Hybrid, home or office?

Covid-19 has changed the way most office-based employees work. Working from home has proved liberating and productive for some, and stressful and lonely for others. The relative ease and success of home-working has presented difficulties for employers now trying to encourage people back into the office, with hybrid working arrangements presenting a compromise of half-in/half-out.

A number of employers have adopted a very laissez-faire approach, leaving it entirely up to employees as to when they come in and indeed whether or not they do. Many companies have introduced one or two ‘anchor’ days a week for teams when employees are expected to come in but have usually done so in a light touch fashion.

While employers ponder the value of maintaining expensive, half-empty office space in often premium locations, managers face a different question: what is the optimal working arrangement for my team? What is most productive, most sustainable and most supportive in the longer term? What are the arguments for encouraging people to come into the office more, and are they good ones?

Working from home

For many, the benefits of working from home are numerous: it’s flexible, avoids travel time and cost, supports a much more casual lifestyle and often supports greater productivity (but this is contested, see below). It also feels safer as it reduces the chance of picking up Covid from commuters and colleagues. The prolonged period of working from home has caused our perception of the world to shrink – our ‘safe area’ has got smaller. The things we took for granted (commuting, dressing for work) now become a little stressful. If working at home is considered acceptable it becomes much easier to take the least ‘stressful’ option.

However, are the benefits we have come to associate with working from home greater than the costs?

For many people, working from home presents a number of distractions which can make it hard to focus and can lead to stress. When we’re away from home we’re not usually reminded about the need to run errands, walk the dog, do laundry or supervise the children’s homework/snacks/arguments. Home-working has led a number of people to actually work longer hours – the office environment and its start and finish times present a boundary to stopping and starting work. When you no longer leave the office to go home it is much easier to keep going. For many, the journey to and from work provided a good separation period enabling better focus and attention in both. Many of our clients now report greater difficulties being fully present with their families in the evenings and a much greater tendency to pop back into the spare room to send a quick email.  A number of employers have been concerned with employee burnout as a result. While productivity in some companies has soared, so has the number of emails being sent late at night and in the early hours of the morning – managers begin to worry about burnout when there is no work/home division.

Loneliness has become a widely reported issue for many – the office environment forms the bulk of their daily interpersonal connection. People, no matter how introverted or extraverted, have a very real need for social interaction which for many was fulfilled by work. In a 2021 study in the US more than 66% of all home-workers reported feeling lonely and isolated throughout the working day. This is not mentally or emotionally healthy.

So what are the benefits of working from the office?

The primary benefit appears to centre on the greater connection and collaboration between people being together in person. In one study, 60% of workers felt less connected to colleagues when they worked from home. While virtual meetings have been an excellent means of communication over the lockdown period, many people now feel jaded about them. A large scale study by US company Wundamail found that 56% of respondents experienced virtual meeting fatigue and wished to reduce the amount of time they spent on Teams, Zoom, etc.

Home working has resulted in reduced collaboration between people, greater silo thinking and impaired information sharing and idea generation. These impacts lead to reduced productivity and performance. A frequently overlooked feature of office-based work is the sense of calibration achieved by witnessing the work of others. Working in an isolated fashion at home can cause that productivity to slide or to be excessive (and stressful), neither of which is desirable.

Company culture is also affected by home working. A company’s values, sense of achievement and purpose is more difficult to share when people are no longer in the same place and this can negatively impact motivation, sense of meaning and feeling of contribution. Much talk lately has been had about ‘quiet quitting’ (being disengaged with work – doing just enough to meet the job description – see a recent Gallup article here) and this may well be one manifestation of this.

Human beings are social animals – our individual preference for levels of social contact varies but it remains a key requirement. Our wellbeing and sense of satisfaction requires that this need is met.

“Relationships and friendships at work are absolutely critical to happiness, engagement and productivity in the workplace” - Annie McKee ‘How to be Happy at Work’

In a recent LinkedIn study, 46% of respondents said that their work friends were essential to their overall happiness.

Where is the optimal balance?

In an Accenture survey of its 9000+ employees, 83% preferred a hybrid working model. These results are reflected in other areas too. What seems to be a common frustration however is the lack of clear expectations – many of the people we have spoken to would prefer a clear indication of what is expected, (e.g. 3 days a week in the office).

In summary, there are advantages and disadvantages with home and office working. The alternative, hybrid working, is popular and well-established, however it is currently largely only passively managed. The flexibility inherent in hybrid working presents an opportunity for employees and managers to adopt greater sophistication in choosing the appropriate approach. Depending upon the activity being carried out, the desired outcome and the characteristics of each person, actively selecting the location for each activity is likely to harness optimal benefit.

On balance, studies seem to show that people are more productive and less distracted working at home when they need to pay close, personal attention to a piece of work. But they are more likely to be engaged in the role and organisation when they are in a social office environment where idea generation, learning and collaboration are important. Achieving an optimal balance requires a clearly defined and communicated approach.

What is your experience? Leave a comment below to share your experience.