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The lockdown, commute-free lifestyle was perfect for some of your employees and less than pleasing to others.

If Lockdown taught two things to companies, it was the fact that an office wasn’t an integral part of day-to-day work, but also that for some employees it might not be essential, but it was certainly very desirable.

There are simply those of us who enjoy the peace and quiet of home and the extra two hours of productivity we were previously stuck in traffic or on the train or bus, and those of us who have participated in every virtual social and desperate to see the rest would like to meet their dear colleagues face to face.

So how do you come up with a plan for future work arrangements that is suitable for everyone? When we say everyone, we’re not just talking about your employees. The plan must also suit your company.

Does hybrid work as an answer?

Many companies choose a reasonable compromise. otherwise known as hybrid work. This could mean three days in the office and two days at home, or actually five days in the office for some and none for others.

For many people who offer the best of both worlds with diversity that they have never enjoyed before.

So if you expect your employees to return to the office part-time, full-time, or at no time, what do you need to do to ensure that everyone is still working in perfect harmony?

First, you will likely need to rethink your office space to make it work better for fewer people. Do you really need that large conference room for 20 people?

Or would it make more sense to convert the room into four smaller rooms that can instead be used for video calls?

Video calling is sure to be a standout feature of the new hybrid work model, and it’s worth noting that many of us have a tendency to raise our voices when we are on a team call.

Having a dedicated walled area or video calling booths will prove popular with those involved and even more popular with others who work in open plan areas and are protected from distraction.

Other points to consider

Reconfiguring your office space is one thing, but there are other important issues that need to be addressed. Your HR team will be busy developing new policies and strategies that are better tailored to the different ways of working.

How do you handle your health, safety and wellbeing due diligence, for example when employees work from home?

Then, of course, you need to figure out how the job is actually done. You need to provide the highest levels of seamless communication and collaboration for teams spread across the country (or possibly across the world).

The systems and processes you put in place to support remote work shouldn’t be forgotten now that some employees are back in the office. However, they need to be refined and developed to ensure that they are suitable for the purpose at hand.

Invest in the tools that have served you well

Most organizations would agree that these tools, which are badly needed in an emergency, serve them and their employees incredibly well. If not, would remote and hybrid work models be seriously considered by many as the best avenues for their businesses?

Due to the disruption caused by the pandemic, plans for digital transformation for many companies suddenly went into high gear and the benefits quickly became apparent.

New digital technologies like Microsoft Teams have made life easier, more productive and more cost-effective for companies, employees and customers.

This is why you should keep developing these tools as the way we work evolves to make your people more efficient. As we have all seen, an agile work environment will successfully increase productivity while some employees are still working remotely.

Governance is a key issue here. Experience shows that the rapid introduction of tools like Microsoft Teams at the beginning of the pandemic was often carried out with little thought.

In many cases, the result has been a proliferation of team channels that are increasingly difficult to understand and navigate. This is the perfect time to work with a partner to wipe the slate clean and tweak the way your team works together.

Rebuilding the team spirit and encouraging collaboration

In order for things to work as well as possible when working hybrid, you need to address one of the major drawbacks that many faced with forced remote working during lockdown.

That was that employees missed the positive feeling of being part of a team and the practical benefits of working together on the same whiteboard or meeting table.

Employees don’t want to be left out when working remotely. Hence, you need to focus on new ways to bring your teams together with the latest collaboration tools. A good example of a technology that enables successful hybrid work is Teams Rooms Systems.

Teams Rooms combines the meeting experience not only for those who are physically present, but also for those who are present remotely.

It offers the ability to convert meeting rooms from small group areas to large conference rooms, and provides a rich team collaboration experience that is easy to use, deploy, and manage. As you start planning your ideal office for the future, learn more about the team rooms here.

Is your network ready for the way your team works?

While once we have spent all of our time in meeting rooms, when transitioning to a hybrid work model, we will likely spend that time on team meetings. Conducting network assessments to ensure you are ready for 100, if not 1000 simultaneous video calls, is critical.

On a similar topic, voice and video quality is critical to the effectiveness of meetings and general communication.

Understanding whether this is enough for high quality meetings across all of your devices, locations, and endpoints is a fundamental step in ensuring you are ready for hybrid work.

After all, security is now more important than ever. Business-critical data and commercially sensitive information is now accessed across a greater number of locations and devices. Your security policies need to evolve to manage these scenarios.

Get support

Given that so much needs to be considered, there is an urgent need for many companies to seek advice and support from experts and to implement relevant hardware and software solutions.

This is where Resonate can help. Our highly experienced technical and consulting teams are available to deliver everything from an end-to-end hybrid work solution to expanding your existing team on specific tasks.

Check out our hybrid work services here or take our hybrid work readiness assessment to see if your office is sustainable.

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