How do employees want a hybrid working model?
Job flexibility has been recognized as an enduring trend after the pandemic. As a result, hybrid working models began to be included in business life.
Today, while the world’s biggest brands, especially Google and Microsoft, accelerate their work on the hybrid working model, statements from companies continue to come one after another in the country. According to research, more than 80% of companies give the green light to the flexible working model. Employees, on the other hand, expect a hybrid working arrangement after the pandemic.
It is inevitable for companies to adapt to this new reality. However, above all, while creating the hybrid working model, it is essential to rest the employees, determine their needs, and ensure their well-being. A survey of employees’ expectations for flexible working reveals that many employees want to come to the office on days when they need to work face-to-face with their colleagues. According to the survey, more than 50% of the employees state that they will plan their schedules according to their colleagues. In comparison, nearly 40% of them say that they want to determine their programs according to the work they need to do that day. So what kind of a hybrid working model do employees demand beyond that? Here are five different hybrid working models.
Split weekly model
This model, which divides the week between working remotely for a few days and working from the office for a few days, is seen as one of the most demanded models by employees. In the implementation phase of the split-week model, companies do their planning according to departments. For example; While the marketing and business development team comes to the office on Mondays and Tuesdays, the Human Resources (HR) department is on Wednesdays and Thursdays. As in this example, the days can be determined as consecutive days specific to the departments or organized with a one-day interval. This model allows managers to stay in touch with their teams and enable teams to hold face-to-face meetings regularly.
Requirement model
The second model, the requirement model, allows employees to come to the office on the most convenient day and organize their work flexibly according to their plans. Especially those who want to go to the office when they need to meet with their customers or colleagues, or those who need a quiet place to work during the day, want to continue their business life within the scope of a hybrid work determined according to this model.
Week-by-week sharing model
The third model is for employees to make weekly planning for departments, as in the split-week model. However, in this model, the weeks are not divided into days. Still, months are divided into weeks under teamwork. It is determined which departments will be in the office in which weeks. This alternative, which allows the teams to be together for one week, mainly contributes to the faster finalization of a project that is being worked on. The other week, these teams continued their work with remote work, while teams from different departments work from the office.
Shift work
In the fourth model, the shift work model, employees work in shifts at certain times of the day and determine the time to work within the framework of their plans. Employees and companies alike point out that this is a problematic model. If we look from the eyes of the employee; Many people find it challenging to get to work early in the morning or, on the contrary, to work until late at night. A hybrid model explicitly developed for shift work often requires employees to create different solutions in addition to what they already have.
Mixed-model
Finally, let’s examine the mixed model. Employees can shape one or more of the models mentioned above in line with their plans. This model, which allows employees to work from anywhere and choose the working model they want, rather than a single model, draws attention as a model that liberates the employee more than other models.
With the research, it may be enough to look at human nature without annoyance. Humans have evolved outside the home, and it is a fact that we all agree, by nature, to be on the move and to have proper socialization. Even contemplating a forever working life in the house can give a feeling of sickness. People adopt flexible working models. He wants many options.
For this reason, “home office” workers are planning to come together in a controlled manner with specific periods. It may be possible to meet this need most safely with correctly planned and designed workspaces. It may be wise to convert desk areas that are not already used one-to-one ratio into co-working spaces.
In addition, we all know that companies started to adopt flexible workspaces (shared offices, etc.) before the pandemic and why they resisted this transformation. There is a fear of the consequences of the unknown and unmeasurable actions. Fortunately, we got rid of these fears with software solutions and video conferencing tools that put us at ease.
Let’s simplify the need for confusion in the new era. We need comfortable workspaces that are free from epidemic risks, support flexible working, and increase synergy. What can be done in the new generation…
- Refreshing and re-evaluating office design from the beginning can be the permanent and fastest way. Demand is growing very fast. Furniture companies started to build software teams. Transformation is all around. Determining the design trends of the offices, Clive Wilkonson has already begun to produce designs according to this new situation and has already made its first launch. Now that office usage habits and needs have changed a lot; we have to change the old perspective quickly. I want to share the article (https://www.fastcompany.com/90626329/these-architects-popularized-the-open-office-now-they-say-the-open-office-is-dead) on this subject here. If this sounds too radical, at least transforming your meeting rooms can be a start. So much so that companies can turn idle desk areas into large meeting rooms. Or the opposite action may be the right decision. To make the right decision, usage data and some tools to make sense of this data will be needed. I’ll come back to that later. Let’s continue to evaluate the options.
- You can evaluate the hotels’ comfortable and spacious conference rooms with a great and relatively narrowing demand. Many valuable hotels with reasonable prices, comfort, and location can solve socialization in the city’s essential points hygienically and comfortably. It may be nice to present your employees or partners in a comfortable and prestigious environment and away from the home environment. Still, costs and organization can prevent the continuity you need most.
- Shared Offices were ready to serve even before the pandemic, and they are getting more and more popular. It is getting harder to find a room at any time you want. It may be necessary to calculate organizational difficulties and costs very well. Here, we expect companies such as Kollektif House, which exhibits new generation approaches, to increase. Still, although the capacity seems far from meeting wide-ranging needs, it can be considered an option.
- HUB offices, which will replace large vertical offices, and comfortable and intelligent spaces to be established in shared office properties close to the residential areas of the employees can make both employees and companies much happier and more productive. In summary, making the HUB Office investment without measuring and clearly understanding the general need can lead to unexpected results. Therefore, front analysis with workspace management software can be helpful. Measuring continuous use with these management tools is invaluable to understand habits and produce flexible solutions.
- Measuring accurate usage rates and habits with measurement tools that you will receive continuous feedback will be very useful in shaping design and service needs. Finding partners and quickly scheduling safe and customized services (cleaning, catering, meals, etc.) to make employees feel safe and create synergy can play a crucial role in synergy and cooperation in the new era.
What Does It Mean To Measure The Use Of Working Areas?
We understand that it is necessary to design office transformation according to the new generation space needs and habits. So how do we measure it?
The use of specialized mobile software tools and even hardware tools integrated with them means collecting the necessary data. For this, your software tools must be designed according to mobile habits. Company calendars and domains need to be viewed on mobile, and teams should enjoy using these tools. Reservation tools can be helpful, keeping employees out of chaos and making their job easier.
Integrated reservation management systems such as Bookreen prevent confusion and enable management to design workspaces correctly by measuring the usage need.
Large companies, especially in cities with high rents such as London and NY, have abandoned vertical office growth, albeit at a low rate. It was unlikely that this was a trend. Traditionalist approaches and resistance to transformation were an obstacle to this. With the inevitable change of office life after the pandemic, these resistances were broken. Now companies need to adapt carefully to this transformation. We will be observing much better how necessary measuring and converting usage are in the upcoming period.
As a result, it is possible to adapt the cooperation and synergy to the new situation after the pandemic thanks to real-time and user-friendly tools and products. It is possible to develop unique solutions for work-life with technical data and future projections.