Latest updated: 19 January 2023

Hybrid work is no longer a theoretical concept that is only used to describe a vision of the future- today it is a reality in many workplaces. It's a way of working that has many advantages and is highly sought after by employees, at the same time it also poses difficult challenges. How to make the pieces fall into place so that hybrid work works and is productive even in practice? Let's take a closer look at some of the lessons learned in recent years.

Among employees, in recent years there has been a clear demand for more flexible forms of work. Especially, the experiences of the coronavirus pandemic of remote working has led many to develop a taste for the possibility of working from home. This in combination with the insight that you actually need to be seen at the office sometimes has made hybrid work the single trendiest concept in the workplace in recent years.

Since the idea of hybrid work began to be implemented in practice, however, many employers and employees have realized that it is difficult to make hybrid work fall into place and work well in practice. There are no obvious answers on how work should be organized, and no ready-made model that works for everyone.

How many days in the office?

Such a simple question as how many days one should spend in the office can be difficult to find a good answer to. In some workplaces, models like 3-2 or 2-3 have been tried, meaning that one spends three days in the office and two at home, or vice versa. The idea is of course to find a good balance, so that one has time for both focused home work and collective work in the office. But many employees find this very tiring, as reported by BBC. It can be mentally exhausting to constantly be switching between home work and office work and never really feel any stability in their daily lives.

Some experts believe instead that the optimal is to only be in the office one day a week, or vice versa, only work from home one day a week. But there is no perfect model, as hybrid work affects people in very different ways. At the same time, the company's interests and needs must also be taken into account.

Another question that is being discussed a lot is the fairness aspect. The possibility of hybrid working is seen as a privilege, and some employees cannot work from home because their tasks can only be performed on site in the office. The question is therefore: Who should have the opportunity to hybrid work, and how will it affect the salary? And what availability requirements can be placed on those working from home some days?

According to BBC, many employees experience that in particular managers tend to exploit hybrid work in a negative way, and that they are not available when other employees are expected to be. In addition, it is reported that men are offered the opportunity to hybrid work to a greater extent than women. There are therefore many fairness aspects of hybrid work that employers must handle in the right way if they want to avoid poor morale and declining engagement at the workplace.

Clarity and empathetic leadership

As mentioned, there are no simple solutions and no ready-made models, instead each organization must try different ways to handle hybrid work. It is important to have a dialogue with employees about what is fair and what requirements should be placed on an employee, regardless of the work form. It is very important that there is not an A and a B team in the workplace. Therefore, the conditions and terms for hybrid work must be crystal clear and well-anchored among employees.

An important key to successful hybrid work is clarity. The rules and conditions must be clear. If some employees are denied the opportunity for hybrid work, they must know why. It must also be clear what availability can be expected of those who are hybrid working, and to what extent other employees must adapt to these.

Another important factor for success is empathetic leadership. As a manager or leader, you have a more difficult role than ever on the hybrid workplace, as you must understand what factors are at risk of making people stressed, sad or demotivated when hybrid work is not working. Both those working in the office and those working from home can become frustrated with the situation, or feel ill-treated compared to others. Therefore, it is more important than ever that you as a leader have the ability to understand people's reactions in different situations.

Last but not least, employees who hybrid work need to develop very strong self-leadership. Hybrid work places very high demands on the individual's ability to work with freedom under responsibility. Therefore, it is important to have a good self-awareness, to see oneself from the outside and understand how one's own behavior affects other people. Therefore, inspire your employees to train and develop their own self-leadership as much as possible.

Hybrid work is probably here to stay, but getting it to really fall into place will take time and require both strong patience and good and listening leadership.