Hybrid working is a flexible work model that allows employees to work from home on some days and from the office on other days. It can also mean allowing specific employees to work from home and mandating others to work in the office. This working model has gained considerable popularity in the past decade, and the pandemic has further escalated its popularity.

Employees and offices also seem to prefer this new work model as it provides various benefits to both. For example, offices save money on utilities, rent and overhead costs, whereas employees save a significant amount of time by avoiding the daily commute. They also get to spend valuable time with friends, family, and other hobbies, boosting their productivity. However, for this model to work, managers need to develop efficient management techniques that work across the board.

Most of the office work can easily be done from home. Even remote teamwork has become manageable due to apps like team viewer, zoom, and others. However, employees may need to get together to discuss certain projects in detail. That’s why regular conferences and meetings should be held for better teamwork. Nowadays, many offices have limited space and reserve meeting rooms at different locations for employees to hold important meetings. If your office is in China, Indonesia, or Australia, you can book a meeting room, function room, or board room at The Executive Centre to hold an event or a meeting for your remote working team. The Executive center has a straightforward booking process and provides unparalleled services.

Managing and supporting a hybrid working staff (even with regular meetings) can be challenging. Managers need to employ new and different management practices to build and maintain an efficient workforce. In this article, we will discuss some ways managers can effectively manage hybrid working.

1. Recruit Carefully

It is crucial to hire employees wisely for a hybrid work situation. Ensure that you hire employees with the required skills and commitment necessary for remote work. Candidates motivated enough to work on their own and focused on providing results within the given time are ideal for a hybrid work situation.

Moreover, excellent communication skills, quick responsiveness, prior hybrid work experience, teamwork, and adaptability are additional skills that indicate that a candidate will be an excellent addition to your hybrid workforce.

2. Prioritize Mental Health of the Employees

A hybrid work situation provides plenty of benefits to the employees. However, some employees can have family problems and other issues, making it stressful for them to work from home. Some employees without a support system can feel isolated when working from home. The work quality of employees often declines if they are struggling mentally or emotionally.

Therefore, managers must focus on the mental health of their remote employees. Regular check-ins via video calls can help you assess the mental state of your employees. Moreover, you can recruit a therapist to check in with your employees to assess and support their mental health. You can also take the services of an online health platform like PATH that uses mathematics to determine the health condition of the employees. Prioritize and take measures to ensure that your employees maintain good mental and physical health.

3. Be a Better Communicator

You must develop impeccable communication skills to manage a hybrid working team. Communicating with employees when working from home can be challenging. Therefore, it is crucial to have excellent communication skills and provide clear instructions regarding every team member’s role. Some ways you can better communicate with hybrid working teams are as follows;

Stay in touch with the employees through morning greetings to help them feel more connected.
Interact through video calls instead of voice calls.
Provide an online platform for your team to talk about things other than work.
Try to develop a friendly relationship with your employees by holding a happy hour each week.
Above all, be empathetic.

4. Share all company and team decisions with remote employees

Remote workers can often feel excluded from the team and official decisions. Therefore, managers should ensure that their opinions are given equal importance and are allowed to vote when making a crucial team or company decision.

Moreover, you can set up a specific call dedicated to only sharing the details of the recent strategic changes in the office. It will provide employees with knowledge and direction, like where the company is headed. Furthermore, it also helps keep all the employees in the loop.

5. Set Clear Goals

According to a survey, 39% of remote employees complain that they don’t receive enough information regarding their projects from the organization. Therefore, it is crucial to set clear goals for your team from the beginning. It is best not to micromanage your employees as it will only stress them out. You should set clear goals and deadlines for a task or a project and allow remote workers to manage their time and complete the given tasks at their own pace.

Moreover, define the quality of work you are expecting so the employees can provide the closest possible quality of work and not waste time in revisions. Moreover, provide proper guidance, particularly to your remote employees, so they won’t get stressed out and compromise the work quality.

6. Ask for Feedback from all Employees

Employee feedback is crucial for effectively managing a hybrid workforce. Managers must be good listeners and should sincerely try to understand the issues of their employees, like how hybrid work is affecting their motivation, productivity, or overall well-being.

You can take daily feedback from your team or carry out a monthly survey to better understand and solve their problems. This feedback can be valuable as it allows you to solve many problems for your employees. It also allows you to guide your employees in the right direction. Overall, you can help improve their work conditions, which leads to more trust and better employee productivity.

The Wrap Up

The hybrid working model is an emerging work model preferred by many companies and employees. It has various benefits like saving offices from extra utility costs and employees from daily exhausting commute to the office. This working model has become increasingly popular due to the pandemic. However, managing a hybrid workforce is not an easy task. Therefore, managers need to learn new management techniques.

Managers should value employee feedback to adopt better practices and solve their issues. They should recruit those candidates that are suitable for hybrid work. Moreover, they should prioritize the mental well-being of their employees and share all team/company decisions with them. Above all, they should set clear goals and expectations from the start so that employees can provide the best quality of work. Hopefully, this article will help you understand the ways to effectively manage hybrid working.