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A better way of working? The pros and cons of the ‘hybrid model’ in 2023.

Is working in the office full-time a relic of the past? For many industries, the COVID pandemic provided a long overdue push into the hybrid model, where employees split their time between working remotely and going into the office. This shift has been largely welcomed by organizations and employees alike. According to a Capgemini global study of 500 companies, remote work is becoming the new norm, with 75% of companies expecting that at least 30% of employees will work remotely. On the employee front, a McKinsey survey revealed that more than four out of five survey respondents who worked in hybrid models over two years preferred to retain them going forward.

If the hybrid model is here to stay in 2023, it’s important to understand the positive and negative impacts it can have on organizations and their staff. Let’s explore some of the implications that can arise from the hybrid model, and how it can be optimized to boost productivity, improve mental health and create a sustainable workplace culture.

The Pros

Work-Life Balance

In our busy, fast-paced world, the importance of a healthy work-life balance has become recognized as an essential part of our happiness, job-satisfaction and productivity. Employees working in hybrid models will naturally find themselves with more time at home. Through structuring their workdays to fit in with personal commitments, these workers can create more flexibility in their schedules. In turn, this helps them better manage their time and competing responsibilities. Having the freedom to pick your children up from school, taking short bouts of exercise, or getting chores done around the house during work breaks can all help to ease the pressure of everyday working life. When employees are able to achieve a healthy work-life balance, knock-on benefits for their mental health, organization and productivity will often follow.

Improved Finances

Along with the convenience of spending more time at home, visiting the office less has also helped employees significantly boost their savings and businesses improve their bottom line. Let’s add up the expenses – there’s the cost of gas or public transport, buying work lunches and coffees, and often paying for babysitting five days a week. It’s clear that commuting into the office five days a week makes a solid dent in the hip pocket of white-collar workers. Unsurprisingly, these financial gains are leading to employees preferencing the hybrid model over a traditional office set-up.

Just like their employees, organizations are also finding their bottom-line improved from the hybrid work revolution. Having less staff in the office means that you’re catering for a smaller team, which leads to savings on rent, utilities, food and refreshments and cleaning services. These factors lead to real cost savings from the hybrid work model, yet commentators argue that organizations must make some initial investments to get the most out of the hybrid model.

Employee satisfaction and staff retention

Due to marked improvements to work-life balance, flexibility, and savings, the ability to work from home is becoming a highly desired option for employees. A global survey by Citrix shows that 57% of employees prefer hybrid models – leading previously hesitant employers to consider adopting this model. Going forward, organizations that provide their staff with the option to work remotely will therefore be more competitive in recruiting and retaining employees. Not only does this practice reduce the cost of replacing employees through lower turnover rates, but retaining valuable staff also makes organizations more productive, more competitive, and fosters a strong workplace culture. It’s no surprise that more employers have started using flexible working arrangements as a key incentive to find, hire, and retain the best quality candidates in the market.

The Cons

Reduced Collaboration

One major challenge of the hybrid model is a decrease in cooperation between team members. Employees working in hybrid environments will find themselves working from different locations and on different schedules, leading to silos in team communication and difficulty working collaboratively on projects. Such practices left unmitigated can lead to a drop in work quality, reduced productivity and missed deadlines. Feelings of isolation and disconnection can also arise in these instances, as some employees may feel like they’re being left out of decision-making processes and important conversations that happen in-person. To avoid these pitfalls, it’s important for organizations to utilize tools that promote collaboration, such as Slack for instant messaging and day-to-day communication, and videoconferencing software to discuss key issues. If done right, an effective hybrid model can lead to collaboration and productivity gains, as in-person meetings tend to take longer than virtual conferences.

The struggle to switch off

If you spend significant time working remotely, you’ve probably found it difficult, at times, to completely disconnect from work. For many employees, the hybrid model can blur the lines between work and home life, for a number of reasons. Firstly, employees working from home are often logging in at non-standard hours, and may find their work hours eating into time that might normally be spent at home unwinding or with family and friends. Additionally, employees working remotely can feel pressure to constantly be available and respond to emails, messages and calls at night or on the weekend. Without taking active steps to switch off, it can start to feel like your office and your home are merging into one. To prevent this situation, it’s important for organizations and employees to set clear boundaries that separate work from personal time. Sending emails and messages outside of regular work hours should be discouraged, so that employees have the chance to completely log off from work.

The hybrid model, while favored by a majority of employees, comes with significant challenges. Yet, on the whole, the benefits that flexible work arrangements can make to our work-life balance, job satisfaction and productivity make the hybrid model a worthwhile investment. We’ve also seen that through planning and proactive steps, the downsides of working from home can be mitigated. For the time being, the hybrid model offers a better way of working for both employees and organizations. With workforces set to return to their offices in droves in 2023, the hybrid model will be put to the test – will it continue to deliver, or be remembered as a fleeting COVID trend?

