Benefits of hybrid work model for employees & organizations
Due to recent years’ events, our professional world, which was limited to home offices and makeshift remote workstations, is reverting to its original setting.
More and more companies across the world are ushering in “The Great Return” - calling back their employees to work from offices as opposed to working from home.
But the future of the corporate ecosystem can be a hybrid work model that benefits both employers and employees.
A hybrid remote work environment can prove to be cost-saving and a great conduit of growth for companies, while fostering a flexible schedule for employees to have a sound work life balance.
What is a hybrid working model?
A hybrid work model is a flexible remote work schedule that allows employees to work in a combination of on-site/remote working environments, typically alternating between working from the office and working from home.
While a hybrid remote work arrangement is in no way a new solution, its popularity soared in recent years as home isolation got demanded across the world.
A hybrid workplace allows employers and employees to choose the kind of environment they want to work in throughout the week, making way for more productivity patterns to emerge.
Benefits of hybrid work model for employees
1. Work during peak productivity hours
In a traditional office workplace, employees are instructed to clock in and out at certain hours of the day, irrespective of their productivity pattern.
A hybrid work model gives your employees the flexibility to work when they are at their most productive self.
They also have the choice to either work on-site with teammates or work alone remotely.
2. Increased chances of international projects
As hybrid remote work allows companies to blur the geographical boundaries and collaborate with foreign entities, your employees too get a chance to work on international projects with foreign teammates who are also functioning in a hybrid work from home environment.
Employees can participate in cultural exchanges and build their skills on a global level.
3. Better work-life balance
Better work-life balance is one of the most important benefits of hybrid work model. Employees gravitate towards a hybrid workplace because it empowers them with the freedom to curate their work schedule but not at the cost of their personal lives.
They can have a healthy work-life balance without the guilt of leaving the office to run a personal errand, visit a doctor, or pick up their kids from school.
4. Boost savings and reduce expenses
A hybrid work model is great for cost savings.
Working from home helps employees save a lot of money by cutting costs on commuting to and from work (fuel or public transport), purchasing professional attire, and eating meals outside or getting pre-packaged meals delivered to their office.
Benefits of hybrid work model for organizations
1. Better employee retention
One of the hybrid remote work benefits for companies is that employees are more likely to stay in an organization that gives them the freedom to create their custom schedules.
This helps companies save a substantial amount of costs incurred to train new employees.
Hiring efforts are costlier than introducing a hybrid work model in the long run.
2. Lower rate of absenteeism
Contrary to popular belief, hybrid working benefits the organization with lowered instances of absenteeism.
A flexible remote work environment allows employees to bounce back faster in case of illnesses as they can get ample rest and care at home.
Moreover, it eliminates the risk of other people catching contagious diseases from their coworkers while in an enclosed office space.
3. Lower cost of team-building practices
Having a healthy company culture is a crucial part of any company, and a hybrid workplace aids in reducing team-building costs.
Companies can organize virtual offsites and host fun-filled team-building activities without paying exorbitant amounts for a physical venue or full-fledged catering services.
Company-wide and departmental townhalls can be held online regularly to foster interpersonal relationships at work.
4. Hire from a global talent pool
Remote work benefits for companies aren’t just limited to retaining and engaging existing employees.
A hybrid workplace attracts the best talent in your industry since geographical restrictions are removed.
Hiring globally not only widens your talent pool, but remotely working employees cost less due to a difference in relative values of their country’s currency as opposed to yours, local labor laws, and more.
How does remote working save businesses money?
Rent and utilities
Introducing a hybrid work model in your company can reduce the office space needed for on-site employees which leads to cost savings.
Working from home allows employees or a collective team to choose specific on-site days, which requires a smaller office than your current workplace.
Real estate costs are particularly draining, and telecommuting in a hybrid remote work setup can help companies save over 30% more than before!
Taxes
A hybrid workplace can bring about new tax-saving opportunities that weren’t available to companies before.
Two of the biggest tax burden on any organization are its property and payroll.
