Adapting Your Business for Hybrid Working: A Practical Guide

More than ever before, it feels like the world is resuming to some level of morality. There are no new variants, there’s talk of dropping mask mandates, and office desks are filling up again.

Although, they aren’t filling up as much as they used to. That is because a lot of employees are opting to keep working from home, enjoying the freedom from prying eyes and the freedom to work around their home lives.

This has resulted in a lot of office managers and business owners adopting a hybrid working style. It can be summed up as various employees coming and going in and out of the office, but there could be set days and a schedule, or allowing employees to come and go as they please.

But it takes some forethought to pull off. Businesses need to rethink how their basic operations will play out when half of their staff aren’t physically in the office. So, how do you do it? Read our guide to adapting your workplace for hybrid working to find out.

Create a schedule

The important first step of adapting is communication. Ask your staff members what they prefer. You might find some of them like coming back to the office, since it gives them an excuse to go out and isn’t as lonely. Or some might want to stick to working from home because commuting is too stressful, or lunches are too expensive.

From there, you can gauge what the next step is. If everyone is unanimous on staying at home, you might as well pack up. If they all want to come in, you can accommodate.

If there is a mix, you can consider starting a schedule, allowing both sides of the debate to experience both working from home and in the office on a rota.

Replace your stationary desktops

However, unless the entirety of your staff is looking to get back into the office, you might need to replace your computers. Stationary desktops aren’t much use in a more fluid work environment. Even if you have an entire workforce in office every day, things happen. Staff can get snowed in, have an appointment, catch a cold and not want to spread it, etc. Working from home solves a lot of problems, but they will need a laptop to do it.

Downsize your furniture

A lot of offices are switching premises or renting out half of their space to other businesses. With so many people no longer returning to their desks, office managers are looking at a very empty space that needs filled or emptied.

This means half of the office equipment is being tossed. Offices are getting rid of superfluous desks and chairs and “hot seating” the rest. Employees come in and grab a chair wherever they feel like, with no ownership. Tomorrow another employee will be in the same seat.

This can feel like a waste of money, or throwing money in the bin, but it doesn’t need to be. If you’re looking for somewhere to put your old PCs, desks and chairs, you can rent a garage and store everything until you need it again.

Use a project management platform

The problem for a lot of employers throughout any working from home situation is that they can’t keep an eye on their employees. It’s hard to know if anyone is slacking off or not doing their best and meanwhile you are wondering if that project will ever get finished.

What can make all of these elements easier is a project management platform like Trello. You can assign every member of your team a checklist of tasks that need done and then watch as the work is ticked off.

Assign everyone their daily tasks and prove that the work is being done or break up a big project into delegated bite-size pieces.