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To all Employment Solutions Employees in California,

2021 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (Effective March 29, 2021)

Covered Employees in the public or private sectors who work for employers with more than 25 employees are entitled to up to 80 hours of COVID-19 related sick leave from January 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021, immediately upon an oral or written request to their employer. If an employee took leave for the reasons below prior to March 29, 2021, the employee should make an oral or written request to the employer for payment.

A covered employee may take leave if the employee is unable to work or telework for any of the following reasons:

o Caring for Yourself: The employee is subject to quarantine or isolation period related to COVID-19 as defined by an order or guidelines of the California Department of Public Health, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or a local health officer with jurisdiction over the workplace, has been advised by a healthcare provider to quarantine, or is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis.

o Caring for a Family Member: The covered employee is caring for a family member who is subject to a COVID-19 quarantine or isolation period or has been advised by a healthcare provided to quarantine due to COVID-19, or is caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19 on the premises.

o Vaccine-Related: The covered employee is attending a vaccine appointment or cannot work or telework due to vaccine-related symptoms.

Paid Leave for Covered Employees

o 80 hours for those considered full-time employees. Full-time firefighters may be entitled to more than 80 hours, caps below apply.

For part-time employees with a regular weekly schedule, the number of hours the employee is normally scheduled to work over two weeks.
For part-time employees with variable schedules, 14 times the average number of hours worked per day over the past 6 months.

o Rate of Pay for COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave: Non-exempt employees must be paid the highest of the following for each hour of leave:

Regular rate of pay for the workweek in which leave is taken
State minimum wage
Local minimum wage
Average hourly pay for preceding 90 days (not including overtime pay)

o Exempt employees must be paid the same rate of pay as wages calculated for other paid leave time. Not to exceed $511 per day and $5,110 in total for 2021 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick leave. Retaliation or discrimination against a covered employee requesting or using COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave is strictly prohibited. A covered employee who experiences such retaliation or discrimination can file a claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Office. Locate the office by looking at the list of offices on our website (http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/DistrictOffices.htm) using the alphabetical listing of cities, locations, and communities or by calling 1-833-526-4636.

Regards, Employment Solutions

To all Employment Solutions Employees,

By order of the Governor, anyone traveling to a state (after June 25th) with positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or higher than a 10% test positive rate, over a seven day rolling average, and which the commissioner of the department of health has designated as meeting these conditions is required to quarantine for 14 days. The Governor issued an Executive Order clarifying that employees who travel voluntarily to any of these states shall not be eligible for benefits under the New York State emergency paid sick leave law. Employees should be aware that voluntary travel to any of these states could result in loss of pay during the required quarantine.

For additional information regarding this executive order: Executive Order 202.45 link: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/no-20245-continuing-temporary-suspension-and-modification-laws-relating-disaster-emergency

Regards, Employment Solutions

To all Employment Solutions Employees,

We are writing this letter because we value the health and well-being of all of our employees. We know and understand the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is raising concerns, and we want to ensure you that we too are taking it very seriously. While we can only speculate on the local impact, we can be proactive on preventive and control measures.

Based on guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Employment Solutions recommends that employees:
▪ Avoid close contact with people who are sick
▪ Avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth
▪ Stay home when they are sick
▪ Cover their cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash
▪ Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe
▪ Not wear a face mask unless they show symptoms of respiratory illness, including COVID-19
▪ Wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing their nose, coughing, or sneezing (if soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol)

Employees who have questions or concerns regarding this information, or any other issues, should contact their respective Employment Solutions office.
Since we will continue to communicate information to you as needed, this is a good time to ensure we have your most updated contact information on file. If you have changed your phone number, cell phone carrier, have an alternate number/emergency contact please call your local office to update.

To learn more about the novel coronavirus and keep up with the latest developments, see the About Coronavirus Disease 2019 and CDC’s Frequently Asked Questions and Answers webpages. For information about handwashing, see CDC’s Handwashing website.

Regards, Employment Solutions

Give Them Something To Do
We’ve also seen that the biggest category of turnover is found at the entry level position. Often, the company simply hasn’t made an effort to make these positions attractive. They haven’t tied these entry-level positions to clear opportunities for advancement. They haven’t dressed them up with explanations of why these jobs matter. They just expect people to keep coming in and filling empty seats and empty spaces.

Battling turnover means giving everyone a mission-critical job, and respecting them for doing it. Otherwise, your company is going to lose out to others with corporate cultures that invite everyone to get engaged in the business.

Explain the Job
Another big reason for turnover is that the job wasn’t adequately explained beforehand. Someone comes in and interviews and gets the job, and when they arrive, they realized it wasn’t what was described to them. This can be massively frustrating, and as some HR professionals have learned, the ripple effect from this can drag down an entire department.

There’s also the ‘blank slate’ phenomenon, where a job just doesn’t get described all. In these kinds of cases, a new employee can feel like a square peg being pounded into a round hole.

It starts with HR really looking at the open job position, and being able to define it and explain it in ways that will attract the right candidates who are going to stick around for the long haul.

For more about hiring and employee turnover, check out this blog post: 4 Ways to Improve HR Manager Interview Questions
Have a question? We’re happy to help.