With a hybrid work model, you can replace expensive office space and other on-site properties for cheaper or remote work-friendly options, bringing down your taxable property value considerably.
Additionally, by hiring employees from countries with weak currencies, you can lower your labor costs.
Cleaning services
With smaller office space and fewer team members coming for on-site work every day, you might require lesser cleaning services than before.
One of the remote work benefits for companies is the noticeable reduction in indirect expenses that an organization incurs to keep the business running.
With lesser employees to clean after, your cleaning and maintenance service invoices are going to have a sharp cost reduction.
Food and beverage
Hybrid working benefits companies by eliminating the need to provide food and beverage to their employees.
These might look like minor expenses but can rake up quite a bill in the long run.
With a hybrid work from home environment, you do not have to provide daily cafeteria service or luncheons and refreshments during meetings.
How much does a remote workforce save you?
• Rent and utilities: Companies can save up to US$3,000 (£2,284) in office rent and other utilities per remotely working employee.
• Increased productivity: Hybrid working benefits companies with highly productive and satisfied employees, saving up to US$5,750 (£4,377) per hybrid employee.
• Reduced employee turnover: One of the remote work benefits for companies is up to US$750 (£571) saved per employee by offering flexible remote work options and increasing overall happiness.
• Reduction in absenteeism: Around US$1,100 (£837) gets saved per telecommuter since a hybrid work model employees are less likely to take sick leaves as compared to traditional office working employees.
What is the ROI of hybrid working?
Hybrid working has transformed the corporate landscape to make work-life balance possible for employees across dynamic and fast-paced industries.
Therefore, to determine the return on investment (ROI) of the hybrid work model, one must view it from the organization’s perspective
Through the lens of a company and its business measures, a hybrid remote work environment improves retention, productivity, quality of the work produced, and reduces office expenses, absenteeism, and labor costs.
Qualitative business measures such as work-life balance, employee engagement, and job satisfaction cannot be converted into numbers, yet they form an important part of a hybrid workplace ROI.
To calculate the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of hybrid working, one must isolate the impact of flexible remote work in monetary terms and determine the program benefits and program costs.
BCR = Program Benefits - Program Costs
The rate of investments then becomes,
ROI (%) = {(Program Benefits - Program Costs) ÷ Program Costs} × 100
Hybrid workplace best practices
To create a healthy hybrid remote work environment, consider these best practices:
1. Prioritize office space for the right people
A reduced office space implies better prioritization on the business owner’s part to ensure that the office space is being utilized by those workers who truly need it.
Some jobs tend to be more remote-work friendly, while others require a dedicated office workspace to perform efficiently.
Laying out clear hybrid work model preferences for your employees take the guesswork out of the equation.
2. Maintain hybrid workplace data and conduct regular analysis
To accurately assess the ROI of a hybrid remote work model, keep a quantifiable track of business measures taken into consideration such as space utilization, occupancy data, and more.
Regular analysis of this data can help you identify and work upon areas of improvement as well as evaluate your return on investment judiciously.
3. Create a strategic implementation plan
Even though a hybrid work model is highly preferred by employees, companies shifting from a traditional office setting to flexible remote work can experience major cultural and mindset shifts that must be handled with sensitivity.
Building a roadmap to implement the change can promote a gradual adoption of the new workplace paradigm.
4. Harness technology for a smooth hybrid workplace
Without technology, a hybrid work model would not have been possible, so why not use it to help remote and on-site teams and individuals collaborate better?
You can use technology to keep employees updated about each other’s ongoing projects and whereabouts to strengthen teamwork.
You can do this by using a company-wide communication tool or a unified financial control center to manage company spending seamlessly.
While it is too soon to tell whether the hybrid work model is here to stay or just another momentary corporate trend, a flexible remote work environment has certainly redefined the way companies understand productivity and teamwork.
A hybrid workplace has a lot of potential in terms of empowering employees to create their schedules and helping businesses with immense cost savings.
Working from home and working on-site have their separate merits, and a hybrid work structure can help businesses reap benefits from both models.