Hybrid

I don’t really like the phrase “hybrid work”.  To me, it isn’t about someone either being in the office or at home, but rather it is about flexibility in work in general.  I don’t even know that it needs to be specified.  It’s just WORK, wherever it happens.  It isn’t binary.

Businesses will continue to have offices, because some people like to have a central place to gather for work.  And some businesses obviously need facilities to do whatever they do.  But our pandemic year has shown that people like working in places other than an office, whether that is at home or on a beach.

What really matters in the end is whether the work gets done.  Most management teams in small businesses aren’t used to measuring a staff’s performance by output.  Consciously or subconsciously, they are used to measuring performance by the time someone is in the “office”.  This becomes a big barrier to a flexible workforce.

Businesses should start from a position of flexibility.  That is, from the beginning there should be no expectation that someone will need to spend a certain amount of time in an office.  The expectations should be clear that the work is what matters.

Technology is what makes this kind of flexibility possible.  It is just as easy to have a video call as it is to pop into someone’s office.  The tools you should use for work management are the same whether you are sitting at your desk at home or in an office.