How to Build a Successful Hybrid Strategy: 5-Step Guide

The hybrid working model has become a mainstay in the future of work conversation over the last few years, but for many businesses, there’s still a gap to bridge between hybrid work and workplace strategy. According to Gallup, 6 in 10 employees want more structure around their company’s hybrid policies and in-office expectations, with that lack of clarity proving to be one of the biggest obstacles facing a successful return-to-office.

There is still a lot of uncertainty about how to best approach hybrid working, but we believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Every company will view hybrid working slightly differently, with objectives, people and culture all playing a pivotal role in what great looks like for an effective strategy.

If hybrid working is going to be a successful, long-term solution for your business in the new world of work, implementing it correctly is crucial. That’s why we’ve put together 5 key steps to building an effective hybrid strategy to help you establish a strong foundation before making any impactful changes to your workplace.

What is a hybrid working strategy?

Hybrid work is by no means a new concept, but the global adoption of it in recent years has highlighted gaps that a well-thought-out strategy has helped many businesses to solve. Hybrid work itself defines a flexible approach to work that combines locations (typically home and the office) with a focus on achieving the best of both worlds. A hybrid working strategy, then, incorporates workplace, technology, design, objectives, teams and people – and brings them all together to create guidelines for how the business will work.

How to build an effective hybrid strategy

Each business will have a different strategy based on its objectives and existing work patterns, but these steps will help create a strong foundation before you make any adaptations to your workplace.

1. Establish your objectives
2. Define operational needs
3. Review current space demands
4. Communicate changes and expectations
5. Workplace design

2. Define operational needs

Each department will have different operational needs, and therefore a hybrid strategy for your finance team may look different to one for your IT team. You’ll need to determine how your operational needs might impact any proposed changes to your workplace, such as:

• Client needs: For client-facing teams, it’s often easier to have employees together to remain agile and solve problems at speed. If this is the case for your business, you’ll want to ensure there is sufficient support for your clients throughout the week, which could impact how often and when employees are expected to be in the office.

• Tech requirements: Being ready for hybrid working means having the tools and technology to support your individuals and teams, making work seamless across home offices, coworking spaces and shared conference rooms – wherever work is done. Before jumping into a full-scale strategy shift, audit your current set-up to ensure hybrid collaboration is going to be possible for your teams.

• Cross-departmental collaboration: Each team will have its own requirements when it comes to working locations, with some departments better suited to in-person collaboration while others may appreciate the heads-down time at home. But, intra-team collaboration mustn’t be overlooked and you’ll need to ensure that it remains a priority when outlining your strategy. This could mean lining up in-office days for certain departments, or encouraging each team to share their proposed schedule in advance of the working week or month.

• Employee preferences: Following the shift to remote work during the pandemic, employee habits and preferences have changed. This isn’t to say that you should strive to meet every single need, but a hybrid strategy must be a consultative process that considers the voice of your employees when assessing any big changes that may be made to working locations or patterns.

4. Communicate changes and expectations

It’s no secret that a great number of businesses have been trying to overcome the challenges associated with the return-to-work. At the heart of empty offices, a diminishing culture and disengaged employees is the absence of clarity regarding expectations in the new world of work.

A hybrid strategy can incorporate huge changes, such as mandated days, ways of collaborating or even a new workspace, so communication a crucial step in achieving buy-in. This isn’t just one company-wide message sent out the week before changes are made – it’s keeping every employee in the loop throughout, communicating via every channel and continuing to evolve the strategy alongside them.

Here are a few things to consider when communicating with the business:

• Team meetings: Allocate time for individual discussions with each team lead regarding the intended strategy, so that they can address any potential issues before the rollout. This can also act as your filter down to each team member.

• Written communication: Put your strategy in a place everyone can easily find, like the company’s intranet or HR system. This document should have clear instructions about how work will happen and what is expected of employees.

• Company-wide meeting: Whether it’s a Quarterly Business Review or a weekly team lunch, take the opportunity to share the proposed strategy with people face-to-face. This way, you can explain the reasons behind the changes clearly and directly, and it gives employees a chance to ask questions and get immediate answers.