Hybrid Work is the Future… But There Are Some Challenges to Overcome

After the past few years, the hybrid workplace has risen in its perceived value, the benefits of allowing employees flexibility in where they work from becoming very clear. That said, while the hybrid workplace is much closer to a reality than ever before, there are a few hurdles that must be cleared first.

Let’s discuss some of these hurdles, and how they can be overcome.

Not Everything We Use is Compatible With Hybrid Work

As of right now, many businesses still rely on tools that—while perfectly workable in-house—aren’t particularly well-suited for remote work. As a result, hybrid work isn’t really a workable option for these businesses. Moving forward, these businesses will need to shift their focus to tools that are consistently reliable in either work environment.

This means that cloud solutions, digital communications, and mobile solutions will need to be embraced more than they are even now. On top of this, security will need to be refocused on remote workers to ensure they are fully secured wherever they are.

Hybrid is Currently Viewed As a Half-Measure to Keep Employees Local

Many employers have used hybrid work as a kind of leash to ensure that their employees remain local. After all, they need to be close enough to commute to the office when their in-house time comes. This effectively serves as the business version of testing the waters of fully remote work, leaving the employer free to pull their toe out and keeping everyone in house if they begin to feel too uncomfortable.

While these practices are understandable, they aren’t going to help a business remain competitive in the hiring market as other businesses currently offer hybrid and fully remote positions.

Labor Laws Focus on the Employee’s Location, Not the Employer’s

As the labor laws currently stand, they are based on the location of the employee, not the company they work for. This simply is no longer applicable to many employees, who may have to travel for work purposes, live in temporary housing, or otherwise break the convention. Some people who work completely remotely have no permanent address, acting as so-called digital nomads… many of whom are full-time employees. These new methods of work have resulted in calls to shift how labor laws are written to reflect on the employer’s location.

Culture and Management is Lacking for Hybrid Workers

Let’s face it… a lot of businesses just don’t know how to manage workers that are only in-house some of the time. Job performance needs to be evaluated differently, meetings need to adjust, never mind how these employees should be hired, organized into teams, and promoted. Policies need to be developed that standardize these processes before hybrid work can really take off.

Network Solutions Unlimited is here to help, at least in terms of equipping employees for their needs and supporting their technology. To learn more about how managed services can improve any work approach, give us a call at (217) 428-6449 today.