Since 2020, there has been a steep rise in the number of businesses around the world choosing to adopt a hybrid working model.
According to Owl Labs, 62% of employees now report that their company has implemented some form of flexible or hybrid work. This is up from only 8% of employees before 2020.
This means more employees than ever are now either splitting their working hours between home and the office or choosing not to go into the office at all – depending on the arrangement they have with their employer.
What does this mean for business-to-employee relationships?
While this hybrid working model comes with several benefits for both employees and businesses, it does present a major hurdle for business managers and HR professionals like you who are looking to try and maintain a collaborative workplace culture.
With employees spread between in-office and remote locations, encouraging connection and teamwork is no longer as simple as it used to be.
That’s why, in this article, we’re going to share several tips to help you create and maintain a positive work environment for your business if you’ve got a hybrid working setup in place.
Place a strong emphasis on communication
Whether your team are in the office or working remotely, it’s just as important that you continue to communicate with them regularly throughout the day – and that they also continue to communicate with each other as well.
Communication is one of the keys to developing a positive workplace culture and building better relationships that lead to business success.
So, whether you host regular meetings over Zoom, check in over email, or adopt an instant messenger service to help keep your team in constant contact, make sure that you prioritize communication as part of your hybrid working model.
For more information, check out 7 tips to improve communication with employees.
Build better collaboration into your business
It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a team of 10 or a team of 1000, it’s important to ensure that each one of them is collaborating and working together with their coworkers to help achieve the best results for your business.
With a hybrid work setup, project management software such as Monday or Slack can help to facilitate strong levels of collaboration, as well as keep each team member organised and on task, no matter where they are working from.
Prioritize employee well-being and work/life balance
Of course, while working from home can help to provide a lot more flexibility for employees, it can also make it harder to switch off or take regular breaks from work, as the office is always just a few short steps away.
That’s why, as a business manager, you need to ensure that you’re encouraging your employees to take good care of their well-being and educate them on maintaining a good work/life balance. In doing so, you will also help to keep them more engaged and productive during their normal working hours.
Recognize your employees’ efforts
One of the simplest, yet most effective things that you can do to create a positive workplace culture is to recognize the achievements of your employees regularly.
This will help your remote workers to feel seen and appreciated, despite not being in the office, and motivate them to keep putting in a better effort for your business.
Try implementing an Employee of the Month award or sending out little gifts to reward your staff and thank them for their continued effort.
Set individual and team expectations
The hybrid working model runs a lot more smoothly when your employees understand exactly what is expected of them, both in the office and at home.
Setting expectations around things such as working hours, regular communication and what needs to be completed each day, week and month will help to remove any ambiguity and better enable your staff to achieve excellent results.
This can be done through setting employee guidelines and checking in regularly with each team member to ensure they’re up to speed on their responsibilities and what you expect of them.
Encourage better working relationships
The workplace is like a community, and it should be treated as such. Having employees working remotely, however, makes it hard to maintain that sense of connection and build relationships with their coworkers.
For this reason, you should try organizing regular social or team-building events – either in-person or virtually – and work to foster and maintain that sense of teamwork and community among your staff. Doing this will also help to boost productivity, collaboration and overall business results.
Establish ongoing employee feedback systems
With staff working in various locations, inspiring their engagement in the business is critical.
The best way to do this is to gather feedback from them regularly in order to gauge their satisfaction and fulfilment levels. From this data, businesses are able to determine productivity levels and employee sentiment so that proactive action can be taken to improve team collaboration and culture.
This is where VibeCatch can help your organization.
VibeCatch can support you in building a positive workplace environment
In the digital age, data is king - and regularly measuring your hybrid team’s engagement and well-being levels equips you with valuable insights that can enhance your work environment for everyone.
At VibeCatch, we offer the ideal way to proactively listen and communicate with your hybrid or remote team so you can foster healthy relationships and reduce the turnover of your best employees.
Our platform collects frequent and anonymous feedback from employees and delivers an automatic and clear breakdown of the results to help you make smarter decisions for your people.
What is VibeCatch?
VibeCatch is an HR platform based on 15 years of proven research, offering you the opportunity to make a genuine difference and understand the impact that your working environment has on your staff.
Through VibeCatch’s QWL Polls, Pulse Polls and 360 Feedback Polls, you can uncover hidden staffing opportunities, correct issues and address areas of improvement for both employees and management within your organization.
Speak to our team today to see a live demo.