Death of hybrid: greatly exaggerated?

Before Christmas I spoke at a finance event, and in the front row was a Charles Dance lookalike who seemed quite cross. And the more I spoke, the crosser he became.

OF COURSE he was given the first question, which, as ever with these things, was not a question at all but a barking commentary:

“What a waste of time it is to be talking about hybrid. We all need to get back to the office as soon as possible. It’s how I learnt. It’s how you learnt—and it’s how the next generation of workers is going to learn.”

The FT has jumped on the same theme this week

Based on productivity data during lockdowns (not during hybrid—we don’t have good data on that yet) the piece argues that people who work from home:

• are working longer, but producing the same

• have weakened ties to organisations

• and miss social interaction

Which is all true, and also supports hybrid over all-remote.

Especially given that a recent Google Workspace survey (of 1,244 managers and employees) and associated research project, found that three in four executives and employees believe that hybrid and flexible work is here to stay.

How to hybrid like a pro

(Based on in-depth research interviews we conducted in the autumn before the latest advice to work from home)

• 🗓 Team (not organisation-wide) led working patterns are most effective, based on the roles and needs of the roles AND the individuals in it.

• 🚦Pre-agreed patterns are easier to manage: counterintituively, most people find it less stressful to have a policy of being in specific agreed days than being left to choose.

• 3️⃣ BUT there does need to be some inter-team agreement to avoid the crush of Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays (TWaT—see previous vlog) problem.

• 🚇 Planning what happens on the in-office days is essential: including finding ways to engage and catch up informally, rituals, shared experiences—I found a great Twitter thread on that.

• ☎️ Helping to manage the overload of incoming communications is vital to productivity—here’s how.

• 🕟 Supporting start and end of day boundaries is still needed, as people remain hopeless at setting their own.

Additionally the HBR reports this week that Superday on-sights are the way forward. They may be onto something.

Next week

How to facilitate when some people are in the room and and some are at home, with Kirsty Lewis from the School of Facilitation.

Christine