The latest data shows hybrid or virtual work continues to deliver advantages to both employees and their organizations, and are now a permanent fixture across the business landscape. However, only 26% of executives indicate they have strongly pivoted to these approaches, which have upended traditional notions of corporate culture. Building a productive culture is still a work in progress for many.
That’s the takeaway from a survey of 2,000 executives and employees with medium to large enterprises, conducted by HFS Research, in partnership with Unisys. The survey found a wide chasm between the perceptions of managers and employees for hybrid or virtual work: Nearly half of employees (49%) believe their hybrid work environments operate very effectively, compared to only 33% of employers.
Industry observers agree that executives and managers still haven’t completely bought into the concept of employees setting their own schedules and work locations. “Managers are now forced to learn a new skill set for managing remote work,” says Dr. Christian Busch, director of the global economy program for the Center of Global Affairs at New York University and the author of The Serendipity Mindset. “While this is difficult, a manager set to work on this uncertainty and overcome such will likely yield the best results.”
A viable corporate culture needs to be developed that recognizes the autonomy of employees as a key productivity tool. “Giving employees a wide range of options to do their best work in a fashion that maximizes their contribution and productivity is a key lever to drive a positive culture,” says Kemi Akinsanya-Rose, chief operating officer of Cambium Learning Group. “With these flexible work options comes responsibility and accountability - leaders must trust their employees and vice versa in this virtual workplace contract. Without trust and ongoing communication, a high-performing virtual organization is hard to realize.”
Individual empowerment in the workplace is also an essential piece of a supportive culture — something of which many managers aren’t quite on board yet either. Seven in 10 employees (70%) in the HFS-Unisys survey state decision-making power is a critical factor for their motivation, compared to only 57% of management citing this as being important.
Such a virtual or hybrid-oriented culture is based on an understanding of “the complexities and challenges of engaging their employees virtually and actively works with those challenges to ensure employees feel heard and valued,” Busch relates. “It proactively responds to uncertainty by tackling employee isolation and collaboration difficulties.” As part of such a forward-looking culture, Busch urges extended childcare benefits, manager training, employee training, and support for employee mental health. Importantly, he adds, organizations need to “create realistic plans for managing workloads, along with a clear set of rules for when an employee must be available.”
There is a case to be made for hybrid arrangements, in which people have opportunities to interact and work in person on a regular basis. “The least experienced workers need the office the most,” says Busch. “Those who did not have much in-person experience prior to the pandemic feel they are lacking valuable professional experience. Studies suggest these workers are less productive and value in-person meetings more so than their experienced colleagues.”
Technology is an important part of the equation as well. Of the employees surveyed by HFS and Unisys, 62% indicate access to technology as a highly motivating factor in their work performance. Technology “can be a powerful tool to offer leaders and employees ways to collaborate and communicate effectively — across time zones, countries, and modalities,” says Akinsanya-Rose. “This provides better access to information flow, more opportunities to collaborate across teams, and new ways to build relationships peer-to-peer and with senior leaders. My hope is that leaders actually use technology creatively and intentionally to create a more level playing field for employees who want to develop and grow in their careers.”
Still, she cautions, “virtual companies that lack the infrastructure — tools and technology — and routines to drive a sense of community for their employees can turn into places that lack a meaningful culture. When organizations lack intentionality around setting up their virtual culture, employees suffer the consequences of feeling disconnected from the mission or purpose of the organization and how they contribute to the purpose. My worry is this disconnection may have a downside impact on the organization’s quality of products and services.”
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April 30, 2023 at 10:30PM
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Hybrid And Virtual Workplaces: Employees Love Them, Managers Are Still Uneasy - Forbes
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