This is the second part of the “Future of the Post-pandemic Workplace” series, you can read the first part here
The shift to a hybrid world of work has significantly impacted our workplaces, with many companies allowing or even demanding more hours of remote work today.
Hybrid work has the benefit of flexibility, reduced carbon footprint, cost-saving optimization, and increased productivity, to name but a few, and has become a magnet in many industries for talent attraction and retention.
As a growing body of research points towards a highly hybrid post-pandemic working environment, it is becoming more crucial than ever to review past and current research on hybrid work and consider some of its more subtle issues in order to be able to understand and define the best working model for the post-pandemic workspace.
Hybrid work – defining the scope
While most organizations define hybrid work as a one-dimensional ratio of remote vs. office work, hybrid work can also be observed from a much wider angle. In fact, hybrid work allows for a more flexible environment in three distinct dimensions: time, location, and quantity.
Examining hybrid work from this perspective, we have, at one end of the spectrum, the traditional work structure where an employee works eight hours a day, from 9 to 5, in the office (i.e., fixed amount, time and location of work), and at the other end of the spectrum, employees have total flexibility over where, when and how long they work.
Anything in the middle is considered “Hybrid”.
To learn more about the different perspectives of hybrid work and which actions should leaders take today, read article 4 in this series: The 3-lens Framework
Hybrid work – the Good, the Bad and the Undecided
Hybrid work holds many benefits to both employees and organizations. For starters, the opportunity to save on office real-estate and office expenses has led companies to begin reducing their office space by an average of 30 percent [1]. Employees, on the other hand, enjoy work and life flexibility, freedom and saved commute time, while the world benefits from a reduced carbon footprint.
Hybrid work also permits employees and teams to rip the benefits of both worlds, working remotely and in the office as needed.
While there are many upsides to hybrid work, in the past, organizations (and employees) were worried what the impact of hybrid work would have on personal and team performance. However, recent research show, that if anything, the productivity and performance of remote employees has generally gone up.
A 2020 Gartner survey of 5000 participants shows that while only 36% of employees in a traditional 9 to 5 office setting are considered “High Performers”, when given a chance to work where, when, and as many hours as they chose, 55% of the employees were defined as high performers, clearly demonstrating that higher levels of flexibility may breed a higher level of performance.
The Bad
Although hybrid work allows employees and organizations alike to enjoy the benefits of remote and office work, it also comes with its share of downsides.
1. Risk of burnout
Remote work during the pandemic saw much higher rates of employee burnout due to overloaded and overworked employees. The ability to work from everywhere turned into working all the time [2], and Zoom fatigue was cited as one of the biggest burnout reasons among many employees [3].
Additionally, pre-Covid research suggests that when hybrid work is dictated by employers rather than chosen by employees, it generally has a negative effect on employees’ health and wellbeing [4].
2. Reduced Equity
Hybrid work may also lead to reduced Equity; i.e., the need to level the playing field for everyone at work. Parents, especially mothers of young children and women of color, are more severely affected. One out of every three working mothers is considering downshifting her career or dropping out of the workforce entirely [5], and only 41% of mothers (vs. 71% of fathers) had positive outcomes of remote working on wellbeing [6].
In addition, pre-Covid and current studies [7,8] show that minorities and less affluent populations have less access to a remote workspace to focus solely on work and less technical support and equipment.
3. Maintaining the culture
New hires and employees who did not have a chance to assimilate the organizational culture prior to Covid are also highly affected by hybrid work. 37% of new hires experienced significant difficulties creating a connection and learning the culture during the pandemic [9], leading to younger employees feeling more stressed, less productive and less motivated [10,11]. Moreover, one of four employees currently report feeling excluded, and 40% of the employees report feeling isolated (for more on how to avoid exclusion and promote a sense of belonging in the team, see Part 5:Beyond Diversity and Inclusion)
4. Loneliness on the rise
Due to hybrid work, young adults, especially single adults, feel much lonelier. Recent surveys show that young adults aged 18-25 report feeling four times lonelier than previous years, and single adults have an increase of 22% in loneliness (vs. 9% of adults with a partner) [12]. More on this see here.
5. Creating a Divide
Research points at a growing disconnect between employees and employers on the future direction of the post-pandemic workplace.
On the one hand, 88% of employers believe that the post-pandemic workspace will return to the typical core office days, with 52% of the employers aiming towards four days or more a week in the office, and 36% prefer at least three days of office work per week [13].
Employees, on the other hand, have a very different perception on the future of the workplace. In a recent McKinsey survey of 5000 employees, 63% of participants replied that they would like to work from home for two or more days per week, and 52% would prefer at least three days of remote work per week. [13]
This divide between the current mindset of employers and employees is more far-reaching than most employers realize. While hybrid work could have been considered as an exceptional privilege in the pre-covid period, it has grown to be regarded today as a workplace expectation. In fact, more than half of the employees say they would like to continue hybrid work after the current outbreak ends [14]. Interestingly, in a recent survey, 64% of the employees preferred permanent work from home over a 30,000 USD raise [15], and a 2000-employee survey shows that 42% of the current remote workers would prefer quitting their job if their employer will not allow hybrid work in the post-pandemic era [16].
