Operationalizing a hybrid work strategy

The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the digital transformation plans and strategies of many organizations. It also puts pressure on business leaders to adequately address the growing demands for flexibility among their workforce, while ensuring longevity and the ability to better weather future pandemics.

Two years after the pandemic, here are some key lessons: Hybrid work is not a buzzword practiced only when it’s convenient.

For hybrid work to be effective, it must be approached in a deliberate way. Whether you prefer an office or a more flexible way of working, you need a clear understanding of how hybrid work should be practiced. Indeed, a majority of Asia-Pacific firms expect some form of hybrid work to become the norm in the future, with 40% of Asia-Pacific firms expecting staff to work entirely in the office. It’s just

Here are some important factors to consider when planning and operating your organization’s hybrid work strategy:

first, Technology must put people firstYour hybrid work strategy (and your return-to-office plan) should consider your employee personas and how they use their workspaces so that you can deploy the right solutions. This is especially important. 79% of APAC organizations say the pandemic has forced them to become smarter about how they use space, people and technology, with most companies in Asia Pacific viewing technology and experience as the face of their companies This is especially important given the , and not just office space (64%).

Office design should consider the need for an attractive and fair working environment, but when working from home, organizations are looking to level the virtual meeting experience through the introduction of cloud collaboration suites such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom. You should be able to support your employees by Provide appropriate audiovisual hardware to enable effective communication.

Wherever workers choose to be productive, it’s important to ensure they have a more equitable work experience. Even if the seats at the table are virtual seats, participants pick up on all the small gestures, facial expressions, and gestural cues throughout the room (or across the screen) to build confidence in both being seen and being heard. It is important that Wherever you are.

A recent Poly study found that APAC organizations are already on the right track. 93% of organizations indicate they are already leaning toward collaboration software and cloud applications to help equalize meetings for their hybrid workforce. In an age when the competition for talent is distributed across territories, these little things can make a big difference.

Every business has its own hybrid strategy and the key is the ability to experiment, test and measure. Only by evaluating employee reactions and feedback can you understand the extent of the investment required to enable employees to be their best.

number two, Leaders must align employee roles and workflows with an eye toward autonomyAt Poly, we’ve always believed that work is defined by what you accomplish, not where you do it. Similarly, leaders and managers need to measure productivity in terms of work output.

To that effect, employees should be given the autonomy to fine-tune their workflows and prioritize their output, allowing flexible processes where workers do not require manager oversight for every little detail. It should be formalized and empowered to find better ways to deliver the desired results instead.

Of course, this requires that employers have a clear understanding of their employees’ specific roles and their preferences for how they work. While companies may not be able to realistically create a hybrid work strategy for each individual employee, workplace personas can be leveraged to create a scalable and defensible framework for an organization to help most employees can be planned to avoid problematic “one size fits all” strategies. .

Citi Singapore recently did just that. Singapore is the first market to roll out a new global flexible work model that divides employees into different role designations according to their responsibilities and the nature of their work.

Finally, if in-house capabilities are lacking, organizations should. Consider looking externally to further expand hybrid work arrangements.

For organizations with limited IT resources, a support service provider can take on technical support issues for a fleet of headsets and communication devices just deployed for remote staff. office. Remote access allows you to push updates to your fleet of devices, such as headphones. You can also remotely track infrastructure such as meeting setup. Analytical data provides insight into utilization and fleet management. This can be furthered through managed service providers, where organizations outsource their day-to-day technical management responsibilities entirely to external vendors.

A professional services provider can offer a bespoke service by assessing the needs of your organization and coming up with customized solutions that address your employees’ unique needs. was put into play.

Whichever path you choose, looking to outside experts to fill these kinds of gaps will make your organization more agile in meeting the dynamic needs of business operations and help your teams It helps you to focus more on your strengths.

In short, a sustainable hybrid work strategy must be intentional. Long-term success requires deliberate action to understand which roles are best suited for hybrid deployments. At the same time, systems and planned workflows must also be put in place to adequately support an increasingly distributed workforce. After all, hybrid work isn’t just about changing your relationship with the office, it’s about changing how you approach work.