The future workplace team at the University of Leeds have published a new report ‘Where is Your Office Today?’, a research-led guide to effective hybrid working. The report starts by recognising that the pandemic has changed what it means to ‘go to work’ for many people and this has changed employees’ and organisations’ preconceptions over ‘what’ a workplace is and led to a broader rethink of ‘how’ we work in a much broader sense. In summary:

• The report identifies five different common types of hybrid working, each of which have different implications for the type and amount of office space required:
  • free hybrids: workers with high levels of autonomy over both ‘when’ and ‘where’ they work (including work beyond the home or workplace, such as in cafes)
  • timeless hybrids: workers who have high levels of individual control over ‘when’ they work their hours, commonly highly independent individuals who are judged on outcomes rather than time-based measures, but who may have little control over ‘where’ they work
  • nomadic hybrids: workers who work from multiple locations with the freedom to choose ‘where’ they work (eg employer’s office, co-working space, home, café or beachside), but who have little control over ‘when’ they work (commonly working to specific agreed hours)
  • fixed hybrids: workers who have the least freedom over ‘where’ or ‘when’ they work, with both their work locations and work hours being fixed or highly controlled by their employer
  • balanced hybrids: workers who have some control over both ‘where’ and ‘when’ they work, but within specific boundaries set by the employer
• The report suggests that leaders need to be clear about what hybrid working means for their organisation and identify the level of control they will exercise over hybrid workers (which may differ across groups of workers)
• The report also highlights some of the tensions associated with hybrid working:
  • it risks creating a two-tier workforce split between those who can work flexibly and those who cannot, and this can create tensions between different groups of staff
  • tensions may occur when employees seek to retain high levels of personal control and prioritise their own individual work-life balance or personal productivity over accepting greater office working or coordinated work schedules. The report recommends that managers need to clearly articulate the purpose and benefit of office working and stress that ‘me does not always beat we’
• The report suggests that there remain benefits of performing some work in the office and notes that the most influential ‘pull factors’, which encourage workers to work in the office, are task or role related (eg jobs needing particular equipment or feedback) and supporting colleagues (eg training new starters who need to gain an understanding of organisational culture and practices and learn vicariously from colleagues)
• Designing an effective hybrid workplace is described as a ‘socio-technical problem’, which effects all aspects of ‘work’ and which to be successful requires knock-on changes to IT, work processes, organisational goals and culture. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach (either for all employers, or all staff) and trade-offs are likely to be necessary. Agile or activity-based workspaces, which provide a degree of flexibility and variety of workspace can provide a pragmatic solution for organisations with employees undertaking a wide range of work tasks and variable level of office occupancy. A key question employers should ask themselves is ‘what [does] success looks like for a hybrid workplace?’ 

The full report can be downloaded here.