The New World Of “Hybrid” Workspaces

Two HR professionals share their experience

Navigating the new world of “hybrid” work has been challenging for both employers and employees. We are two Hera Hub members, both independent HR professionals, sharing our perspectives on what this means for our business and clients.

I had a semi-flexible work schedule, could work from home or remotely a couple of days a week, and I felt at the time that this arrangement made up for the long workdays and weekend hours. Fast forward to the middle of 2018, when I returned to the workforce full time after staying at home with my son as long as I felt I could get away with it.

The hours away from home now felt twice as long, because there was someone who needed me and awaited my return with longing and sadness (or at least my mommy brain told me he did). I felt homesick. My work product suffered despite my best efforts. My happy and fulfilled work life seemed to be falling away. Then the “duh moment” came… this was not sustainable.

I ended my tenure as an in-house employee at a loss. What was I going to do? How was I going to make a living? Would I transition to a stay-at-home mom, even though I really wanted the whole family, career, nightlife, day-life, full-life package? I knew I couldn’t spend 40+ hours a week in an office. Even 20 hours a week seemed unfathomable with traffic in the city as it is and a one-year-old I desperately missed, whenever he wasn’t right next to me.

Remote positions existed but were not very prevalent at the time. I applied for any work from home openings I could, but those positions went fast (and, frankly, for much less pay than in-office posts). I definitely went through a rough period of transition… until I stumbled into consulting.

A 1099 career path was never on my radar. I’m an ambivert, a pleaser, and exceedingly awkward when meeting people for the first time. Sales never came naturally to me, but I know my trade and could sell my skill set after some practice. It was the relationships I built at my coworking space that taught me about the importance of giving back to my community. Eventually, this path became profitable and allowed me 100% control over my schedule and time spent away from my family.

Though this was my path, and I feel I’m thriving in this new direction, there are many who don’t have the resources or opportunities I have. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve heard from many business owners and supervisors that they don’t feel like their workforce is as productive when they’re remote, and that they don’t have as much insight into the day to day schedule of their team.

When I probe into this “feeling”, more often than not the supervisor does not have any analytics to back up their claim nor do they have any other supporting evidence that their staff is faltering or “goofing off” while not under their constant watch. These are customer service representatives, accountants, marketing professionals, IT managers… positions that can easily be done from anywhere!

On the flip side, the employees, for the most part, are thrilled with the remote arrangement. Most would like “some” time with their teammates, maybe 1-3 days in-office per week, but the freedom of schedule and increased work-life balance have increased their job satisfaction across the board. Indeed, rather than the manager’s fear of decreasing productivity, most employees are more productive working remotely and more satisfied with their employer, decreasing turnover and overhead for the business owner.

Those supervisors who fear managing a remote workforce may want to give some thought to their own management style. Why do you feel employees are more productive in the office without proof of analytics? Is it reasonable to think that employees are really more productive only because of a change in their surroundings? Most managers do not stand behind their employees all day, making sure they complete their tasks on time and on target. Is it really that different, allowing employees to work at home?

If you are a skeptic, I would encourage you to research your team’s output, in-office and remotely, to see if your fears are founded. Take a poll or survey your team to find out what motivates them. There’s not a one-size fits-all approach to flexible work schedules/flexible work locations, and in fact, you will likely receive different answers across your workforce. The best thing you can do for your company and team is to listen, with an open mind, and back up your “feelings” with data. Then trust your workforce and give them clear guidelines and expectations upfront. Give them the freedom to excel.

Walking on the island of Kauai with my dad’s best friend, Jim, he asked me what I wanted to do in my career and all I could explain was that I wanted to do work that made an impact on society and that I could do it from anywhere in the world at any time of day. It was vague, but that moment kick-started my plan to move full-time into the entrepreneurial world of consulting.
 
I launched my business full-time, three years ago and have fully leveraged the flexibility it offers, particularly this last year during the pandemic. For about a third of the year, I worked from the back of our camper-van as we travelled around the country while being able to maintain our safety. And I’m not alone! As employers had to move to remote workforces, employees all over the world have taken advantage of the situation and found creative ways to keep working while meeting personal goals that they couldn’t when having to go into a set office five days a week.
 
Late last year, after two years of putzing around as an expert in HR but not in building my own business, I finally joined a coworking space. I realized that there were times that I needed something more than just my laptop to build my best business. For example, having a space where I can have reliable internet and a professional backdrop while I conduct webinars. But, a coworking space has been more than that for me and also offers a new way of doing business for employers that can reduce expenses and provide employees competitive perks.
 
To start, the networking is phenomenal. If you need an expert in something for your business, just ask the community. It is virtually guaranteed that either one of the other members has that expertise or knows someone with it. We can’t be the expert in everything, so it is nice to know experts within everything.

Pre-Covid, I had clients who were reluctant to allow employees the choice of working from home. Their fear was that employees wouldn’t actually work. But after this past year, these same clients are finding that they have happier employees, fewer utilities and facilities expenses, and often even better performing employees! What if companies eliminated their ongoing facilities and utility expenses and replaced them with memberships to coworking spaces? Not only would expenses likely go down, but imagine the networking your employees would have for business development and recruiting!