Now, well into the pandemic, the limitations and the benefits of remote work are clearer. Although many people are returning to the workplace as economies reopen—the majority could not work remotely at all—executives have indicated in surveys that hybrid models of remote work for some employees are here to stay. The virus has broken through cultural and technological barriers that prevented remote work in the past, setting in motion a structural shift in where work takes place, at least for some people. The organization sets the days and times employees are allowed to work remotely or go into the office.
A survey of 248 US chief operating officers found that one-third plan to reduce office space in the coming years as leases expire. Currently, only a small share of the workforce in advanced economies—typically between 5 and 7 percent—regularly works from home. A shift to 15 to 20 percent of workers spending more time at home and less in the office could have profound impacts on urban economies. More people working remotely means fewer people commuting between home and work every day or traveling to different locations for work.
Types of hybrid work models
No matter how remote-oriented they are, all the previous models are considered hybrid as they involve at least the possibility of office work. This last one is the true remote model where the organization doesn’t have any office spaces or headquarters and everyone works remotely. The choose-your-own-adventure model actually offers multiple work models employees can choose from. It may sound like the flexible hybrid at first, but the main distinction is that this model asks employees to decide on one of the offered work arrangement options and stick to it. The partly remote model has numerous advantages for companies looking to expand beyond their physical range, but it needs to be implemented carefully in order not to make the remote teams feel second-tier.
- From an employee’s perspective, not all people want the same thing, but having more flexibility over work location could become a major factor for selecting job applications in the future.
- Being a caregiver to small children or an elderly parent can be a challenge with an inflexible, 9-to-5 schedule.
- Business and financial services are a large share of the UK economy, for example, and it has the highest potential for remote work among the countries we examined.
- That can be marketing, project management, customer service, accounting, or any number of other professions.
- After all, even in rich countries, the majority of the workforce shall be physically present to do the job.
- Scheduling time for the entire team to discuss the work they are doing through virtual meetings is a great way of presenting the same opportunities that office interactions offer.
- Office-first or office-based hybrid model requires employees to come to the office most of the time while allowing them to work remotely (usually from home) a fraction of their working time.
To make a floral designer’s job more remote would require dividing his various tasks among all employees in a flower shop. In contrast, credit analysts, database administrators, and tax preparers, among others, can do virtually all of their work remotely. In general, workers whose jobs require cognitive thinking and problem solving, managing and developing people, and data processing have the greatest potential to work from home. More than 20 percent of the workforce could work remotely three to five days a week as effectively as they could if working from an office. While many expect employee engagement to drop if employees aren’t going into the workplace every day, research shows that hybrid and remote work can improve employee engagement. In a recent survey, 79% of knowledge workers indicated that their engagement level has stayed the same or improved since they began working remotely.
Office-Occasional Hybrid Work Model
Scheduling time for the entire team to discuss the work they are doing through virtual meetings is a great way of presenting the same opportunities that office interactions offer. Leaders within your company will have to be open and intentional in their articulation of the overall goals and purpose of the work everyone is doing. You want to make sure that every employee, whether in the office or working remotely understands how their work is uniquely connected hybrid work from home to the overall aims of the company, and why it is important. Having your entire team at every level be aware of, and driving towards, a shared purpose is critical in building the culture that you want at the company. In striving to achieve a successful hybrid workforce the key is setting expectations early, taking into account workspace considerations, and setting clear boundaries. That further leads to a divide between office workers and remote workers.
To determine the overall potential for remote work for jobs and sectors, we use the time spent on different activities within occupations. Finance and insurance has the highest potential, with three-quarters of time spent on activities that can be done remotely without a loss of productivity. Management, business services, and information technology have the next highest potential, all with more than half of employee time spent on activities that could effectively be done remotely (Exhibit 2). These sectors are characterized by a high share of workers with college degrees or higher. Choosing the right collaboration solution is one of the most important decisions you’ll need to make as you adopt a hybrid work model.