Hybrid, in this context, refers to work from home vs. return to office combined with the middle ground of part home / part office. This is every bit a 2020 condition, and one where many organisations find themselves wading into unfamiliar territory.
Dale Carnegie’s Director of Research and Thought Leadership Mark Marone recently wrote on this issue. He found that, for the immediate future at least, many leading financial and tech companies were extending the option to work from home. These organisations included Twitter, Amazon, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, and Nationwide, amongst others.
Mark learned that studies from McKinsey, Harvard Business School, and Stanford, revealed increased levels of happiness, satisfaction and productivity for home-workers. The findings were by no means black and white. The surveys also showed exceptions to those broad trends.
Wider research revealed homeworking is not all plain sailing. Some colleagues reported suffering feelings of isolation, while a few business leaders are questioning the veracity of the improved productivity data. Others argued, that ultimately, a lack of in-person collaboration may have a debilitating impact on innovation, trust, productivity, and business culture overall.
What is certain, is that current data is restricted by the relative newness of the situation. These are early days yet.
In succinct terms, Mark concluded, for business leaders, strong interpersonal skills, compromise, flexibility, ongoing development, (safe) shared experiences and social interaction, and two-way dialogue, are all key components for success. You can find his full article and insights here.