- January 27, 2021
Returning to Work and Creating a Hybrid Office: Productivity Tip Guide
As companies begin to grapple with what the future of the workplace might look like in this nebulous “new normal” we now inhabit, many are leaning towards a hybrid office model. Essentially, this means a mix of remote and in-office employees.
COVID-19 and all of its resulting chaos has forced a lot of changes upon traditional workplaces. It has also brought into sharp focus the fact that there are two types of workers that inhabit them: those who enjoy working from home, and those who are happier in the office. This blog contains productivity tips for both parties.
We have been unreserved in the past about extolling the virtues of smart working. Fostering a more flexible office environment has many proven benefits, and helping in the fight against COVID-19 is just one more to add to the list.
But adjusting to new work environments can be difficult, and lead to employees that are unproductive or worse, unhappy in their jobs.
A big part of what Formation does entails helping companies to embrace a new style of working and communication. Below we’ve shared some insights we’ve gained over the years into how to achieve just this while maintaining work productivity.
Across the Board Best Practice
Regardless of what kind of changes are taking place in an office, there are some rules of thumb that are helpful to follow in order to make even the starkest of transitions as smooth as possible. Below are some general returning to work productivity tips.
Have a Plan in place
New office protocols and ways of working can be difficult to get to grips with at the best of times. If you haven’t clearly outlined and explained said protocols to employees, however, the transition will automatically be ten times more difficult.
Before even thinking about reopening the office, try to have a detailed plan in place about how things are going to work. Then make sure all employees are aware of it.
Which communication channels are preferred, how and when meetings will happen, any new safety measures in place. These are all things you should know and have communicated to your team, well in advance of their return.
One very important thing to consider (which is oftentimes overlooked) is how you’re going to maintain a positive and engaging company culture amid these changes. Even something as simple as regular after-work zoom drinks can help people feel less isolated and more included.
Be Flexible
Everything in the above paragraph? Throw it out the window. Kidding. Sort of.
It is important to have plans in place, and know-how you want things to work. However, something you’ll quickly discover is that even the best-laid plans can go awry.
The learning curve in these types of situations is steep, and to paraphrase Charles Darwin: you’ve got to be able to adapt to survive.
One good way to forestall unforeseen hiccups is to have contingency plans in place. These could be relating to anything, from technological difficulties to health and safety issues. The more plans you have, and the more detailed they are, the better.
Above all, prepare yourself for things not to work out exactly the way you have planned, and try not to stress too much if they don’t.
A great way to see what’s working and what’s not is to go directly to the source. Make sure to collect feedback from your employees on how this new way of working is going, and what you can do to improve things.
If they have complaints or suggestions, don’t be afraid to implement them. This will be good for office morale and, in turn, good for business.
Productivity Tips for the Office
You might think that for employees coming into the office, not too much will have changed, and not too much assistance will be necessary. It’s important to remember, however, that even though they’re back in the office, they’re adapting to changes too. Here are some easy ways to ease the sometimes painful transition to a more distributed way of working.
Create a Calmer Environment
Open-plan offices are great for many reasons. They break down barriers (physical and figurative) between employees and encourage spontaneous collaboration. One drawback they can have? Noise levels. Studies have found that in the case of some employees, a noisy office can negatively affect the quality of their work.
As people adjust to a new way of working, we recommend keeping background noise to a minimum. This may involve keeping the Classic 80s FM at a lower volume or encouraging typed messages over shouting across the office. The latter also handily helps to reduce the spread of COVID and the flu.
Especially to the uninitiated, video calls can at times be an awkward affair. Being in a crowded and noisy office and struggling to hear the person on the other end will only compound the issue.
Keeping things on the calmer and quiet side, at least until everyone feels a bit more comfortable with the new set up can make for a more content staff and higher levels of at-work productivity.
Provide Support Where Needed
Navigating the office in a post-COVID world will naturally present many challenges: new communications protocols, unfamiliar technology and the threat of the virus itself can all wind up causing employees undue stress at this already stressful time.
Though many such changes are unavoidable, one thing which can help is to provide formal training seminars or informal support for any foreign elements cropping in the new office environment.
Health and safety training refreshers would probably be helpful, for obvious reasons.
If you have HR staff, it might be a good idea to offer them training on how to answer the questions and assuage the fears of employees anxious about COVID-19, or anything at all to do with the new hybrid office environment.
