Hybrid Is the Winning Work Arrangement. Now, Let’s Fix It
Hybrid has emerged as the preferred arrangement for U.S. workers, but there are plenty of wrinkles to iron out.
When society began adopting new behaviors as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us wondered which would be long-lasting and which would be quickly forgotten. Now that news of the pandemic has faded into the background and most people have settled into some version of what they would call “normal life,” it’s becoming clearer which of those changes had staying power.
Unlike cruises, Vegas buffet lines and conference centers, corporate office buildings are one group of places that have not filled back up to their pre-pandemic attendance levels. A preliminary answer to the question, “What does the post-pandemic future of work look like?” has emerged, and the answer is hybrid.
In February of last year, I wrote a column about hybrid work based on the Madison, Wis., think tank Filene Research Institute’s first installment of research on the topic. At that time, people were still figuring out what direction office work should take in a post-pandemic world, but hybrid – the concept of working some days onsite in an office and other days at home or in another offsite location – had begun to generate steam.
Now, a number of indicators show that hybrid is here to stay, and if credit unions don’t accommodate onsite employees who would prefer a hybrid schedule, those employees could be headed for the door.
According to Gallup, in January 2019, just 8% of U.S. employees with remote-capable jobs worked remotely 100% of the time, 32% had a hybrid arrangement and 60% worked onsite. In May 2020, with the pandemic underway, the percentage of employees working remotely had shot up to 70%, with 18% following a hybrid schedule and 12% onsite.
By February 2022, 39% of U.S. employees with remote-capable jobs were exclusively remote, 42% were hybrid employees and 19% were fully back onsite.
The latest data available, gathered in February 2023, tells us that out of the three arrangements, hybrid work is winning the race: 52% of the remote-capable workforce is in the office part of the time, compared with 28% who are remote and 20% who are onsite.
And, those first two percentages would be even higher if all employees were allowed the work arrangement they really want. According to the February 2023 data, of the employees who are currently working onsite full-time but would prefer a hybrid schedule, 59% are watching for or actively looking for a new job and 36% are very often or always feel burned out at work.
Filene’s latest report on hybrid work released in April 2023, “Hybrid Work is Here to Stay: Are You Ready?” further cemented the idea that hybrid is the most popular working arrangement – at least from the employee’s perspective. Many leaders are still trying to coerce employees who have become accustomed to their work-from-home routines to return to the in-person grind, despite evidence that remote and hybrid work is linked to employee reports of improved satisfaction and productivity. Employers appear to disagree with their employees’ productivity claim – according to 2022 data from Microsoft Worklab, 87% of hybrid employees say they’re productive, while only 12% of leaders say they have full confidence that their hybrid team is productive.
What’s up with the disconnect between employers and employees when it comes to the benefits of hybrid work? One theory, according to Filene, is that because some executive teams never went fully remote themselves earlier in the pandemic, they feel it’s now time the entire staff joins them back at headquarters. Leaders also voiced concerns over a weakening of employee career progression, creativity and collaboration amid empty or half-full offices. And there seems to be an issue with trust – some senior credit union leaders interviewed for Filene’s new report said they’re worried about workers “taking advantage” of their on-the-clock time away from the office, with one discovering that several employees secretly held a second full-time job in addition to being employed full-time by the credit union.
Nevertheless, with individual workers expressing great enthusiasm for hybrid arrangements, senior leaders may have to put their objections aside in order to attract and retain the kind of talent they need to support their credit union’s growth. And doing so isn’t easy – developing a successful hybrid strategy looks different for every credit union and requires some form of sacrifice from all parties involved. Filene identified three key challenges in the realm of hybrid work:
Supporting managers. The report asserted that the failure or success of a hybrid work strategy really falls on managers, who are stuck in a tough spot – they’re considered employees themselves, but are also tasked with implementing hybrid policies for their direct reports. Running a hybrid team can be complex and stressful from a communication standpoint, with the simple, consistent option of walking down the hall to touch base having been replaced with an often overwhelming volume of digital platform messaging. And, measuring employee performance can be difficult when some are physically out of sight.
To address the challenges managers are likely to face in a hybrid work environment, Filene recommended that senior leaders provide them with plenty of direction and consistency around the credit union’s hybrid work policy, and implement a comprehensive output management system that allows them to accurately measure employee performance. What’s more, senior leaders should model the credit union’s hybrid policy themselves, eliminating the “I’m in the office every day, so everyone else should be too” excuse they may be using when opposing hybrid work.
Building trust. An employee may say they want to work remotely a few days a week to be more available for their family, but their employer may think their true motive is to run a side business. On the flip side, an employer may say they’re against remote work because an employee’s role requires in-person collaboration, while the employee believes they in fact don’t want their shiny new headquarters space to go to waste. A hybrid policy can’t work if no one trusts each other, so it’s critical to have honest conversations about what the arrangement should look like and achieve.
Deciding who should work remotely and when. Hybrid policies can either be centralized (applicable to the entire organization) or decentralized (determined by managers on a case by case basis). Filene found that decentralized hybrid policies can contribute to workplace inequities, making a centralized policy the way to go. However, that doesn’t mean every employee should follow the same in-office versus out-of-office schedule – each employee’s arrangement should be based on what makes the most sense for their individual role, and be subject to change. Being away from the office could be detrimental for new employees, newly-formed teams and teams tasked with innovation-focused work, for example, according to Filene.
While hybrid has emerged as the preferred arrangement for U.S. workers, the trend is still evolving and comes with plenty of wrinkles to iron out. It’s now time for credit union leaders to prioritize getting everyone in their organization on the same page about hybrid, initiate honest and open-minded conversations, and above all, stop equating professional success with perfect office attendance.
Natasha Chilingerian Executive Editor nchilingerian@cutimes.com