The coronavirus pandemic will have a long-term influence on businesses and individuals who have been searching for ways to boost productivity and work-life balance for decades.

The term “hybrid working” is no longer being used as a euphemism for flexible work arrangements by human resources professionals. Hybrid work is becoming more common as companies adjust to changes at work caused by the Covid Pandemic.

Hybrid work is a flexible model of work that lets people work in the office, from home, and on the go. It gives employees the freedom to choose where and how they can do their best work. An employee’s remote workplace can be located anywhere, as long as the individual is more comfortable working there.

For example, coworking spaces, desk rentals, coffee shops, local libraries, hotels, public parks, and close to everything where the employee is comfortable and where the Wi-Fi is. Hybrid work environments have been extensively studied for their impact on employee well-being and productivity.

Several studies, including those done by YouGov, a Research agency, which is based in India, found that employees preferred to work from home after businesses and society reopened.

68 percent of workers hadn’t worked from home before the outbreak, according to a YouGov poll conducted before the outbreak about the “work from home” lifestyle. 

~ 13% have done it regularly
~ 17% have done it once in a while
~ 19% have done it on trial basis

In addition, CIPD, a professional body for human resources and personnel development, did a study on the topic. CIPD found that before the pandemic, only 18 % of the workforce commenced remotely. It was only after the crisis that a climb in that number was seen. 

Because of the Pandemic, many companies have seen a big rise in the number of employees who regularly work from home. According to Global Workplace Analytics forecast, approximately 25% – 30% of the workforce will be working from home for at least 1 or more days after the pandemic phases down. 

The Numerous Advantages of Hybridization of Work 

Even before the Covid19 outbreak, employees had been looking for flexible work schedules or for some form of Work from Home. There is no doubt that hybridization is a successful approach, and it will continue to be for many years to come, even beyond the crisis and its aftermath.

Boosts efficiency and productivity

In a hybrid setup, an employee’s ability to focus on their own tasks can be helped by flexible hours and a change of scenery. When you give your employees more flexibility in terms of where they work, they are more likely to balance their workloads, take responsibility for their work, and concentrate more on it.

Redefines collaboration

In order for distributed teams to work together, be engaged, and be supported, companies need to go through a digital transformation. Employees don’t have to be in the same room to work together and come up with ideas.

Improves the work-life balance of employees

It has been observed recently that most of the organizations in some way have a climate that lacks socio-emotional connect.  This changing pattern of organizational climate psychologically makes the employee reclusive with the cohort. A study by The Financial Times found that 9 out of 10 professionals think hybrid work is important for balancing work and life. 

48 percent of those who answered said this is because it lets them work on both personal and professional goals at the same time.

Cost of business goes down

With fewer people working in the office, businesses will need less space. So, the hybrid model cuts down on both the cost of real estate and the cost of office supplies. It also saves money for employees because they don’t have to pay as much to get to work.

The idea propounded here is quite simple, when fewer resources are utilized at the office, such as electricity, food, stationary, rent etc the operational cost of running the business comes down, and with that, the net margins for profits climb high.

Larger Talent Pool To Access

For employers, hybrid work arrangements provide a larger pool of talent. In the past, one’s access to talent pools was limited by how close the talent was to the place of work.

Thus, it has now become possible for them to hire people from all over the world without spending money on office space and other real estate expenses that come with having a physical presence in each place. 

What does “Hybrid Work” mean for the new economy?

The world is transforming at an unprecedented and exponential rate. New technologies are disrupting the traditional ideas that hovered in the past. Many point to the benefits, while others point to the disadvantages.

But the question that still remains unanswered is “How actualization of the Hybridized New Economy takes place?”

The answer is quite rational!

As Charles Dickens differentiates between work as dry and damp! The former being one done from the office space, with little physical movement, and the latter being the work that is more grassroot based requiring more presence of individuals. 

Similarly, the Hybridization of New Economy will mark the difference between the classes of employees. Those who work for the organizations mostly for intellectual purposes, such as strategy, consulting, management, auditing and many other similar areas will find themselves on the easy foot.

But those whose physical presence is necessitated for the actualization of work would find no new change in the way they did the work. Agriculture, Allied Agriculture and Manufacturing sector being the most prominent and unhybridized of all in the new economy.

Sectors which are more driven towards data and technology can easily implement the Hybrid Working model. As these sectors rely more on the presence of the employee on technologies such as mobile phones and laptops that could easily be operated from far distances. 

But on the other hand, sectors that rely more upon the practical presence of the employee, sectors that are more into brick and mortar types such as manufacturing, healthcare, education and many more will find it difficult to implement the Hybrid Model.

The new economy will see a large class divide between these two kinds of employees. It still needs to be seen how the middle-class elite and those who struggle in the job market perceive these changes. Whether the burgeoning occupational class divide leads to a new perspective on how both the classes look at each other.

Another change that may be observed is the intake and demand for occupation in both these occupational classes. It is being posited that those jobs which offer work from home, or, remote, or hybrid offers would have more applications than those who offer onsite work.

But this provides yet another opportunity for those finding opportunities for work. Many would find work in the hybridized model because this is going to be a trending bandwagon in the coming years, and also many would find work in the non-hybridized sector as well, because of the decline in the applications in that domain. 

Overall hybridization offers a booming picture of the New Economy! For some who had previously been reluctant to accept flexible working arrangements, this period provided a changing opportunity for making a new difference in the ways they function. Senior HR professionals are now more at ease as a result of this collaborative adjustment. 

Hybrid working has been widely used, and enterprises are already reaping the benefits. To aid their employees and carry out their responsibilities more successfully, managers can now use this acquired knowledge.

No longer does an employer have to sacrifice employee engagement or career advancement in order to accommodate flexible workers. Some companies may need to make adjustments to their work schedules, work styles, and methods of internal communication in order to make the shift to hybrid work.

Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together

Employers who want hybrid working to be successful will need new methods of governance and technological tools that will make it easier to manage their remote workers while also increasing productivity.

Any form of crisis in an economy provides opportunities, which thought and acting leaders should never miss out on if they seek to bring a big change in the organization and the world around them.