Without proper training, employees can potentially waste hours trying to figure out a particular piece of software or a new system. A once-off teamwide training session can end up saving untold amounts of time down the road.
Communication is Key
In order to have as little disruption as possible, in-office and remote teams should be able to communicate with as much ease as they did when they were in the same physical space.
This might sound like something which is difficult to achieve. The truth is, it’s the 21st century and we have the technology and general wherewithal for this to be the case. You just need to know how to make it happen.
It is important to invest in the proper technology and tools necessary to enable seamless communication between your teams.
As well as this, properly briefing your teams on new protocols will minimise confusion and keep the lines of communication flowing freely.
It can be a good idea to designate particular channels for different situations or types of communication. Choose to conduct meetings over Microsoft Teams, for example, but save informal chats for messaging platforms. However, you decide to have your teams communicate, make sure you communicate to them what the proper channels are.
Having these protocols firmly in place will mean your teams, and your productivity levels, hopefully, won’t notice too much of a change.
Work from Home Productivity Tips
When it comes to working from home, it can be a little more difficult to know the right kind of support to provide. For many employees (and employers) this will be the first experience they have had with remote working, and completely different to any way they’ve ever worked before. Productivity, inclusivity and mental health are all factors to consider.
A situation this unique calls for a unique type of support. Read on for tips on how to keep your employees feeling positive and maintaining good remote work productivity.
Tricks for Keeping Focused
One of the biggest problems newly minted remote workers report is having a hard time focusing on their work. There are dishes in the sink, the cat wants to be let out and they just can’t seem to log out of Twitter.
If your employees are finding themselves digitally distracted, there are a number of great apps you can suggest which can help limit their screen time.
Sometimes, it’s a person’s immediate surroundings which are keeping them from doing their best work.
It’s a good idea for employees to have a designated area in their home which is strictly for work. This will train their brain to focus only on work each time they are in this space.
It might sound counterintuitive, but taking regular breaks, especially when they involve a form of exercise, has been proven to help with focus and general mood.
Keeping a Routine
Keeping a routine is vital when working from home. Employees can often find they fall into a lull of getting out of bed later, hopping straight on their laptops and then even having trouble finishing work in the evening.
It’s helpful for employees to establish a routine where they get up at the same time every day, take regular breaks and log off in the evening, just as they would if they were in the office.
There should be a clear demarcation between time spent at work and time spent at home (even if to remote workers, this is, in reality, the same thing).
Buffer’s 2019 State of Remote Work report found that the single biggest challenge remote workers listed was an inability to unplug at the end of the day. This will leave workers feeling fatigued and unhappy in their jobs.
Make sure to check your remote working team members are taking breaks when appropriate and logging off at the end of the day.
Combating Loneliness
Many employees report experiencing feelings of loneliness when they first begin to work from home. Going from having in-person conversations with colleagues every day to communicating solely through a screen can be difficult. Sitting at home alone all day can understandably feel isolating.
To top it all off, most of us have already been isolating already for months. For remote workers, not being able to go back into the office can be tough.
To remedy this, make sure to check in on your employees regularly, be it personally, or through an HR staff member.
If possible, encourage your employees to work from a café or other public place once in a while. Just being around other people can help to stave off feelings of isolation.
Another way to keep employees feeling included is to try to schedule regular video calls between teams, even if this isn’t your defacto method of communication. Speaking face to face, even if it is through a screen, is more personal than typing or talking on the phone.
Finally, consider rotational shifts. If possible, it can be a good idea to rotate the team members who are working at home. This lessens the burden on those who might be feeling lonely and fosters a feeling of fairness.
Final Thoughts on Work Productivity
There’s no doubt these are turbulent times we’re living in. It’s only natural for employees to feel displaced, disrupted and a little discombobulated. All you can do, as an employer, is try to lend a helping hand.
The common thread running throughout all of these productivity tips, if you hadn’t noticed, is communication.
As simple as it may seem, effective and open communication is crucial in keeping workers on track and doing their best work.
At Formation, we’re all about facilitating and fostering new forms of communication and bringing about new levels of connectivity. In a world that can feel so disjointed, connectivity can sometimes be key in keeping things running as they should.
If you’re interested in learning more, contact us today to see how we can help keep your business connected.