Global office world agrees: Hybrid working is the future model of work

With the worldwide pandemic lockdowns coming to an end, companies are busy recreating and reorganizing their workforces, increasingly adopting various forms of remote, flex, or hybrid work options permanently.   

A considerable number of global firms intend to let their employees choose whether they prefer to be in the office full time, be at home full time or - for the most part - a combination of the two.

Also, an increasing amount of businesses are about to introduce more flexibility around locations considering remote working as a more permanent option for their office workers.

And according to a stream of surveys and researches, most employees are most impatient to embrace models of hybrid working as the new norm of their future work-life. 

Go hybrid

"An immersive workspace is no longer limited to a desk in our Towers. The 9-to-5 workday is dead, the employee experience is about more than ping-pong tables and snacks," Salesforce president Brent Hyder says.

The American software firm is among market-leading companies offering long-term remote work opportunities for their employees: A hybrid of in-person and remote time which saves businesses money and offers employees greater flexibility.

According to a stream of surveys, most employees feel most impatient to embrace creative models of hybrid working as the new norm of their future work-life.                                                                                                                            Photos: iStock

"The majority of our employees will go back to the office at least some of the time. And we’ve learned that 80% of our employees are hungry for the connection, camaraderie and innovation that come from gathering in-person.

We’ll be redesigning our workspaces over time as community hubs to accommodate a more hybrid workstyle," Brent Hyder points out. 

"We will create more collaboration and breakout spaces to foster the human connection that can’t be replicated remotely. This isn’t just the future of work, this is the next evolution of our culture." 

Mix of flex

In the post-pandemic business world, companies have to make strong efforts to target the right balances between flexible home working and office space that accommodates and satisfies their business’s culture. 

A hybrid model of working ensures office employees flexible ways of working enabling a diverse mix of spaces for focused work, face-to-face collaboration and virtual creative sessions. 

After a long year of home working, a great majority of employees is hungry for the connection, camaraderie and innovation that come from gathering in-person.

Recent surveys report that up to nine in 10 business leaders agree that hybrid working is going to be adopted as a permanent part of the employment landscape and working life moving forward.

Employers expect hybrid working to keep their businesses agile and to improve talent retention. Also, hybrid work models will ultimately help to reduce companies´ office and real estate costs.

Cultural impact

Experimenting with hybrid work models, the American multinational tech giant Google is considering how future hybrid working might potentially impact corporate culture, creativity and teamwork.

"As we prepare to return our workforce to the office, we may experience potential effects on our ability to maintain our corporate culture," Google notes in a company report.  

The ideal model for hybrid work seems to involve two days in the office and three days at home or remote working.

According to a wide range of similar studies, the ideal model for hybrid working seems to involve two days in the office and three days at home or remote working.

Questioning the Blind platform, what the optimal amount of mandatory work from the office would be post-Covid the answer was:

43% said that a hybrid approach involving two days working in the office and two days working from home would be the ideal model. 23% would favour working from home five days a week, with just 5% preferring working at the office five days a week.  ● 

Read more:
Forbes.com: How to sustain company culture in a hybrid work model
Verdict.co.uk: Tech workers back a hybrid approach to remote working
Businesswire.com: The new hybrid work expectations of UK employees
Salesforce.com: Creating the best workplace from anywhere, for everyone