Articles

Wellness & the Predicted Surge in Hybrid Work

The Covid-19 Pandemic has accelerated the ‘work from anywhere’ trend, and most experts believe we will not return to pre-pandemic levels of in-office work. Knowledge workers in particular were able to adjust. An early 2021 study done by McKinsey & Company, details that 80% of U.S. workers would like to work from home at least 2 days a week*. A large majority of employers predict they will allow some employees to work away from the office ongoing, at least part-time.

This hybrid and remote work shift will affect multiple areas of work life. Over the next several months, we will discuss some of those aspects in a series of articles – starting with employee wellness. If your company is considering a move to a hybrid work environment, you will want to be aware of how the ‘work from anywhere’ trend can affect employee wellness in three important ways – work-life balance, productivity, and inclusion.

Work-Life Balance
Having an appropriate work-life balance tends to create less stress on an employee, and less stress means better wellness. When employees are asked what helps them attain this balance, they often site being able to manage their schedule more flexibly and naturally. This wish is especially true for women. For those that prefer working from home at least part-time, having a more flexible schedule is the top reason they want to work remotely. For some employees, this desire may become a requirement, so it’s worth a strong policy consideration. If your company chooses to offer location flexibility, be sure to provide wellness program choices that are flexible and accessible for in-office and remote staff.

Productivity
Second, let’s consider how productivity and hybrid work are connected. Most executives report consistent or improved productivity since a large portion of their workforce began working remotely in March 2020. Although, the impact on productivity has not been the same across all workers. There is a wide variation in the ways that employees are responding to remote work.

On the positive end of the productivity spectrum, some workers are truly thriving in this environment. This group is more comfortable working remotely because they feel more focused, given fewer interruptions and more concentrated thinking time. The seclusion has given them uninterrupted time to be creative and strategic. Another large subset of personnel reports a successful adjustment by substituting face-to-face interactions with smart, integrated digital tools and updated processes.

In the middle of the spectrum, some workers say they are still collaborating at high levels but are struggling to set boundaries between their personal life and work. Over time this could lead to burnout and reduced wellbeing. Lastly, at the lower end of the productivity spectrum, a smaller subset of employees are stressed because of poor connectivity or disruptions from household members in their environment. On an ongoing basis, teams won’t perform well with even a small minority of employees being “digitally disconnected”.

The impact of the work environment depends on several factors – personality style, job responsibilities, connectivity, and home-office setup. If your company is considering a shift to ongoing hybrid or remote work, it will be important to address the issues that are occurring for these less productive subgroups of the workforce. Here are a few intentional steps that you can take:

1. Create remote or hybrid work policies that offer a remote or hybrid option to roles that perform tasks that can be effectively accomplished away from the office. By now, managers have had a year to observe how well tasks are being performed remotely, and maintaining productivity is crucial. The principle would be to objectively analyze which tasks can or should be done remotely, instead of determining which employee has earned the option. This principle should be broadly communicated and detailed on job descriptions, so everyone understands the objective way decisions are made.
2. Analyze and update best practices for using collaboration tools. Once you know that working away from the office isn’t just a stop-gap measure for the pandemic, you’ll want to detail critical work processes, handoffs between roles, and measurement systems. Invite front-line employees to participate in creating these updated processes.
3. For those roles that will be offered a hybrid work arrangement, find out what’s working and not. Managers can help tailor improvements to maximize their performance.
4. Train formal and informal leaders on how to facilitate meetings in a hybrid work environment. Without this education, your facilitators are probably not capturing the full productivity and benefits of collaboration across your hybrid teams.

Inclusion
Finally, a crucial but less obvious effect of hybrid and remote work is the impact it may have on inclusion. When an employee works remotely, without the right support and systems, there is a risk that they will feel like an island, alone in their home office. They may feel a sense of being on the outside of the group where their voice doesn’t matter. Furthermore, there is a risk that people that are not in the office every day will not have the same opportunities as their peers. But if your company does hybrid work “right”, no one will be left out from the conversation. Leveling the playing field is very possible with inclusive strategies for all employees, no matter where they work. Here are three intentional steps you can take:

1. Ensure leaders and meeting facilitators purposefully call out remote employees for their input regularly. This will encourage them to use their voice and signal to the organization that hybrid workers are valued just as much as their in-office peers.
2. Design a performance feedback system in which managers regularly coach hybrid employees. This creates more equal opportunities for growth and development and will improve results across the board.
3. Include all types of employees when designing best practices to leverage the contribution of both hybrid or remote and in-office employees. After all, they understand the realities of the objectives, workflow, and deadlines firsthand.

With thoughtful strategies, a shift to a hybrid work environment should improve work-life balance, productivity, and inclusion at your company, which in turn, would enhance employee wellness efforts. Communicating these connections would allow your company to realize the benefits of a robust wellness program more fully. Case in point, a McKinsey study* found that organizations that communicate remote-relevant policies, obtain significantly greater results in employees feeling supported (2x greater), included (3x), and more productive (4.7x). Those results are quite persuasive! But remember, ‘doing hybrid right’ will take an intentional approach – one in which your company’s wellness efforts will benefit, and one that your employees will most likely expect.

*Resource: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/what-employees-are-saying-about-the-future-of-remote-work

Beth Matteotti
Founder of Distance Teaming, Inc.