Among the biggest questions that most companies face this year is when to fully return to the office and how to accommodate remote work. That latter has massive repercussions for how companies use their office space, how much they need and where they need it.
CBRE this week published a report outlining its take on hybrid work – the combination of in-office and remote work – and how companies can adopt it. The answers can involve effective communications with employees as often as possible as they entail changes to office footprints and layouts.
GlobeSt.com caught up with Lenny Beaudoin, CBRE’s executive managing director and global lead in Workplace, Design and Occupancy, for an exclusive discussion of the report’s findings.
What common mistakes do companies often make as they transition to a permanent, hybrid-work model?
Beaudoin: Organizations must, at some level, generalize the workplace solutions they provide to different categories of workers. This is easier when everyone comes into the office every day. But, in a hybrid-work model, individuals and teams will use the office in varied and often unpredictable ways. Thus, taking an overly generalized approach might not best serve all employees in a hybrid-work model.
To overcome this challenge, a company must understand its employees’ different work habits and design solutions that take this diversity into account. This means thinking about your workplace as a network of places – not simply an office and home – that accommodate a range of activities. This level of sophistication in turn requires helping employees understand how to use the network of workplaces and managing the network effectively.
What benefits, both expected and unexpected, are companies realizing from hybrid work as they adopt it?
Beaudoin: Hybrid work isn’t a new phenomenon. It had been evolving for many years before the pandemic accelerated its adoption significantly.
Hybrid work often boosts business productivity. The most productive workforces are those allowed and enabled to do their best work. By extension, the most effective workplace programs are those that balance employee choice and clear expectations for employee performance. Those programs tend to foster better employee engagement and productivity. And that, in turn, leads to lower attrition and unwanted turnover.
Hybrid work also has significant benefits in terms of real estate costs. A company transitioning to a hybrid-work model often will find it doesn’t need as many offices and desks because rarely, if at all, are all of its employees in the office at the same time. The resources the company saves by reducing its excess space can be directed to upgrading its technology, enhancing its collaborative space and bolstering employee services and support.
How do you preserve workplace equity in a fully hybrid model?
Beaudoin: Workplace equity is the concept of providing fair opportunities for all of your employees based on their individual needs. A hybrid model challenges some of the traditional aspects of how employees network in the office, participate in meetings and socialize with colleagues.
Creating equity in a hybrid-work model requires managing three critical elements: the right routines, the right behaviors and the right tools. This might mean you bring groups together for onsite days, hosting social events, or having one-on-one manager discussions.
Hybrid work requires a change in behaviors to manage these routines and to ensure inclusivity during meetings in which some employees are physically present and some are participating virtually. Tools to facilitate this range from digital whiteboarding tools to enhanced multipoint video conferencing.
What is the long-term impact of hybrid work, both on the workplace and the US office market?
Beaudoin: Hybrid work will allow occupiers of office space to use that space more effectively in the future. We expect the average office-using worker will spend 1.6 days a week working remotely, up from 0.6 days a week pre-crisis. That increased level of mobility will lead many to share space in the office, allowing organizations to shed unneeded space or accommodate future growth in the same footprint. We anticipate that will translate to 9% less office use on a per-employee basis, but that impact will be largely offset by additional hiring over the next few years.
https://www.globest.com/2021/08/17/some-advice-for-companies-moving-to-hybrid-work/
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