obvious, but the best way to find out is to try it yourself.

More resources:
Flexible working hours: Do they work? New tab icon
Hybrid team success: Mastering the key strategies New tab icon
The 5 emotional intelligence competencies you need to have New tab icon

Want more insights like these? Visit Dallin Nelson’s author page to explore his other articles and expertise in business management.