5 Tips to Make Your Hybrid Office Setup More Effective
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The global pandemic has forced many businesses to adopt a work model that is different from what they are used to. Due to health restrictions, offices were left vacant and employees have been working remotely in their homes. But now that everything is opening up and slowly returning to normal, offices are beginning to welcome back their workers as well.
Switching work models abruptly can be quite challenging for employers and employees alike. Because of this, most offices have begun implementing a hybrid office setup to accommodate their staff who wants to return to the office as well as those who choose to stay remote. Adjusting to a new work setup will take some time, but there are things that you can do to make the transition easier.
In this article, we will share 5 tips to maximize your hybrid office setup to make it more effective.
What is a hybrid office setup?
Before we move on to the ways to improve your hybrid work model, let us first discuss what a hybrid office setup is.
Hybrid work is a model where some workers work in the office while others work remotely. This can involve some employees sticking to either on-site or remote work 100% of the time, or employees splitting their time between both work environments. This hybrid model is often perfect for companies who are slowly transitioning from a work-from-home setup back to an office environment.
The flexibility of the hybrid office model allows employees to adjust to the new working conditions at their own pace. Additionally, it’s what they are expecting. A Gallup poll found that 53% of employees expect to be offered a flexible hybrid working arrangement.
5 Things You Can Do to Maximize a Hybrid Workplace
As an employer, your job is to make sure that your hybrid office setup is running as smoothly as possible. From the well-being of your people to the tools and systems that they are using, there are a lot of ways for you to ensure that this environment is working for everybody.
Here are the things that you can do to further improve the effectiveness of your hybrid work model.
1. Encourage Communication
One of the management challenges that you will have to deal with when it comes to a hybrid work setup is how to effectively communicate with the rest of your team. In an office environment, it is easy to reach out to the people that you need to talk to since you are all in one location, but in a hybrid setup, part of your team will be stationed somewhere else.
To encourage communication, you need to provide your employees with a means to communicate and collaborate with one another. Applications such as Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams are just some of the software that you and your team can use to communicate with one another.
2. Set boundaries
Monitoring what your staff members do during work hours can be challenging in a hybrid setup. In order to prevent your workers from engaging in non-work-related activities during office hours, you need to set boundaries on what they can and cannot do while they are on the clock.
One way of setting boundaries is holding regular meetings. This will allow you to monitor the work progress of your employees and it also encourages communication and collaboration between the members of your team.
3. Provide technology that will boost productivity
Technology is the key to running a hybrid work setup smoothly. From communicating with your staff to boosting productivity, there is a technological tool available to meet your company’s needs.
Information accessibility and collaboration are some of the areas that you will be able to maximize with the help of digital tools. A cloud-based system allows your employees to access the information that they need 24/7 anywhere in the world. Collaboration tools, on the other hand, enable your staff to work with one another whether they are in the office or at home.
With the help of technology, you will be able to create a seamless work system that will improve your office’s working conditions while accommodating all of your employees.
4. Strengthen your cybersecurity
To accommodate employees who are working remotely, offices have decentralized their networks to allow remote access to various work resources. While this provides flexibility to your work setup, it can also lead to vulnerabilities.
In order to protect the data of both your company and your employees, you need to enforce strong cybersecurity measures that won’t affect the flexibility of your hybrid office. The following are some of the practices that you can do to safeguard your data and prevent security breaches:
Educate your employees on cybersecurity measures that they can implement to avoid potential hazards and security threats.
Secure your network with a VPN to allow your employees to safely access your network whether they are in the office or at home.
Require identity verification before providing access to work resources and devices.
5. Provide a suitable work environment for your employees
One of the issues that is not addressed properly in a hybrid office setup is the lack of suitable workspaces for employees who are working remotely. Aside from digital tools and systems, you also need to provide your staff with a conducive work environment to further boost their productivity.
Companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google provide their employees a flat fee of $1000 to cover their remote work expenses. While you are not required to provide the same amount of compensation to your workers, do consider providing the necessary equipment that they need to create a suitable work environment at home.
Maximize Your Hybrid Work Environment with Help from BrainStomp
A hybrid work environment that is secure and geared towards productivity can take some time to set up and calibrate. BrainStomp can provide you the support that you need to maximize the systems that you already have in place to boost the effectiveness of your hybrid office setup.
Schedule a free consultation today! Call 260-918-3548 or reach out online.
