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The hybrid work model is here to stay
We are now three years on and as organizations recognize the potential and benefits of hybrid work models, provisions are mainstream, and policies need to be legitimized and robust.
The Hybrid Policy is now a crucial organizational document. As businesses seek to formalize their hybrid work strategies and develop comprehensive policies, it is increasingly the responsibility of HR professionals to understand the fundamental aspects of creating an effective and inclusive hybrid working policy.
This article aims to provide actionable advice and guidance to HR professionals, serving as a valuable resource in their endeavor to navigate the complexities of implementing a successful hybrid work environment.
Working with experts on your Hybrid Working Policy
Having a hybrid working policy in place is becoming more and more important. Not only does it support the success of the day-to-day working practices needed in a modern world, but it’s a key driver of recruitment and fundamental to retaining top-performing staff.
Consequently, we work alongside many HR departments – from sectors as wide as Insurance, Healthcare and Non-profit, helping and supporting them to implement a hybrid working strategy that works across all functions for maximum benefit.
Here you can reference how our work with Bupa has enabled its hybrid strategy and how our partnership with the British Heart Foundation contributed to the charity winning multiple awards, while reducing its real estate footprint by 28%.
The right hybrid working strategy for your organization can enhance wellbeing and performance while enabling cost efficiencies and reduced carbon footprints. Here is further information on how AWA has instilled a scientific approach to such a crucial element of hybrid.
Creating or updating a Hybrid Working Policy for maximum impact
To develop an effective policy for hybrid working, it is essential to draw upon science, research and evidence to adopt best practices.
The following steps can be used to gather research to iterate or redevelop more embryonic or outdated policies.
1. Analyze workforce surveys and studies
Leverage employee surveys and studies that examine the preferences, experiences, and challenges of remote and hybrid work arrangements. Focus groups and senior leadership interviews can draw out business drivers and functional needs for hybrid along with risks.
Analyzing such data allows organizations to gain insights into employees’ expectations, work-life balance, communication needs, and productivity in remote or hybrid settings. By considering the findings, organizations can tailor their policies to address specific employee concerns and optimize the benefits of hybrid working. Furthermore, such company-wide research and opinion gathering ensures that it is not HR’s hybrid working document, but a company policy, contributed to by the entire workforce.
AWA found employees prefer to be in the office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – with nearly 80% of people working from home on a Friday.
These preliminary surveys often uncover potentially costly but avoidable issues with the right workplace strategy and hybrid working strategy. The workplace plays a crucial role in how work gets done, and so in achieving your company’s vision. To account for peaks and troughs, you need to ensure you have modelled correctly the amount of space required, otherwise your hybrid strategy could fail.
2. Understand the impact on productivity and performance
Research consistently indicates that hybrid working provides the potential for increased productivity and performance through people having the right environments to perform their varying tasks in their working day.
Make your colleagues aware of this expectation – cite studies that highlight the positive impact of remote work on employee output, such as reduced distractions, improved focus, and increased job satisfaction. These are predicated on good practices adopted by individuals and teams.
Reinforce the organization’s commitment to fostering an environment that promotes high performance and recognizes the potential benefits of hybrid working arrangements.
Our recent study, why employers benefit from hybrid working, showed on average hybrid working employees deliver nearly two extra weeks of work a year for their employer as well as working harder and better in a hybrid environment.
3. Incorporate employee well-being and work-life balance research
Likewise, your Hybrid Policy document (or at least the supporting comms around the implementation) should highlight the benefits for the employees themselves.
Studies emphasize the importance of employee well-being and work-life balance, which can be positively influenced by hybrid work arrangements. Reference research that explores the connection between flexible work options and enhanced job satisfaction, reduced stress levels, and improved mental health outcomes.
A recent Stanford University study revealed attrition rates among remote workers in a hybrid setting were reduced by over a third.
4. Address collaboration and communication strategies
The reason many people like and thrive in their jobs is human connection. A hybrid policy (and subsequent working practices) need to ensure this will not degrade.
Hybrid working arrangements necessitate effective collaboration and communication practices. Refer to studies that examine the challenges and benefits of virtual collaboration tools, communication platforms, and project management systems. Incorporate evidence-based recommendations for maintaining strong team connections, fostering collaboration, and ensuring clear communication channels across remote and on-site employees. More information on how to manage the hybrid working is here and information on preserving workplace social cohesion is also available here.
5. Consider the organizational culture and leadership style
AWA’s research with the Centre for Evidence Based Management (CEBMa), highlights that a transformational style of leadership is likely to be most successful in leading hybrid teams and that a psychologically safe culture will allow teams and individuals to deliver high performance.
Outline and emphasize the role of supportive leadership, trust-building initiatives, and inclusive communication strategies in cultivating a positive hybrid work culture. Align the new policy and the hybrid working model with the organization’s existing values and leadership approach.
Our approach is to up-skill leaders so they understand the nuances and practices for leading teams that are working hybrid whilst equipping them with the facilitation skills and confidence to run sessions with their teams that arrive at an agreement on how the team will work known as a ‘Working together Agreement’ (WTA).
