Ways to Stay Sane When You Work Hybrid

How to stay sane when you work hybrid has become a big question to many people in recent years. Hybrid working has become quite popular and is on the rise. It is also often used as an interim solution for childcare, for recovery from illness, and master the back to work challenges. Some growing companies even offer it when hiring more people than they have office space. This post explains what it means, and breaks down what you need to think about when going into the hybrid work environment.

Disclosure: Sponsored post.

How to Do Hybrid Working Right

Hybrid working is the middle ground between working from home and the office. Therefore, this concept has become quite popular since the launch of the COVID lockdowns. Working from home has become the most popular option for practical reasons like health, childcare, and time savings. But sometimes, a Zoom meeting may fail to cut it all. For instance, a staff member may constantly get annoyed working from home. Or, not all of the work can be performed remotely because there is also some practical work to be done.

These and similar situations are where hybrid working comes in.

Effective Communication Is Key

Too many workers are entirely confused about what they are doing. Sure, they know how to do their job, but where and when should they be doing it? In the chaos of everything, middle managers and team leaders forget how to lead and communicate. Make sure you are laying out exactly when your team members are supposed to be in the office and when they are supposed to work from home.

Failing to provide this guidance can have lasting consequences for you and them. A miscommunication could mean, for instance, disciplining someone for not showing up where they had no idea that they had to come in, or not paying someone for work performed. You get the idea.

A lack of communication can cause further problems. Without someone freely available to speak to, employees can get overwhelmed. Consequently, they can develop symptoms of anxiety that could lead to burnout. Therefore, check in with your staff members regularly. Perhaps set up a weekly meeting simply for people to catch up and voice any ideas on how things should be going in the office. It also helps them become more resilient.

Take What They Want on Board

While we’re taking suggestions from the staff, it’s important when you’re starting to get one-to-one meetings with every staff member to determine what they want to get out of this. COVID has become a human rights issue, starting with whether someone feels safe in the office due to health reasons and whether they’d prefer to work from home for a work/life balance.

Therefore, it’s important to consider their input when making these decisions. Someone might want to come into the office as little as possible due to their health or to care for Elders or their child(ren), others might not like working at home alone, etc.

The Practicalities of Hot Desking

Hot desking is a new concept you might not have heard of if your office isn’t already using it. Due to the hybrid working pattern, no one has an assigned desk anymore. Some people are in the office today, and some people are tomorrow.

There are two ways to solve the problem: You can declare a free-for-all, where everyone sits where they can find a space. This rule should be simple enough as long as there are no arguments about proximity to the bathrooms or the good view. However, to avoid complications, you might want to designate tables, like Janet sitting at desk 1 on Mondays and Tuesdays while John sits at desk one on Wednesdays and Thursdays, etc.

However, the idea of first come, first served might be advantageous from both an office peace and a logistical point of view. If John, for instance, has to change his office days due to a dentist appointment, friction might arise when Janet can’t or doesn’t want to switch her day due to her prior plans and/or commitments.

Clear Out the Desks

Another thing to think about is the content of people’s desks. If you have ever actually cleared people’s drawers, because someone forgot/ignored to do so upon leaving the company, you would see that there is more than files and stationery. People are keeping all kinds of stuff in and under their desks. Typical examples are painkillers, hot water bottles for the cold days, desk fans for the hot days, hand sanitizer and cream, masks, and tissues. There may even be dress shoes in cold climates to prevent cold feet from sweating in boots when going home. Often, those items have been collected over the employee’s tenure at the company.

Because no desk is an employees own anymore, an innovative solution might be to clear the desks and instead set up a communal area of supplies. In the same way, the office supplies teabags and coffee, you can supply paracetamol, masks, hand sanitizer, and other things commonly needed in the office. Being able to treat yourself with self-care essentials boosts the calm< of any employee.  

Rethink Your Equipment

Another aspect is the equipment itself. When the COVID-19 lockdowns were first enforced, offices around the country quickly saw PCs tossed out and replaced with reliable and cost-effective laptops. It’s impractical to haul a monitor and PC home and to work, and vice versa, right?

While exchanging PCs with laptops is a Must for hybrid working, it does leave companies with the question of what to do with all that extra tech. If they’re still in good condition, and enough space to store them, you could hope that time without use won’t outdate their potential for future use, for instance, temp workers, who visit your company to boost their career with an international internship. Alternatively, you can donate them. Many places would gladly take in old PCs, including libraries, schools, after-school projects, charities, etc.

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