For employers, the post-COVID world includes, among several things, rethinking how and where work happens.

The hybrid work model is being entertained by many leading companies (and implemented in some instances). By blending in-office with remote work, you get the best of both models: flexibility, happy and productive employees, and a business that keeps growing.

Here’s what companies need to know about transitioning to a hybrid workplace.

What Is a Hybrid Workplace?

There are three types of workplaces: in-person, remote, and hybrid.

In-person is a “traditional” workplace. Employees physically report to a centralized location during set work hours, conduct their business, and then go home. A remote workplace is almost the exact opposite. Employees generally work from wherever they want permanently, instead of reporting to an office.

A hybrid workplace combines aspects of an in-person workplace with a fully remote one, and there are several ways to execute it.

The first (and most common) method is to have staff work in the office part of the week and remotely the rest of the week. Sometimes staff choose their in-person and remote days. Other times, the company assigns days based on space and business needs.

Alternatively, some companies rotate staff in and out by the week, meaning team A is in the office for the first week of the month and remote the rest of it, while team B is in during the second week of the month, and so on.

The other hybrid work model has workers choosing between fully in-person work and fully remote work. This doesn’t mean that remote people never come into the office—it just means that they are remote a majority of the time.

How a Hybrid Workplace Benefits Companies

Even if the pandemic had never put a spotlight on the advantages of remote work for employers, there are many reasons why companies may want to consider adopting a hybrid work model.

Employees Want It

A 2020 survey by Slack found that a majority of workers worldwide (72%) want to work in a hybrid workplace post-pandemic, compared to 12% of respondents preferring in-person work and 13% wanting full-time remote work.

Discover a better way to recruit remote talent

Founded in 2007, FlexJobs is the most experienced remote & hybrid hiring platform.

• Unlimited job posts
• Low, flat membership fee
• Access top-level remote advice

• Unlimited resume searches
• Reach the right candidates
• And so much more!

Get Started!

Interestingly, a Microsoft study conducted in January 2021 found that while 70% of respondents want access to flexible work options like remote work, over 65% also want in-person contact with their teams.

A hybrid workplace would give employees both the remote work options they want and the in-person contact they desire.

It May Help Retention

Microsoft also found that 66% of companies are planning for a hybrid future. However, 41% of workers are planning to leave their current employer within the next year as restrictions ease and economies recover.

An annual FlexJobs survey of employees has found that, year after year, employees report they would be more loyal to their companies if they offered flexible work options. As more forward-thinking companies integrate hybrid models into their workplace, they’re likely to come out ahead in the hiring game.

Diversifies Hiring

Moving to a hybrid workplace opens up your recruitment, which not only helps diversify your talent pool, it can also help you hire the best of the best employee for the job.

When you require employees to report to a specific location—and only that location—for work, you’ll have a limited applicant pool to choose from since only people who live locally or are willing to relocate will apply for your open positions.

Allowing remote work in some capacity widens your candidate choices to people living almost anywhere who have the talent and skills you want and need. Hiring from this pool of applicants can help take your business to new, more productive heights.

Saves Money

When you’re a fully remote employer, you’ll save money on rent and overhead since you won’t need to rent or own an office—and everything that goes with it. But, even switching to a hybrid workplace can still save you money.

Having only some of your staff in the office at any given time means you can downsize your office space. You won’t need dedicated offices and desks for every team member every single day of the week. Instead, you can switch to a smaller office with less square footage that holds only the in-person people on their given days.

Alternatively, you could switch to coworking spaces and have staff meet up in-person during the few times a week, month, or even year that they need to work face-to-face.

Increases Productivity

One of the major reasons employers shy away from remote work in any form is that they worry that staff will take advantage of the situation and treat every work-from-home day as a “play at home day.”

However, the pandemic has given researchers ample opportunity to test this theory, and according to one survey of employers, 94% felt that their company’s productivity was the same or higher than it was pre-pandemic.

How to Transition Your Company to a Hybrid Workplace

Becoming a hybrid workplace isn’t as simple as flipping a switch, though. It’s essential to create a fair and equitable transition to ensure all employees are happy with the new workplace. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you make the transition.

Run It Like a Remote Company

Running your hybrid workplace using remote-first best practices can help smooth over any bumps you might encounter.

For example, depending on where staff are located, there may be delays in communication. Many remote companies rely on synchronous communication to get things done. Embrace the idea that not all communication needs to happen in the now and consider documenting everything from meetings to procedures and making those documents accessible to all employees.

At the same time, though, some communication does need to happen synchronously. To overcome this barrier, you can require that teams be “on” during certain overlapping hours. This ensures employees can communicate and collaborate in real-time.

Ensure Parity and Fairness

Hybrid work models can unintentionally create a divide of employees. This can lead to remote employees feeling that they don’t matter or aren’t as important as in-person employees.

For example, it’s easy for an in-person worker to pop into the boss’s office, make some small talk, and get their priorities and projects approved. Remote workers can get their priorities approved, too, but it’s not as simple as poking their head into an office.

Likewise, have HR keep an eye on staff pay and promotions and be sure carefully track productivity and outcomes (more on that below).

Watch for Staff Divisions

Make expectations and rules clear to staff. For example, are staff required to be in the office two to three days a week? Or, is in-person work truly optional? Can they work whatever hours they choose, or do they have to have a specific start and end time with a required overlap in hours for synchronous work?

Whatever you decide to do, make sure everyone understands the rules and exceptions for remote and in-person work.

Make All Meetings Remote

In a hybrid setting, it might be easier to have all of the in-person workers gather in a conference room, then have the remote employees video conference into the same meeting. The problem with this approach, though, is that the dynamics aren’t the same. The remote people will have a harder time being a part of the conversation.

Though conscience efforts can eliminate some of this problem (like actively calling on remote participants), a better solution is to have everyone conduct the meeting remotely. Even in-person employees can adjourn to a private office and attend the meeting virtually. This creates a level meeting field for all participants.

Measure Productivity and Outcomes

A survey by Gartner found that managers are 64% more likely to give in-person workers a higher raise than their remote employees. Furthermore, they believe that in-person workers tend to be higher performers than remote employees, even though that’s not always the case.

While in-office workers are often measured by how long they are in the office, it doesn’t necessarily reflect how much work they accomplish. A better way to evaluate all employee performance is to measure productivity.

The easiest way to do this is to set clear and defined goals that have measurable outcomes. Regardless of what that looks like for your teams, a defined goal that employers and employees agree on can help you determine if your staff is truly producing, whether they’re in the office or working at home.

A Hybrid Future

There’s no way to know what the future of the workplace truly is. However, as employees continue to look for companies that are embracing a flexible, hybrid workplace, those companies will likely have an edge in hiring as the economy picks back up.

As a leader in remote work since 2007, FlexJobs is here to support you! We work with companies of every size to provide support and advice for businesses that want to integrate remote work. Discover a better way to recruit remote talent with FlexJobs!

Learn More