Expert outlines factors needed to make hybrid arrangements work
Three days in the office is the "sweet spot" for hybrid work arrangements, according to a new report from Unisys, which comes as employers strive to balance organisational needs with employees' desire for greater flexibility.
"The optimal office schedule isn't fully remote or fully in person — it's three days on-site," the Unisys report read.
"Structure hybrid schedules around three office days, design spaces for collaboration and strengthen virtual engagement tools. Balance face-to-face interaction with remote flexibility to optimise productivity and retention."
Ruchi Kulhari, chief human resources officer at Unisys, said they arrived at this sweet spot after a lot of research with a community of corporate professionals.
Mandating work at the office only would limit the time window for employees, according to Kulhari, but working fully remotely can also trigger loneliness in the workforce.
"With all the study that we've done, it feels like two days is too little, one is too little,” she told HRD. "And you go anywhere beyond three days, it seems like you're in the office pretty much the entire week."
"I do feel like that we need to create that perfect balance for our people to be able to come in, to collaborate with their teams, to be able to hang out with office people, and then also be able to cut that balance to go back and take care of their personal routines."
The Unisys report came in the wake of growing office-return mandates from organisations worldwide.
In New Zealand, Robert Half revealed that 61% of employers are already expecting their workers to back in the office full time. However, 99% of employees there said they have been offered flexible work hours.
Kulhari said implementing hybrid work would require employers to also be flexible when it comes to employees' various situations, particularly the nature of their work.
"I think somewhere a one-size-fits-all approach is what's making people a little bit on the back foot when it comes to the success of hybrid," she said.
The CHRO highlighted Unisys as an example, noting that the company doesn't mandate a specific start time for employees and allows staff to choose which three days out of the five workdays they prefer to come onsite.
"If you play along, if you're flexible and if you are accommodative of the situations, people mostly are very well-intentioned about their work and they want to work and they want to deliver very, very good work," Kulhari said.
"If you operate with the mindset, I think hybrid can really put you apart from a lot of other hardships people have to go through."
Kulhari added that hybrid work will also require maturity in the organisation, particularly in leadership.
"The maturity of that leader is very critical in this scenario for this hybrid to be successful," she said. "I need to be able to be that leader who believes in the end impact and the goal and the capability of my people."
She stressed the importance of maturity amid efficiency concerns among employers over hybrid work arrangements.
"I think when organisations struggle with the hybrid model, they're struggling with something else, frankly," she said. "They're not struggling with the three or two days, they're struggling with their ability to have that faith, that confidence in their associates that they can deliver while they are also flexible with everything else."
The CHRO stressed that collaboration or productivity issues emerging during hybrid work might be an organisational culture problem, and not a hybrid work problem.
"For the company culture to be awesome, you really need to foster a good value system in the organisation," Kulhari said. "You need to bring in a performance-based deliverable, a company which is growing with purpose, a company which is paid for performance, a company which is actually believing in the capability of individuals."
Unisys predicts that hybrid work arrangements will likely "become the norm" as companies seek to balance remote flexibility with office engagement.
Organisations seeking to implement it in the future need to have a culture of trust and transparency, according to Kulhari.
"We all keep changing our plans and revising them as per the health of the business, which is totally OK," the CHRO said.
"But as long as you're transparent with your employees… and you hire that right talent to be able to deliver that, then you let them do their jobs, and you really allow people to thrive in that environment — that would be my only and only recommendation."
She also stressed the importance of creating a suitable in-office environment for hybrid employees.
"If I'm saying hybrid, I cannot say that I also want to do significant admin cost reduction and I will not have any offices. I can't do that. I need to run with offices," she said.
"I need to have facilities to host people when they do show up in the office, they should feel welcomed. They should have the basic amenities of being in the office: the meeting rooms, the conference rooms, the ability to connect on a fun Friday, the ability to be able to engage with other people."
"All of those things are important. So, avoiding the extremes, creating that environment, and allowing people to be over there, I think that is the truth to lead to success on this hybrid."
