Removing the physical office boundaries, many employees thrived during the pandemic. This challenged the belief that the remote work environment decreases productivity and cannot produce as many results as office work. Many careers that in the past seemed impossible in a remote environment made it to fruition. However, businesses found that moving to a hybrid model may give them the best of both worlds between fully in-person and fully-remote.
A hybrid workplace – one that gives employees the freedom to choose how often they work from home versus going into the office – has many benefits, including employee flexibility, expanded candidate pool, and increased profitability. But with all these positive outcomes, there are a few drawbacks you may want to consider before going full speed ahead.
Decreased collaboration. When regularly working in the same space, employees have more opportunities for impromptu exchanges, quick decision-making, and on-demand meetings. A hybrid environment is more challenging because employees are separated from the day-to-day chatter. It may be more difficult to get people to open up during virtual meetings and they may forget to share ideas they came up with during non-office times.
Fewer client interactions. When clients don’t have in-person access to their reps, it can negatively impact the client relationship. Although remote working, gives salespeople opportunities to call on the smaller accounts they may not have had the time to pursue in the past, there’s something special about the handshake (or fist bump) of an in-person meeting. Figuring out how to keep in touch with clients using different modes of communication may help.
Less effective onboarding. New employees won’t have the opportunity to experience “a day in the life” with their coworkers. It also makes it more difficult for them to ask questions and learn their jobs effectively, thereby slowing their career progression. You need to devote MORE time to onboarding in a virtual environment and find creative ways for new employees to interact with their colleagues. Also, in a hybrid environment, employees may not be working the same days and shifts, so they may lose out on some of the quality time with their peers.
Flexibility in the workplace is no longer a “nice to have,” in many cases, it’s an expectation. Despite the drawbacks, in today’s new workplace, leaders will need to find creative ways to attract and retain their industry’s top talent and offering a hybrid option can help. By making collaboration resources available, having “office hours” to meet with clients, and making sure new employees are taken care of, you can successfully use the hybrid workforce models to introduce new, cost-effective ways to boost employee engagement and productivity.
Drawbacks of Offering a Hybrid Workplace
