Top 5 Considerations for a Hybrid Workplace

Hybrid working has become one of the popular terms associated with the modern workplace and current ways of working. While hybrid working has provided employees all over the world with increased flexibility and an opportunity to work remotely for part of the working week, there is still a wide variation in what it means to do hybrid work.

As time passes and new expectations of what the modern workplace looks like arise, many companies are unsure how to create a hybrid work environment that’s right for their business. To put it in perspective, The Global Workplace Guide, published in March 2024, by global recruitment firm Morgan McKinley reported that 92 per cent of respondents in Ireland expressed a strong preference to continue working in a hybrid or remote work model. This lack of clarity, coupled with employees wanting to hold on to the flexibility that hybrid work offers them, has in some cases, resulted in strained working relationships between employers and employees. For this reason, companies must get their strategies right and create workplaces their staff want to spend time in.

The challenge for businesses now is working out where to turn next with their hybrid work strategy. Whether it is a fresh start or an evolution of a previous strategy, the noise around hybrid working presents an ongoing challenge. The high-profile announcements from companies like Amazon mandating a return to the office 5-days a week and Spotify reaffirming their work-from-anywhere (WFA) policy add to the confusion of how to plan or execute a successful hybrid work model. To help organisations navigate hybrid work, we have outlined five things that companies should consider before setting their workplace strategy.

What is a hybrid workplace?

A hybrid workplace is a working environment that provides a setting for flexible work, enabling employees to work effectively from an office or in a remote location for a portion of the working week.

Typically, a hybrid workplace will be specifically designed to ensure employees can be effective and productive in their roles whether they are working in the office for one, or five days a week. As every company has their own policy for hybrid working, companies will have their requirements for how much office space they need and how many days employees are expected to be in the office.

The top 5 things to consider for your hybrid workplace

There are a number of options available to businesses looking to create a hybrid work environment. It is important to acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to hybrid working and a blend of strategy and design is recommended. These are some of the top things to consider for companies assessing their ways of working.

1. Define your business objectives

Defining an effective strategy for hybrid working will provide the foundation for your new work environment. Understanding the objectives behind moving to a hybrid working policy will enable you to create a clear roadmap for your project.

Before any property searches or design work begins, you should hold an understanding of the problems you are trying to solve. Engaging with your employees and taking a people-centric approach will reveal insights of how business operations are currently running and where your teams can see opportunities to make the space more efficient.

Typically, the drivers for embracing hybrid work will be to reduce real estate costs or attract talent. Every company’s objectives will be driven by their own business goals and their specific ways of working. To help you initiate this phase of your project, engaging with a workplace consultant or strategist could help you get to the core of the challenges your business is facing.

The success of your project will rely on establishing clear goals with a defined vision of how and why hybrid work will improve your organisation. Without the objectives in place, it will be difficult to determine whether a shift to hybrid work has had a positive impact on your people and business.

2. Setting a hybrid work policy

Once you have outlined the reasons why your organisation is going to embrace hybrid working, there is a requirement to establish the rules that employees will need to follow. It is not enough to simply ‘become hybrid’ and the most successful hybrid organisations have taken the time to define a policy.

A survey by Gallup presented the four essential dynamics of hybrid work, based on over 12,000 workers in the US. One of the main takeaways from this survey was that the highest levels of staff engagement were seen in hybrid and fully remote workers. There is a delicate balance to be struck to maintain engagement and productivity with a hybrid work policy. The business world is divided on what the best policy is at present but this only reinforces the need to set a policy that is right for your business.

By setting out a clear hybrid work policy, you are presenting employees with an agreement of expectations. Before setting a blanket policy, it is beneficial to engage staff on the types of working arrangement may work best for them. Collaborating with your staff to establish what works best for teams or even individuals could drastically increase engagement rates and make your hybrid policy more successful. A policy that responds to your ways of working and business practices will help to remove any ambiguity and create a level playing field.

3. Improving space utilisation

Improving space utilisation within the workplace can be transformational for the way an organisation works. Going through the process of analysing how your current office space is being used will reveal the areas which could be optimised.

Within a hybrid work environment, you will want to maximise your available office space and potentially reduce or increase the amount of office space you require. One of the most reliable ways to assess how much office space you need is to conduct a workplace study using multiple data points. A workplace strategy helps provide companies with data driven insights that they can use to make better decisions.

With greater flexibility within the office, creating multipurpose working areas will allow employees to use the same space in several different ways. Provided there is enough choice between open, private and collaboration spaces, you can improve your space utilisation without increasing or reducing your office space.

For information on how to get started with your workplace strategy, read our guide to workplace strategy here.

4. Integrating workplace technology

Moving beyond the strategic factors of a hybrid workplace, there are also several practical measures that businesses will need to consider. With lots of offices having been designed to be used as agile workspaces or to support other modes of work, a hybrid workplace also needs to respond to its users.

One of the main considerations for hybrid work is technology but this goes beyond Microsoft Teams or Zoom. In the same way facilities teams and office managers will look at the physical office strategy, the digital strategy also needs to be assessed. There is a wide range of desk booking apps, conferencing technology and cloud-based collaboration software which can help connect your employees regardless of where they are working. Planning for any new technology is best to consider from an early stage so your space can properly cater for your requirements as retrofitting new technology and the appropriate amenities to support it may come at an extra cost.

5. Planning for adaptability

Due to the added fluidity and flexibility that hybrid work promotes, even the most robust workplace strategies may need to flex and adapt over time. Striking the balance between a physical and a digital workplace can present unforeseen challenges so it is advisable to take an office space that allows for adaptability.

The way we use workspace has evolved exceptionally quickly and an office environment that is too static will likely become outdated within a few years. With leases on commercial office buildings still being offered at 10-15 year terms, committing to an office space that doesn’t offer much flexibility could create problems further down the line.

The type of adaptability you will want to consider is how easy it is to reconfigure your space, if your lease has a break clause or if you have the option to increase or reduce your office space should you need to. Hybrid work has proven to be a fast-moving concept, often with loose guidelines so the need for a future-proof office design and workplace strategy is a key consideration from an early stage.

Creating an effective hybrid workplace strategy

While there are many examples of high-profile businesses that have embraced hybrid working and deployed effective strategies, there are no hard and fast answers for how to create the perfect hybrid workplace. The best approach to securing an effective hybrid work environment is to ensure it is well-considered and tailored to your specific business needs.

The core of creating a successful workplace strategy is providing a workspace that responds to your people and allows them to be productive and efficient in the office. Your hybrid workplace strategy should integrate staff feedback and input as this will help improve their experience at the office. Get in touch with one of our office planning and design team to discuss the requirements for your next project.

To chat about your workplace requirements, call us today on (+44) 2894 425 200 or email hello@calibroworkspace.com