Hybrid workplace: the three most important tasks for leaders and HR

Relationships, inclusion and culture are under pressure in the hybrid workplace. Here are the three most important tasks for leaders and HR, with concrete suggestions for how to get started.

The hybrid model has a lot to offer both employees and workplaces. That’s clear when we advise forward-looking companies that have invested in the move to hybrid work. But there are also challenges that need handling if you want to retain people, lead well, hold the organisation together and build a strong culture.

The hybrid model is a unique chance to rethink how we collaborate, hire and organise the workplace: we can take all the good things from the periods of full-time working from home, combine them with everything we missed about the office, and create a modern workplace that’s both ready for future crises and offers real flexibility.

The surveys agree that employees want flexibility and are prepared to change jobs to get it. At the same time, we see general challenges in hybrid workplaces. Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index found, among other things:

• 43% of leaders say building relationships is the biggest challenge in remote and hybrid work
• 44% of hybrid employees don’t feel included in meetings
• 38% of hybrid workers say the biggest problem is knowing when and why to come into the office

Many are facing the same challenges

Across the companies we advise, we hear that cohesion and culture are under strain, and that they need to find the right way to invest in time together, team spirit and collaboration across disciplines again. That leads some leadership teams to decide on fixed office days and announce them to everyone at once, without any further context. The reaction from employees is often fairly negative.

We think it’s time to get back to the basics we already knew: involving employees, building culture and developing leaders. The three big tasks for leaders and HR are:

1. Equipping your leaders to lead everyone well, wherever they work
2. Building buy-in by listening to employees and involving them in your hybrid strategy
3. Creating a strong culture that works in day-to-day hybrid work, so cohesion isn’t lost

There are many ways to approach these tasks. Here’s our take, based on our experience of helping ambitious Danish companies:

1. Give your leaders a strong foundation for good hybrid leadership

You may have set out a good overall framework for hybrid work and held a kick-off session on hybrid leadership. But when leaders get back to the overflowing inbox and the back-to-back meetings, it’s easy to slip into old habits. Are your leaders equipped to lead everyone well, wherever they work? And do your tools support hybrid work day to day as well as they could? We recommend investing in a programme that both inspires and challenges leaders to develop real hybrid skills. That’s something we can help with, for example through our talk on hybrid leadership and leadership programmes tailored to your needs.

2. Involve employees in shaping the hybrid model

If you’ve worked with transformation, you’ve also worked with employee involvement. Even so, we meet many companies that have forgotten it when working on the hybrid model. A hybrid workplace that works needs us to listen to employees, build a shared understanding of the challenges and develop the solutions together. A shared way of talking about what hybrid work makes possible brings more buy-in and often better solutions. Read how scalable conversations give everyone a voice: Employee involvement: why top management sees only 4% of the problems. And why involvement is crucial: The hybrid workplace will never succeed without serious employee involvement.

3. Invest in a strong hybrid culture at department level

Most people who work with leadership and HR know how important a strong culture and good team spirit are. But those are exactly the two areas under strain in the hybrid workplace. Perhaps we’ve become so good at focused work that we’ve forgotten the sense of community. And did all the new employees ever become a real part of the culture? Organisations with high staff turnover have to make a special effort to keep the culture alive, including among those who never had the chance to become part of it. When we help companies rebuild a strong hybrid culture, we start from a tool that helps the leader and the department define purpose and values, build a shared foundation for working together, and agree clearly on how they’ll treat each other. Also read: It’s time to grow your hybrid culture.

Ready to get started? Begin with the guide What is hybrid leadership?, or get in touch for a chat about where you are.