Is this the end of hybrid working?

​Where do you stand on hybrid working? Are you a fan or is it detrimental to collaboration?

We’re starting to see a rollback of hybrid working.

Every few weeks a big name mandates a return to the office for their staff, creating a stir amongst the working population and causing us to ruminate on whether this is the beginning of the end of hybrid working.

Hybrid working doesn’t work for everyone, just like it doesn’t work for every business. For some groups it opens up a wealth of opportunities otherwise unavailable to them, but for some it brings isolation.

Maybe the conversations need to move away from one or the other.

Let's stop pitting office work against home working and instead, let’s look at what’s right for that situation. Let’s invest in training and let’s have a proper conversation about how we bring these two opposites together in harmony.

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The normalisation of hybrid working

Back in 2019 hybrid working was the exception, rather than the rule. Only 1 in 10 workers in the UK worked from home at least one day a week and only 1 in 20 were mainly home-based. While there was talk of flexible working and hybrid working, it wasn’t on the cards for the majority.

That all changed in 2020. At the peak of the pandemic around half of UK workers worked from home at least one day a week and 38% worked from home exclusively. As we emerged from our bubbles and isolation, it became clear that hybrid working was the new norm.

Not only had businesses adapted but the expectation from existing and new employees was for some form of hybrid working. That’s why for the last three years employers have offered a blend of home and office working with varying degrees of flexibility, and the business world carried on turning. Hybrid working had become the new norm.

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Hybrid working in action

When you take a look at the numbers you can see why it’s become the new norm. There are clear benefits to both employers and employees.

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Inclusion

Fully office-based roles can present challenges to those with caring responsibilities or with long-term health conditions. Hybrid working opens up the working world to those individuals.44% of those with long-term health conditions want to have more control over their work schedule, including their place of work. Those individuals also reported better overall wellbeing when working from home, compared to other groups.

69% of those with children under 18 state that hybrid working has made the juggle easier. For those looking to re-enter the workforce after maternity leave or extended leave to look after family, hybrid working opens more doors for them.

For businesses that are serious about inclusion and diversifying their workforce, hybrid working is a relatively easy method to do so.

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Recruitment and retention

There’s also been a shift in expectations. 69% of job seekers say the option to work remotely is important to them. With 77% of Gen-Zs and 75% of millennials stating they’d look for a new job if their employer required them to be in the office full-time.

We’d all become used to a new way of working, one that challenged the existing status-quo and that provided a better work-life balance. For a few years that was fine, but in the last year that new found way of working is being pushed back and it’s threatening the future of hybrid working.

Businesses pushing back

Amazon, Boots, Disney, KPMG. L’Oreal.

What do they have in common? All have pushed back on hybrid working. It’s a trend that we’re seeing more of over the last few months. Many firms that aren’t mandating 5 days a week are slowly moving the expectation from 2-3 days at home to 4. For many, it feels like the start of the end.

When we came out of the pandemic it was a candidate’s market, dubbed ‘The Great Resignation’. Candidates could call the shots, making their demands known and as a result receiving very favourable offers. We’re in a different phase now. It’s an employer's market, the terms are what the terms are, and if a candidate doesn’t like it…well that’s up to them.

After four years of working from home, some are feeling the effects. 23% of workers state they feel disconnected. 21% that they don’t have enough face-to-face interaction, and 18% are struggling to separate the distractions of home from their working day.

Then we need to look at the generational differences in work location preferences. Those aged 18-24 are more likely to report a worsening in their work-life balance and an increase in a feeling of disconnect from their team. There are also challenges for those new to the world of work and working from home - without someone next to them to ask questions, learn from, and a wider support network it can be harder for them to succeed.

L’Oreal Chief Executive, Nicolas Hieronimus, stated that staff working remotely have “absolutely no attachment, no passion, no creativity”. Seamus Hand, Managing Partner at KPMG said “the office… being critical to collaboration, innovation and building working relationships”.

Both are very strong opinions from two very big businesses. With that thinking deeply rooted in large corporations this isn’t the end of the pushback on hybrid working. The question then becomes what happens next?

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An alternative view

Businesses are struggling to create moments of magic that come with in-person collaboration and firms believe the way to fix it is to bring everyone back together. That doesn’t mean there isn’t another way.

Pre 2020 most managers didn’t need to consider how to manage and motivate hybrid teams. It wasn’t an issue. Management styles focused on who was in front of them and an office setup. Even now it’s rare that managers are being trained on how to manage hybrid teams.

That means managers aren’t being set up for success.

We need firms to invest in training around hybrid and remote working that goes beyond how to use the technology. Whether firms mandate full return to office or not, hybrid working will be part of our future and it’s not just the technology that needs to be there.

Leadership teams need to acknowledge the changing skill sets needed to successfully manage and lead remote teams. Maybe then we’ll alleviate the belief that to do a great job you need to be in the office.

What happens next?

What’s clear is there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. When you look at the research there’s so much discrepancy between age groups, health conditions, caring responsibilities, stage of career that there’s no one clear answer.

Instead, we need to stop thinking about hybrid working as a blanket policy and take a more nuanced approach.

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• Can we build flexibility into our ways of working to allow people to choose what suits them best?

• Can we embed touchpoints into our working days to enable people to be creative and to build team bonds?

• Can we be more proactive about our way of working allowing us to anticipate problems and collectively find solutions?

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Looking at the news and the big announcements mandating staff back to the office, highlights the importance of a strong internal communication network to make staff feel included in decisions rather than directed.

Without this two-way communication system internally, any changes to the working policy will result in a higher turnover of staff. For some businesses that’s collateral damage and to be expected but for smaller businesses they might not be able to afford the price tag that sometimes comes with recruitment.

It shouldn’t be a matter of everyone being in the office or everyone being at home. We need to treat people like the adults they are and empower them to make the decision around their working style that suits them allowing them to shine in the work. Remembering it’s about their performance not their place of work.