The WTA needs to cover topics like:
- Relationship building
- Time together
- Induction of new members
- Collaboration
- Information sharing
- Dealing with difficult subjects
- Workload management
- Performance management
How to structure a policy for home and hybrid working
To ensure a well-structured policy for home and hybrid working, integrate the following research-backed components into your policy framework. The aim is to provide a comprehensive document that supports your hybrid model.
Hybrid Policy introduction
Establish the importance of hybrid working, referencing research that highlights the benefits for both employees and the organization. Emphasize the organization’s commitment to embracing flexible work models and creating a supportive work environment.
Policy review cadence
Clearly state the frequency and process for reviewing the hybrid working policy, emphasising the organization’s dedication to continuous improvement and adaptation based on emerging research and employee feedback.
Hybrid working definitions
This is not a hybrid policy-specific inclusion, but it is important to note that not all employees may be acquainted with the ideas and terminology of working in a hybrid model. This can be overcome with simple and precise definitions of key terms related to hybrid working, drawing on industry-accepted definitions and research literature to ensure clarity and consistency, while providing a strong basis for additional reading should any employee wish to do so independently.
Our definition of hybrid working is:
‘A range of ways of working that vary the time, pattern and place of work to (wherever possible) support the lifestyle needs of the individual whilst delivering high levels of team performance’.
That said, this is an apt part of the policy to make a clear distinction between flexible working and hybrid working. This is usually defined as what an employee can do by choice to aid flexibility as opposed to hybrid working structures that are company-wide with deviations requested and determined by a line manager. The policy should stress that hybrid working is optimal when implemented and observed on an organizational level. Some roles within that structure may still have a higher degree of freedom in their choice of work environments than others, but the tools, methodologies and etiquette need to be applied consistently by everyone for hybrid to underpin holistic change and success.
Outline hybrid working practices
This is the crux of the policy. Outline the various hybrid working arrangements available within the organization, supported by research that validates the effectiveness of these models in promoting employee productivity, satisfaction, and work-life balance.
Provide examples of how pre-policy surveys and consultations have impacted the creation of the hybrid model adopted.
AWA found the majority of offices (58%) have introduced some form of hybrid policy.
We work with senior leadership teams to create tangible processes and guidelines which then get converted into a Working Together Agreement (WTA). We then train leaders so they know more about the subject and how to facilitate discussions with team members. The output is a series of agreements, guidelines agreed at organizational level and team level with complete buy in.
The AWA Hybrid Working Index notes 26% of offices with a hybrid policy, vary it at a team level, while 26% of offices are mandating their people to come into the office 2 or 3 days a week
Working environment in the hybrid model
This is another key section. The policy needs to integrate or reference research findings on home office setup, ergonomic practices, and digital infrastructure requirements to ensure a safe, secure, and productive working environment. Emphasize the organization’s commitment to employees’ health, safety, and well-being. Some organizations may even wish to certify their people to work at home beyond a certain number of days.
It is also the opportunity to stress that hybrid doesn’t equal remote. Outlining how the existing office environment functions in a hybrid model can be a powerful indicator of this. You can find more information on workplace strategy and shaping your office for success in a hybrid model here.
The AWA Index found organizations that mandated their workforce to come into the office three days a week, as opposed to two, only resulted in an increased attendance of 0.1 days a week on average.
Other important practicalities of an HR policy
Address how existing practical considerations such as health and safety risk assessments, equipment provision, expenses, tax implications, insurance coverage, and employer access rights are impacted.
Performance management
Detail the importance of providing equal opportunities for training, development, and promotion to both remote and on-site employees. Emphasize the organization’s commitment to fair and consistent performance evaluation across all work arrangements.
State that employees will be provided with clear performance metrics, expectations, and evaluation methods. Address potential challenges in assessing remote work performance and establish a fair and consistent evaluation process.
Encourage line managers to focus on an outcomes-orientated approach to performance management. Aim for employees to have a clear understanding of the outcomes expected and are empowered to deploy an approach that best enables them to deliver to these outcomes. An inputs-managed approach tends to restrict employee autonomy and over-burdens line managers.
Security and compliance
Incorporate research-based guidelines on data security, privacy, and information handling for employees working remotely. Reference studies or existing policies outlining best practices for secure document storage, data transmission, and compliance with data protection regulations.
A downloadable Hybrid Working Policy is just the start
As organizations navigate the changing landscape of work, implementing a hybrid work model and creating a hybrid working policy is crucial.
By starting with the downloadable hybrid policy template provided, HR professionals can establish a solid foundation for their hybrid strategy.
This article has presented actionable advice for developing a comprehensive policy that covers various aspects, including roles and responsibilities, work arrangements, communication, performance management, and employee well-being.
Remember, a well-crafted hybrid working policy sets the stage for a successful and adaptable hybrid work environment that benefits both employees and the organization as a whole, but it is not a hybrid working model, nor it is the sole enabler of such a model.
We honestly believe that for hybrid to be a success, an organization needs a unified and strategic approach starting from a legal and contractual standpoint and ending in the provision of a hybrid workplace.
As mentioned AWA is well-versed and world-renowned for its work helping organizations deliver a coherent and holistic workplace strategy that covers hybrid working and beyond. HR often needs to work alongside facilities management and senior leadership to deliver a workplace that allows hybrid working to thrive – and we can help.
To download our hybrid working policy template please complete your details below:
To download the Hybrid Working Policy Template please complete your details below:
