Finding success with your hybrid workforce

The Coronavirus outbreak has eventually started to lose its effect on people’s daily lives who have to leave their houses to go to their jobs before the days of the global pandemic. As vaccinations become more common and social distancing measures become the new norm in public places, it looks like the time for returning traditional offices, face-to-face classrooms, and public events are finally approaching. But there is one minor problem for businesses considering making a 180-degree turn back to the way their offices were before; employees who have already experienced the benefits of remote working. A Global Workplace Analytics survey shows that 77% of the employees want to keep working from their homes after the pandemic precautions are gone1. According to another LiveCareer survey, 30% of the employees will quit their jobs if they are forced back to their offices.²

Besides the employees who don’t want to return to their offices, the benefits of hybrid work are not only concern employees; companies are also highly benefitting the increased productivity of their workforces due to the enhanced flexibility of their teams. But even though a hybrid workforce seems highly beneficial for both employees and employers, there are steps that need to be followed to establish a successful workflow with hybrid work. 

How can you ensure the success of your hybrid workforce?

Assess the situation of your organization

The first thing that you need to do as a company is to examine the current competencies of your team before starting to turn your workforce into a hybrid one. Find out about the core competencies of your existing workforce, and think about if those qualities are going to be enough when it comes to continuously deliver their regular goals. Make competency analyses, performance assessments, and find out if there are any skill gaps in your workforce that need to be addressed. If so, start looking for new talents by creating thorough and clear job descriptions. One of the advantages of hybrid work is that it enables you to be precise about what you are looking for in a candidate and find the best fitting talents even from outside your geographical region.

Reconsider your management approach

As organizations that are used to working in traditional offices with regular workforces for many years, it may be difficult for some to manage a hybrid workforce since the hybrid workforce offers an unprecedented level of flexibility to the employees. Even though this amount of flexibility may seem like it can hurt your daily workflow among your employees, it’s important to note that many companies are also aware that implementing a hybrid approach causes an increase in overall productivity. According to an Entrepreneur survey, 42% of the employees are willing to take a wage cut for increased flexibility.³ To fully enjoy the benefits of a hybrid workforce, companies need to embrace this flexibility rather than approaching it as a threat to their regular workdays. Give space to your employees, let them find the best way and best time to work as long as they deliver their goals, and create a hybrid work schedule formed by the optimal schedules of all your employees. 

Get quicker in onboarding

Suppose you are running a business that needs to be constantly active and stay competitive. In that case, new faces in your workplace may create an unwanted situation where your daily workflow is interrupted by people who are not entirely aware of what they need to do next. To ensure that new hires become productive as soon as possible, companies need to take a few essential steps in their onboarding process;

• Introducing the company, its culture, and values
• Presenting to employees their role and goals and how the goals tie into company goals.
• Training on company procedures and processes.
• Presenting tools to help employees do their job better, such as training on platforms or technology they will need to use.

Get ahead of your competitors with new solutions

A hybrid workforce is a new phenomenon for all organizations. As workforces that necessitate continuous remote management, you need to get prepared for the requirements of hybrid workplaces. Workforce management platform Kolay helps you with all your HR processes like access to employee data, overtime management, compensation management, training tracking, company expenses management, goal-based or competency-based performance assessments, and many more. Start your Kolay trial now for free, and find out about what the future holds for HR solutions.

Sources: 

1- https://hrexecutive.com/hre-number-of-the-day-remote-work-after-covid-19/

2- https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2021/04/15/help-desk-ceos-must-adapt-to-a-hybrid-workforce.html

3- https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289748