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What is the Hybrid Work Model, and What are its Advantages?

The hybrid work model is something that is going to be around for a while. Its advantages lie in its flexibility and almost endless scope for tweaking to fit your specific needs.

Published

2 months ago

June 12, 2021

TwinzTech

The Art of the Office. How to Create a Productivity-Focused Workplace

Operating from home is more prevalent than ever. In 2020, offices closed their doors, and everyone fired up their laptops and got comfortable at their dining tables (usually in their pyjamas).

But now, as lockdowns lift and people start to assemble again, will traditional office work ever be the same?

Do I Have to Go Back to the Office?

Yes…no. Maybe? I don’t know! That’s up to you or your manager.
The hybrid work model involves a mixture of working from home and the office.
The specifics come down to your office, your team, your management choices.
It’s important to note the various options for a hybrid work model; there’s no ‘one size fits all.’

Table of Contents

1. Remote First

Popular in the first lockdown. Everyone worked remotely, as it was the safest thing to do, and it meant businesses could still run. Although many workers reported still being in favour of this model over a year later, it does have some downsides.

Collaboration is strictly online, and the social aspect of work is affected, which can be detrimental to staff’s mental well-being. With the full WFH model, annual retreats and social events are encouraged (where safe to do so) to ensure the community aspect of the office is not lost.

2. Office First, Remote Allowed

This is almost the normality we knew so well before the pandemic. Most staff in the office, apart from a few remote workers. These workers should be selected for specific reasons by management to ensure their work is not affected, and they don’t feel alienated from the rest of the team.

This can guide a disconnect between the workers at home and everyone else in the office, so cycle the remote staff wherever possible, to ensure a happy and well-functioning workforce.

3. Office occasional

The best of both worlds. A small permanent team should be established to work from the office – ideally management. The rest of the staff then split their work time between the office and remote work. This is known as a hybrid workforce model. How this decision is made is purely down to your company’s needs and your employees’ work/life balance.

5 Ways to Make a Positive Workplace Culture

While some businesses have opted for complete relaxation of any restrictions or rotas, guidelines are recommended to prevent too much of a swing one way or the other. Too many people at home – productivity may suffer. Too many people in the office – the workplace is no longer safe.

How you split your team is up to you, but here are some of the most popular models.

4. Split-week

When possible, keep teams together, divide the week up into WFH/WFO, and utilize a hybrid work schedule. Some teams won’t collaborate in person, but everyone gets a fair share of their time in the office with the leadership team.

5. Shifts

This can be off-putting to most office workers who are used to 9-5, but it has some minor advantages. Breaking the day into an early and late shift allows people to enjoy longer lie-ins one week and early finishes the next. However, it also means extending opening hours and asking your staff to juggle any childcare or other arrangements they may have.

6. Week-by-week

Split the whole team and assign them a week in the office and a week at home. It eliminates any unwanted overlap that could occur midweek with the split-week model and allows your staff to settle into a whole week of a different work environment. It also eliminates any unfairness that could arise from undesirable shifts or the uneven carving up of the week.

The hybrid work model is something that is going to be around for a while. Its advantages lie in its flexibility and almost endless scope for tweaking to fit your specific needs. And while it is essential to keep your business running smoothly and keep the numbers in the black, it’s vital that workers’ health, safety, and well-being aren’t being overlooked. So to discuss the different options with your teams and give the other models a try!

Business

How To Efficiently Improve Employee Attendance And Workforce Management

Efficiently Improve Employee Attendance And Workforce Management. Curate an Authentic Attendance System, Take Notice of Consistent Behavior

Published

7 days ago

July 27, 2021

TwinzTech

How To Efficiently Improve Employee Attendance And Workforce Management

Workplaces were given strict protocols and tight restrictions for all employees to follow. However, these days the inside workings of most offices have become more flexible and unattached. There is room for employees to work as they like, whether it involves behaving abruptly inside the professional setting or taking as many leaves as they want.

While today’s era allows more freedom in any social environment you are, and of any gender or race, some managers or leaders may take it a little too far and allow absenteeism to reign.

The most problematic disadvantage of such allowance can be the discipline that keeps the employees and professional buildings in line gets distorted, and employees feel biasness or morale being trampled.

For this reason and several others its crucial to start analyzing and straightening the time and attendance system of your employees with the following tips:

Table of Contents

1. Curate an Authentic Attendance System

Curate an Authentic Attendance System

Keeping up with employees’ absents, sick leaves, incomplete timings, and more details on attendance can be challenging for HR personnel, whether working for a big company or not. For this reason, it can be challenging to have a manual system for attendance for employees and the hr in keeping up with and extracting records.

If there are mistakes in the records, it can become an issue when an employee is falsely accused or given more allowance than the off days they took. Both could end up causing a lot to your business. Even if there is a manual system for attendance marking, your facility should invest in time and attendance software for automating accurate record keeping.

2. Take Notice of Consistent Behavior

An employee taking uninformed leaves once or twice a month may not hurt your company as much, but if one starts to make it into a normal thing to call an off day every day, the behavior shouldn’t be tolerated.

For this reason, it’s best to take notice of such offenders as soon as possible and keep track of their behavior after giving them a warning. Ensure not to tolerate more than that could hurt the office environment and give a bad name to the company.

3. Put Up Consequences

The strict observations and regulations used by managers to govern employees closely and restrain any freedom inside workplaces may not be practical today but can be used to some extent.

If your fear that your employees are starting to get too relaxed and don’t fear the system at all, maybe it’s time to show some authority.

This can be done by creating policies and showing your dissatisfaction with absenteeism. Ensure to add exact consequences to violation of the company policy for taking more than defined off days for no serious reason.

4. Set Expectations

Besides making clear cuts and company policies regarding employees taking off days more than required, ensure a system for setting expectations.

Managers can inform these expectations and guidelines regularly to employees and to those that get newly recruited. Such expectations can help your employees feel the company’s burden and make them perform their duties satisfactorily.

5. Macro Manage

While it’s better to survellie absenteeism and the offenders closely and make them accountable for their faults, it’s best to allow some space as well. Give your employees freedom and will enable them to explain the reasons for their absences.

It can Abe that there is a big issue behind their leaves that they cannot overcome at home or involving their health. Terminating or suspending an employee without listening to their explanations may cost you a lot.

Maybe you can give them advice on their situation or allow flexibility in their office timings to help them complete office hours and lessen absents as much as possible.

6. Manage Record

After automating the system and collecting data on attendance, it’s essential to maintain a record of everything for future reference.

These attendance records can tell you a lot about your employees’ behavior and any unwanted behavior regarding taking absents.

You can recognize that the employees are the tardiest and take the most off days in a month and allow a solution for such lethargy. This data can help you straighten out the absenteeism in your company and make way for the highest productivity and office staff use.

7. Create a Follow-up Culture

After employees return from their off day and begin doing their work on a routine basis, ensure one-on-one with them. However, don’t make this meeting too stressful by asking direct questions and inquire about their health and issues that made them take a day off.

This meeting will help your employee learn that you care for their wellbeing and sustenance on a personal level. You will also help them feel relaxed and tell you their worries effortlessly. In return, you’ll get to know the right way to deal with the employee and provide solutions.