“Hybrid Working” has the potential to make things fairer for everyone. There, we said it.
But, without your team being in one office, keeping track of how fair your company really is can be challenging.
Enter: the Hybrid Work policy.
Your hybrid working policy is much more than a logistical handbook; it’s an opportunity to build a fairer, more equal work environment for your team—and here are 9 ways to do just that.
Build your hybrid working policy with your team
Before you write your hybrid working policy, speak with every person in your team about how they would like to work. This will make them feel valued and involved, plus (bonus!) you’ll get a heap of great ideas.
Our Workplace Strategy Tool is a free-to-use questionnaire and personalised results dashboard, designed to help you find out how and where your employees want to work. Try it here.
Make all meetings virtual-first
If two people are in the same office, then sure, it doesn’t make sense for them to jump on a video call from across the room. However, if those people have a call with someone in your team who works elsewhere, it could create a divide.
The person dialling in could miss out on subtle cues like body language, where the others wouldn’t. General rule of thumb? If one person is joining virtually, everyone joins virtually.
Revisit how you measure performance
One of the biggest concerns around Hybrid Working? Office workers being favoured over remote workers. It’s a thing—just look at Google.
Unlike working in an office, where you can get a general idea of how each person is performing, measuring performance with a hybrid team requires more effort.
Build a chapter in your HW policy that clearly outlines how managers can do this. You’ll want to cover things like communication, goal-setting, monthly reviews and promotions.
Be open to hiring fully-remote employees
When you hear ‘hybrid working’, you’d think it’s a mix between working from home and working in the office. However, if a team member lives far away, it’s likely that they will be fully-remote.
Your hybrid work policy should prepare for this and as a company, you should be open to hiring fully-remote people. In general, this creates more opportunities for those who live outside main cities (e.g. London), and you get to work with a much larger, more diverse talent pool.
Sometimes a person could live nearby and still want to work remotely for other reasons (e.g. childcare), and that should be a part of your HW policy too.
Provide your team with the right equipment
In our study, we found that an ergonomic chair was most important to WFH employees, with 55% of respondents selecting this option. This was followed by a dual monitor, faster WiFi, and a standing desk.
By giving your team the right equipment, you ensure that they have the tools to do their job both safely and efficiently. Not everyone has a working laptop at home, or a good chair that doesn’t contort their spine into a pretzel, so by building equipment into your hybrid working policy, you make things fairer for everyone.
Offer flexible hours to everyone
There are some people who might need flexible working more than others (e.g. parents who are juggling the school run)—but that doesn’t mean they should be the only team members who are given this option.
Where possible, try to offer flexible hours to everyone. Even for roles that can’t be as flexible as others, it’s worth looking into how you can offer at least some flexibility.
Don’t let distance get in the way of a good time
Getting everyone together to socialise can be hard enough when everyone’s in an office, never mind with hybrid working. So, how do you make it fairer for everyone? You could:
- Still invite those who you know are likely to say no.
- Have some big, all-team events in the calendar, even once a year.
- Cover expenses for people to attend these events.
- For those who can’t make it, make them feel involved by sending a nice gift.
- Have some virtual-only meetups.
Provide workplace options
Let’s say you give your team the option to either work from home or in your London office.
Sarah can’t work in the office because she lives in Barcelona, and she also can’t work from home because she doesn’t have a quiet place to sit. The fairest option would be to give her access to a coworking space.
Hybrid working is about giving people the choice to work from where’s best for them. You create more balance across your team when you provide more options. That’s why we’ve built Hubble, to help you find an office for your HQ, set up your team for WFH and open up a whole world of coworking spaces with our Hubble Pass.
Introduce the ‘manual of me’
We’re all different, and we all have different ways of working. So, it’s worth thinking about giving each person in your team a ‘manual of me’—which outlines how they like to work and communicate.
For example: Someone on your team might have hearing difficulties, so email or instant messaging is better for them than a call.
By building these manuals with your team and making those manuals accessible to everyone, you build a culture that puts people first.
Let’s get you set up for Hybrid Working
As the world’s first hybrid workplace platform, we’re on a mission to help businesses find their ideal balance between working from the HQ, home or on-demand workspaces—or a combination of all three. Here’s how you can find yours:
- Understand how your team wants to work with our Workplace Strategy Tool
- Find an office that flexes around your business with Hubble HQ
- Export your office culture to employees’ doors with Hubble Perks.
- Get access to hundreds of on-demands workspaces all over the world with the Hubble Pass
