Hybrid work model: most companies will work with it

This is the conclusion drawn from CBRE’s 2022 US Office Occupier Sentiment Survey. The leading international real estate consulting and services company based in Los Angeles confirms a widely held employment prediction: most companies will end up adopting the hybrid work model.

A seemingly irreversible fact. As professionals switch to new working models, companies adapt to the situation while solving complicated logistics. 

This way, they respond to the wish for flexibility of the employees. A renewed strategy that welcomes professionals under work patterns that are very different from those that have been used.

Hybrid work with guided flexibility

According to the results provided by the CBRE survey, 73% of companies will implement the hybrid work model that allows them to carry out work both at home and in the office. 

However, most of them will establish the concept of guided flexibility. A term that refers to the control of companies over the days that employees have to go to the office and those that can work from home. 

The percentage of companies with an office-only policy is 19%, while the percentage of those that only have remote work is significantly reduced. This data, together with that from previous surveys, help to confirm that the hybrid work model is undoubtedly the way to go.

Despite numerous speculations on the subject, what cannot be ignored is that almost all companies want their employees to be in the office for at least half of the week. Few companies want to have a fully remote workforce. A frequency of office visits is necessary to maintain personal contact with bosses and co-workers. 

The biggest challenge of the hybrid work model

The balance between flexibility and predictability is the biggest challenge for hybrid work policies. 

Employees seek autonomy, but also to be clear about when their colleagues are going to be in the office and thus schedule meetings and other collaborative activities. 

Face to face work in the office means that this is no time for video calls. Department heads want safety, confirmed attendance from their team members when planning in-person office meetings. 

For those responsible for planning spaces, predictability is a fundamental requirement to be able to efficiently manage the needs of their work. This balance between predictability and flexibility is the objective set by many companies, although for now it seems that it will take some time to achieve it.  

According to the report mentioned in this article, today, 40% of companies set the working days that can be done from home. 44% opt for collaboration among employees and managers to develop a remote/in-person calendar. Finally, 13% of companies let workers decide which days they work remotely and which days they go to the office.

Keys to successful hybrid work

Work by objectives

Since your team starts working remotely, regardless of the days allotted to it, you are already obliged to do so by objectives. Control tools and metrics are used to know the time each employee spends in front of the computer, but not their efficiency.

It is essential that your department is fully aware of the annual objectives and the functions to be carried out to help meet them daily, weekly or monthly…

Control mechanisms

As stated, if results are important, employee control systems should be irrelevant. However, it is necessary to comply with the Time Control Act and the Teleworking Act. 

Allowing them to go at their own pace in the performance of their task, but being aware that they have clear and measurable objectives, is fundamental in the hybrid work model. The perception of constant control must be very subtle for everything to flow correctly.

Personal communication

Remote work eliminates small collective breaks to drink coffee and chat with colleagues, thus losing personal interaction and even innovation, the freshness… 

Hybrid work requires companies to force their employees to go the office at least a couple of days a week in order to interact in person with their other teammates. This change in routine aims to mentally and socially reclaim professionals focused on their remote task. 

Cybersecurity and Occupational Health

Technological investment in cybersecurity is fundamental to the hybrid work model. This necessary protection of company information and that of its customers is accompanied by the protection of occupational health.

For the model to work, it is necessary to avoid overconnecting employees. There can be no real reconciliation if effective measures for digital disconnection are not taken.

At our Cloudworks locations come numerous remote workers, among other professionals, as well as those whose companies have implemented hybrid work. 

They come looking for an exclusive, central space, with a wide variety of rooms and terraces adaptable to any type of event and synergy. Our flexible plans are highly demanded by them. Do you want to know what these plans consist of? What about our different locations in Madrid or Barcelona? By the way, we can reveal that our next opening in Barcelona will be on Avenida de la Diagonal, on Tuset street. Do not hesitate to contact us!