The Undecided
Some hybrid-related work issues could easily be defined as “good” or “bad”, but many are still “undecided”. Mangers would need to pay closer attention to these issues to create the proper alignment within the team.
1. Power and Control
While the option to work remotely permits employees more flexibility and control over their life, it also creates a new power and control dynamic in the workplace.
Based on survey data, the current assumption today is that managers will work in the office more often than their employees. This means that those employees physically in the office will usually gain better work visibility [17]. They will also have better and quicker access to technical and emotional support and will have the advantage of getting faster and more accurate information, some of it through informal water-cooler discussions.
Some experts say that, in many ways, the office place is becoming the new golf course with all its exclusive benefits and perks.
2. Promotion and pay
Pre-Covid studies show that hybrid employees often suffer from a “flexibility bias” as they are not considered ideal workers [e.g., 18,19,20]. One such study [21] shows that although remote employees experienced: greater satisfaction, had a 50% lower attrition rate, 13% increase in productivity, and enjoyed more focus and less need for breaks and sick days, their promotion rates were reduced by 50%(!). Other studies exhibited no change in promotion, but hybrid workers experienced lower salary growth [22].
However, the good news is that employers who were made aware of this out of sight, out of mind bias were able to become more immune to its effects [20,21].
3. Hybrid Affinity
While remote work may have a reducing effect on Equity, as shown above, it also opens the market towards endless opportunities, especially for people who currently cannot participate in the work market due to disabilities or remote location.
Hybrid work also gives an advantage to employees with a higher ability to strengthen their “Hybrid Affinity”. These employees demonstrate increased flexibility, adaptability and coordination and have the emotional capacity to bridge the gap between the remote and the physical. They are most often better able to create closer personal networks and connections, which assist them in closing the necessary loops to get the work done.
A few final words
Rarely do we have a chance to recreate our work environments. While Covid was forced upon us, it has also allowed us to rethink and reconstruct our working environment. This post-pandemic period provides an opportunity for
employees to consider the what and where but also the why of work (see The Great Reshuffle). On the other hand, leaders are invited to reweigh their values, culture and work structures and are highly encouraged to better understand the critical factors and the finer details of the future of hybrid work and its impact on employees; the Good, the Bad and the yet Undecided.
Resources
[1] Lund, S., Madgavkar, A., Manyika, J., Smit, S., Ellingrud, K., Meaney, M., & Robinson, O. (2021). The future of work after COVID-19. McKinsey Global Institute, 18.
[2] Campbell, M., & Gavett, G. (2021). What covid-19 has done to our well-being, in 12 charts. Harvard Business Review, 10.
[3] Bennett, A. A., Campion, E. D., Keeler, K. R., & Keener, S. K. (2021). Videoconference fatigue? Exploring changes in fatigue after videoconference meetings during COVID-19. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(3), 330
[4] Joyce, K., Pabayo, R., Critchley, J. A., & Bambra, C. (2010). Flexible working conditions and their effects on employee health and wellbeing. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (2).
[5] McKinsey, 2021: Women in the Workplace.
[6] Emmett, J., Schrah, G., Schrimper, M., & Wood, A. (2020). COVID-19 and the employee experience: How leaders can seize the moment. Organization Practice.
[7] HBR, 2021: Don’t Let Hybrid Work Set Back Your DEI Efforts
[8] O’Connor, L. T., & Cech, E. A. (2018). Not just a mothers’ problem: The consequences of perceived workplace flexibility bias for all workers. Sociological Perspectives, 61(5), 808-829.
[9] The New World of Work, Workable survey, 2020
[10] Parker, K., Horowitz, J. M., & Minkin, R. (2020). How the coronavirus outbreak has—and hasn’t—changed the way Americans work. Pew Research Center.
[11] Bloomberg, 2021: Fed-Up Young Workers Fear They Need Offices to Save Their Careers.
[12] JRC Publications Repository,2021: Loneliness in the EU. Insights from surveys and online media data
[13] McKinsey, 2021: It’s time for leaders to get real about hybrid
[14] https://news.prudential.com/increasingly-workers-expect-pandemic-workplace-adaptations-to-stick.htm
[15] Prudential, 2021: Increasingly, workers expect pandemic workplace adaptations to stick
[16] Kelly, J. (2021). The ‘hybrid model’of working remotely and in the office could create big expenses for companies and give rise to two classes of employees. Forbes.
[17] O’Connor, L. T., & Cech, E. (2018). Your Flex Work Culture Doesn’t Help Employees If It Hurts Their Careers. Harvard Business Review.
[18] Munsch, C. L., Ridgeway, C. L., & Williams, J. C. (2014). Pluralistic ignorance and the flexibility bias: Understanding and mitigating flextime and flexplace bias at work. Work and Occupations, 41(1), 40-62
[19] Bloom, N., Liang, J., Roberts, J., & Ying, Z. J. (2015). Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(1), 165-218.
[20] Golden, T. D., & Eddleston, K. A. (2020). Is there a price telecommuters pay? Examining the relationship between telecommuting and objective career success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 116, 103348.
