As a direct response to the rocky 2020s, a hybrid workplace has become the new professional norm. This model allows employees to divide their working hours between a centralized office and a remote location. By combining in-person work and telecommuting, employees are better able to manage their work-life balance. This balance saves them time and money while offering the flexibility to tackle work however best suits them. Businesses that adopt a hybrid workplace can cut down on operating costs without sacrificing productivity, allowing them to quickly adapt to new challenges.
For organizations making the transition to a hybrid workplace—and the managers responsible for making it happen—several questions need to be answered. Properly coordinating a diverse group of people who are spread out (across a city, country, or the globe) can pose quite a logistical challenge. But, the rewards are worth it for both your company and staff. What should you consider to make your hybrid workplace successful? Follow these guidelines!
Empower Employee’s Sense of Purpose
Purpose and drive are important not only for businesses but also for the people who help run them. Motivation feeds both productivity and loyalty. In the new normal of hybrid workplaces, that sense of purpose is more important than ever. According to studies by Cisco, an employee who feels that the company listens to and respects their needs will likely work harder and remain with the company longer.
Hybrid workplaces assist with this because they provide the flexibility to let people prioritize other aspects of their life. A company that allows employees to work from home for part of the week—making it easier for them to tend to personal matters—shows they understand the importance of a strong work-life balance. That, in turn, fosters loyalty and renewed purpose… which promote increased productivity and efficiency! It’s truly a domino effect. Tools like Smarten Spaces help manage the logistics of a hybrid workplace, and better facilitate renewed employee purpose.
Assure Employee Safety Is a Priority
While the pandemic is in our collective rearview mirror, health and safety remain a concern in the workplace. It’s always in a company’s best interest to keep everyone in good health. This is for both the good of the workforce and the money saved on sick days and healthcare. With a calculated plan, promoting employee safety in the office isn’t difficult, but it is often complex and requires a great deal of organizing. Is everyone vaccinated? Are there plans in place to cover necessary work when team members get sick? Has contact tracing been implemented? Are there steps to keep customers and other visitors safe? Attempting to handle all of this manually can be difficult and time-consuming, which is why Smarten Spaces offers Hybrid Workplace features specifically designed to organize and seamlessly implement your employee safety plan.
Leverage Automation on Process and Amenities
One of the big advantages of a hybrid workplace is the money it saves on office space. With workers taking turns attending a centralized office, smaller spaces mean cheaper leases, reduced utilities, and increased operational flexibility. This allows your company to pivot quickly when the situation calls for it.
Granted, that also means implementing big changes in a given office space—as well as ensuring that returning office workers understand the new operations. Things like hot-desking—which is when different employees share the same workspace, just at different times—and scheduling space assignments have rapidly become staples of a hybrid workplace.
Safety guidelines, such as social distancing, disinfection schedules, and space limitations must also be maintained. With this in mind, solutions need to leverage AI and automation to streamline the process and minimize its demand on managers. Smarten Spaces contains analytics and algorithms to ensure that everything runs smoothly, and is curated to match your unique needs.
Make the Meeting Room Smarter
Along with desks and workspaces, meeting rooms have undergone a transformation in the last few years. Zoom meetings and all things remote have become key methods of making a hybrid workplace run smoothly. While central meeting spaces are still valuable, they serve much more flexible uses in a hybrid workplace. That means changing fundamental presumptions about how, when, and where meetings are held, as well as accommodating those who can’t attend in person through capable software. Booking meeting rooms and other scheduling tasks are paramount to ensuring that more limited space is divided up fairly and without a fuss. Smarten Spaces’ Hybrid Workplace features account for just that—allowing team members to reserve spaces and prioritize schedules as they see fit. It simplifies the equation for managers, enabling them to make meeting rooms smarter and benefit from improved efficiency.
Looking for Smart Hybrid Work Solutions? Smarten Spaces Is Here
The benefits of switching to a hybrid workplace are rapidly becoming too great to ignore, and companies that can smoothly transition into a hybrid work model are poised to take advantage of it in the future. The more your office plan is set up to engage your employees and facilitate their jobs, the more ready you all are to face the challenges and opportunities to come. Smarten Spaces is designed to be the optimum tool for implementing and managing a hybrid workplace. With scheduling features, health and safety guides, and centralized accessible data points, it lets you organize the complex needs of a hybrid workplace. If you’re looking into transitioning your business into a hybrid workplace, or you have already implemented one and need an organizational tool to help stay on track, contact Smarten Spaces today!