The Age of Hybrid Working (and 5 Ways to Prepare)

By Emma Attenborough-Sergeant Wellness Expert at GoVida - The Employee Wellbeing Platform

With Work from Home guidance being relaxed in many places across the globe, and people free to head back to the office, it’s a good time to ask what the future of work is actually going to look like. Because being able to resume ‘business as usual’, and being willing to do so are two very different things.

No matter what the restrictions say, hybrid working is here to stay. Many businesses have witnessed that their people can work just as well from the comfort of their homes as the confines of the office; they’ve also shown that sometimes, the comfort of the office is a welcome and much-needed retreat from the confines of the home.

Too much of a good thing, even home working, can leave us hungry for change – but there’s no denying that expectations have shifted.

Hybrid Working: A New Era

Most people who worked remotely during the pandemic will expect to have the option to work from anywhere, at any time. It doesn’t matter whether restrictions are in place or not; they know they can do it now, and you’ll need to make a pretty solid case if you’re planning on disputing that.

You understand your business better than anyone, but our advice (as employee wellbeing specialists who have your best interests at heart) would be to hone in on the best ways to support and nurture your people through this change.

You know by now that employee wellbeing has evolved significantly from tick-box exercise to essential offering. But how do you make sure your business is embodying that evolution?

If your people are going to be split between home and office, here are five of our top tips for supporting their wellbeing – both in and out of the workplace.

5 Ways to Support Hybrid Workers

1. Encouragement is key: With changes to working practices, it’s worth sending regular reminders that give your people express permission to prioritise their wellbeing – whether that’s setting an email curfew, switching off over the weekend, getting out for a walk every day, or simply speaking out if their workload becomes unmanageable. This is especially important when people are working from home, and the lines between personal and professional become blurred.
2. Feedback leads to growth: All the well-meaning advice in the world will never trump honest feedback from your teams. You need to know if your current approach is (or isn’t) working, and if your people have their own ideas for positive change. You could set up an anonymous feedback form on the company intranet, schedule one-to-ones, discuss your wellbeing culture as a team, or simply invite your people to come to you with any and all feedback.
3. Team activities are increasingly important: Not everyone will want to work from home, or the office, on the same days. But you don’t want to lose the spirit of camaraderie that your culture is built on. The best way around it? Arrange team challenges, or team activities, that bring your people together – whether that’s a virtual marathon for charity, or a weekly group mindfulness session.
4. People need the right resources: Not everyone has the time or money to source the most effective tools for their wellbeing. The reason that employee wellbeing support is so effective as an employee benefit is because you’re taking the guesswork (and financial risk) out of the equation. If your people can try out a range of resources, they’ll learn what works for them. And with the likelihood that different team members will be working from different locations and at different times, that personalisation is incredibly important.
5. You may encounter teething problems (and that’s okay): Hybrid working is still relatively new; as is the collective focus on workplace wellbeing. You might not get it right first time, and your people might not always know what they want straight away; the joy is in learning and exploring this fresh employee experience together.

Get Support From the Right Wellbeing Partner

The joy of the workplace wellbeing revolution is that you’re not in this alone. Employee wellbeing platforms (like ours) are here to help, and here to stay.

We’ve seen first-hand the incredible impact of consistent, visible, and highly personalised workplace wellbeing support – which is why we’re so passionate about what we do (and why, if you get us in a room, we can talk about employee wellbeing ‘til the cows come home).

It’s also why we always offer businesses like yours a free demo, so you can see exactly what we’re all about, and we can demonstrate all of the (very practical) ways we can help you to support your people.

Keen to find out more? Get in touch with our wellbeing experts to arrange a demo, chat about our platform, or simply swap notes on the many nuances of workplace wellbeing.