Working from home has changed the dynamics of employees and companies. Sudhir Naidu lists ways to ensure that the transition is seamless
The world has been moving two steps forward, one step back and another few steps forward, circling back and forth and navigating in ways that seem big and small. And in this has come a change that was unexpected but spread like wildfire for employees worldwide — Hybrid working.
With several pushbacks and delays over office openings, many offices have settled for the hybrid model. About 66 per cent of the organisations have pushed back the opening dates due to the pandemic and 9 per cent of the workers have moved during the lockdown which has made it virtually impossible for them to travel to the office every day. But how does one make hybrid smoother? How does one keep the employees more engaged and willing to work? Here are a few tips on hybrid working and boosting productivity.
Plan your weekly roster
Not being in proximity can sometimes lead to a new set of challenges. It is important to make up for the lack of face-to-face communication with a well-planned week of work and activities. This means assigning reasonable but well-maintained deadlines, having a fixed amount of people on a certain project, having brain dump sessions and so on.
Work together as a team
When staying connected is a task, it is important to ramp up on the importance of not just connections but working together as a team. The team needs to communicate not just on time but also in the most effective manner possible. It is also important to have standardised meeting times and follow time limits as closely as possible. At the same time, micro-managing is mostly avoidable as should allow the employees to set a mutually agreeable time where working together is beneficial for them.
Train the managers right
About 71 per cent of the employees and managers were surprised by how efficient the employees were when working in a hybrid model, but the best way to boost productivity is to let the work be interactive. This is why investing in great managers and training them the right way is extremely important. The right kind of manager is the one who is not only effective at assigning work and managing teams but is interactive and able to foster a sense of growth and friendliness amongst the team.
Get to know your employees
Assigning the right people to the right role is one thing, and involving them in an interactive environment is another. There’s a lot of fatigue, burn-out and apprehension surrounding the current climate and how it’s affecting work which is why it is important to let them know that they can talk to the people around them and the higher-ups. Spending just 10 minutes with the team to talk about non-work-related happenings helps them ease up and find a small sense of community which in turn helps boost productivity. In 2019, a study was conducted about belongingness and how it affects work and there was about a 56 per cent increase in work turnover when the employees felt connected to their work and workplace. Getting to know your employees is a good way of tracking team productivity and giving feedback freely.
Invest in digital infrastructure
There’s been a massive yet predictable rise in the use of business communication platforms that have taken place over the last two years. But investing in digital infrastructure is not just about communication software, but also finding ways to rely less on emails, sharing files effectively, tackling network and connectivity issues, finding ways to boost in-department communication, and a lot more. About 74 per cent of people have reported that they’ve lost files shared between them which makes us realise how important it is to share not just in large volumes, but in an effective manner too. It also is important to ensure timely work which is why keeping boundaries and maintaining time frames are important when assigning work.
Skill building
Having an emphasis on growth and skill acquisition makes a person see more worth in their job. By providing training, the attrition rate can be lowered by 53 per cent depending on how they see the training relevant to their skills. Building skill is now also a lot more about how to use skills in a way that works effectively, but also about how to adapt them to any mode of work. Communication in itself is a skill that is cultivated over time. There are also ways to increase skill building amongst groups. This could be in the form of team activities and solving hypothetical problems and analysing issues together or giving them a product and pitching it together.
Workplace productivity has been rapidly evolving and hybrid workspaces have quickly redefined what productivity even means. Productivity is boosted when the workplace is innovative, communicative, mental and physical well-being. Now that there’s no other way of adapting to the new environment other than with hybrid work forms, it is time to take small steps to see a big difference.
The world changed so much and gone are the days when all the work can only be on-site, but with immense digitisation comes a whole new barrage of issues. This is why finding ways to motivate your team to avoid burnout and therefore ensuring productivity is so important.
(The author is the founder & CEO of Troop Messenger, a team collaboration and business communication platform.)