Adapting to the Hybrid Work Setting
Written by Nurul Nabilah, YouthTech Trainee
Prior to Covid-19, only 15% of the world’s population was working remotely. It is thus safe to say that the ‘office’ has since taken on an entirely different complexion with the ongoing pandemic, with the percentage of remote workers surging up to 75% or more.
As part of moving towards a new ‘normal’ of “living with covid-19”, as of 1 January 2022, work-from-home measures have been lifted, with workers in Singapore being allowed to go back to working in the office. Many companies are now adopting a hybrid work mode instead of having their employees work in the office or at home entirely, Bold included.
I have come across some news articles hailing hybrid work as the ‘new future of work’ and got intrigued as to why this is so. After all, there are so many other articles viewing hybrid work negatively.
According to a Goodhire study on “The State Of Remote Work In 2021”, 6 in 10 Americans say that they have gotten so used to remote working, that they would even go so far as to take a pay cut to maintain remote working status. I was prompted to collect some responses to find out what some young Singaporeans may think about working from home, versus in the office and in a hybrid setting.
Through a poll on Instagram and the YouthTech community platform, I found that 9 in 10 appreciate the advantages of remote work and prefer it over working in the office. Aside from cutting down on the commuting time and the flexibility of their working hours, some find that they are faced with fewer distractions and are more motivated to do their work while being in the confines of their own home. As such, going back into working full-time in the office can prove to be more stressful for them. This is also evident through a Randstad “2022 Salary and Bonus Expectations” survey, which found that 4 out of 10 Singaporean workers would trade in a bigger bonus in exchange for being able to work from home.
Despite the advantages of remote work, hybrid work came up tops as the preferred mode of work for the majority (70%). Most seem to want to enjoy the advantages of work from home, but not all of the time, thus preferring a hybrid model.
However, hybrid work is not without its challenges. For instance, employees are faced with the additional burden of having to coordinate their tasks so as to ensure full productivity. It takes some forward planning to decide what to do remotely versus what is best done when there is face time with colleagues. There is also the unforeseen circumstance where relevant colleagues opt to work from home instead.
From my personal experience, hybrid work is both good and bad. The good is obviously not having to travel to and from work and working hours that are not as rigid. The downside on the other hand, comes in the form of additional challenges in communicating and coordinating with my colleagues. For instance, in my previous job, when I worked from home on days where I had letters to mail out, communicating with the other team that was in the office proved to be rather taxing. Even with the templates we were given, some adjustments needed to be made for special cases and if they were not communicated well, the process could be delayed. Furthermore, online meetings and physical meetings had a vastly different effect in my opinion. There was also the confusion of whether I had to go into the office on some days!
So, how can employers and employees adapt to this new phenomenon of alternating between working in the office and at home?
Working in the midst of a pandemic, employers are increasingly aware of the need to prioritize their employees’ needs and well-being. Allowing employees to choose the days when they want to work in the office and organizing social activities may be helpful in that sense. Checking in with their employees is also crucial so they have the space to raise any concerns that they have. Based on my own experience as well as my colleagues, being checked in on by our employer lets us know that we are not just resources for getting work done. Aside from that, on the days that we were required to work in the office, being able to socialize with my colleagues instead of keeping to our own spaces, served to keep our morale high throughout the day.
According to a 2021 McKinsey article, some activities may lose effectiveness when done from one’s home, such as negotiations and the onboarding of new employees. In other words, with the different tasks that one has on their hand, some of them are better done in certain circumstances. It is therefore important to divide one’s tasks accordingly before the new work week starts. For example, when launching a new project, meetings are better held in person rather than over Zoom or other online meeting platforms. Subsequent meetings however, may not need to be held in person as those involved in the project can easily update each other on the progress via numerous online communication tools.
By dividing the tasks and planning ahead, one can set up their schedule so that it coincides with their colleagues’ time of being in the office. That way, their productivity and efficiency can increase rather than juggling all of the tasks simultaneously yet not completing any work at the end of the day.
For some employers, the issue of being against remote working is due to the worry that their employees are not dedicating enough of their time and attention to their work. Therefore, if employees want to escape from the clutches of micro-management, they can proactively communicate with their employers and colleagues and update them on the progress of their work. This can simply be achieved by ‘tagging’ relevant parties on their organization’s communication platforms, or even including them in emails sent to external parties. An example of this can be seen at Bold itself, where we ‘tag’ the supervisors in charge of the tasks that we have been assigned on Notion, to update them on what has been completed or what is in the process of getting done.
To reiterate, hybrid working may take some time to get used to. However, many are not deterred by its downsides. In fact, with it being the favored option over the traditional concept of working in a fixed setting, there are always workarounds for employers and employees alike to get used to the new mode of work that seems to be here to stay.
#BeBoldAtWork is a Design Your Workplace series that seeks to cover practical tips, stories and tools that would serve employees and employers to better design how you choose to think, feel and show up in workplaces so as to improve the performances of not only your organisations but also the lives of the people you work with.
If you would like for us to enter your workplaces to provide talks and engagements on workplace wellbeing & career resilience, drop us a note at hello@boldatwork.sg!