What You Need to Transition Your Business to Hybrid Work
Businesses around the world have seen a boom in hybrid work. Embryo notes that hybrid work was the standard for over 30% of full-time employees in the UK in 2022. Despite its rising popularity and benefits like flexibility, hybrid workers are not exempted from challenges.
Employees cite miscommunications, in-group and out-group dynamics, lack of proximity and peer psychological support, and an out-of-sight-out-of-mind phenomenon as a few of the downsides to hybrid work.
To mitigate these challenges, it is important that businesses thoroughly prepare in advance. Insights by LHH on hybrid work emphasise the need for companies to ask the right questions when attempting to transition, such as what greater remote working practices will mean for corporate culture and company structure or how mentorship and talent development will be affected. Only then can leaders create sustainable long-term hybrid work practices.
If you are a business hoping to transition to hybrid work, here’s a brief checklist of requirements before making the shift.
Centralized Communication Platforms
With hybrid workforces, gone are the traditional meeting rooms. Virtual collaboration spaces have become necessary to keep all workers in the loop. A platform with group chats and direct messages, where all team members can log in and use to talk with each other or share documents, thus needs to be established as the “virtual office.”
This can be supplemented with other collaborative tools such as Miro, which is a real-time interactive whiteboard for ideas and projects to be plotted in a dynamic virtual space. Miro’s market leadership in visual collaboration allows companies to optimise effective synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, thus boosting productivity and communication.
One way to simplify the transition to hybrid work is by using a QR code maker to create contactless check-in systems for employees working in the office.
1. Cybersecurity Protocols
On average, one in ten UK firms was the victim of a cyberattack in 2021. Despite this, the BCC finds that cybersecurity measures are only available at one in five firms. As more businesses shift to a hybrid way of working, Director General Shevaun Haviland explains that the rate of cyberattacks will only increase, making it urgent that firms have the right cybersecurity protections in place.
Antivirus software and cloud usage must become a standard in every firm. Otherwise, companies should establish protocols among employees while dealing with sensitive information — such as steering away from public wifi connections, using a virtual private network (VPN), or leaving the files at the office.
Cybersecurity training must also be made mandatory for all employees to learn how to adopt more secure methods of authenticating users or how to encrypt files properly.
2. Internal Trainings and Seminars
Upskilling opportunities are just as relevant in the hybrid workforce in order to keep all members up-to-date with the latest digital trends. Hard skills, like data visualisation or the aforementioned cybersecurity, and soft skills in virtual communication and leadership can be taught in online and offline workshops.
An emerging topic in work-based learning is micro-learning, which condenses large quantities of content into bite-sized modules. GoodCourse, for example, is a micro-learning platform that can be accessed on channels from Slack to email. This is backed by some of the UK’s best-known angel investors.
Organizations like the charity GamCare have also reported positive results after using the platform to train young people on safer video gaming.
Likewise, it’s important to encourage team members working in a hybrid fashion to adopt the same tools to fulfill their responsibilities, whether tackling a solo project or collaborating with colleagues. Making sure everyone knows how to edit a PDF online with a PDF editor, for example, and standardizing this practice via a training seminar, will avoid productivity snarl-ups.
Application Performance Monitoring Tools
Logistics can be one of the greatest downfalls of productivity in a hybrid workplace. With application performance monitoring (APM) tools, your business can immediately address performance issues in any faulty applications, even if your worker may be reporting from home.
UK-based digital publisher Open Plan Media reports how APM tools like Kinsta were the key to their ability to serve 720k pageviews daily without hiccups.
This paragraph highlights how Employee Shift Scheduling Software, as part of an Application Performance Management (APM) approach, improves the digital employee experience, minimizing productivity loss. The strategic use of Employee Shift Scheduling Software emphasizes its key role in optimizing workforce management and overall operational efficiency.
This exemplifies how APM can help create a positive digital employee experience with fewer chances of productivity loss.
Lets Talk About Leased lines
A hybrid workforce depends on the Internet connection to communicate with the entire team and safely work on projects in the digital sphere. A broadband connection may have a slower connection speed during peak times and could slow down as more users connect.
Fibre leased lines, as we’ve discussed in a previous article on Leased Line Speed, guarantee a stable upload and download speed among all users. Leased lines also ensure the monitoring of connections 24/7 to fix problems before they’re noticeable.
As more firms transition to a hybrid workspace and integrate the web more fully into their daily operations, it is crucial that your business gets ahead in the competition for a faster connection. A leased line ensures productivity among your WFO employees and provides extra motivation to report from the office.
If you are starting your business’ transition to a hybrid workforce, don’t hesitate to consult with our team at Wan.io for a connectivity solution that meets all your requirements and budget. Afterwards, securing the remaining requirements and ensuring a smooth transition to hybrid work will be easier than ever.
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