How to maintain maximum productivity while hybrid working

Hybrid working is one of the many things that have been normalised by the pandemic. With many leaders forced to adapt to an unfamiliar way of working, it’s understandable if productivity was to be hindered.

However, there are some ways that employers can ensure that their efficiency is maintained while utilising hybrid working. After all, many agree that it’s here to stay, which makes learning these skills all the more important.

YuLife discussed these themes in its Building and Leading High-Performing Teams in the Era of Hybrid Work report. According to the study, leaders must recognise the wants and needs of employees. YuLife labelled employee happiness as “one of the best investments you can make to improve your company”.

Hybrid work may be the route to go down to boost this happiness. According to Forbes, 68 per cent of employees prefer hybrid work. This is a far cry from just 8 per cent who prefer full-time onsite work.

What makes these statistics more crucial is how far employees will go for flexible working arrangements. YuLife revealed that 87 per cent of office workers would accept another job if it offered hybrid work.

Providing these sorts of benefits can be what makes or breaks a company in today’s competitive workforce. Social Chain chief executive and co-founder Steven Bartlett believes it’s crucial for retention.

“I think that organisations that will retain people the best, get the best out of their individuals, have the happiest individuals, will provide much more than financial remuneration,” said Mr Bartlett.

Leadership who is wary of the impacts company culture has on performance are already one step ahead of those who aren’t. According to YuLife, chief executives who measure culture double the odds that strategies are fully executed and triple the total return to shareholders.

Trust is an important component in effective hybrid working. If employers do not trust their workforce to work effectively without supervision, then the system can fall apart. However, some argue that the traditional hierarchical business structure is a thing of the past, as the new world of work has pushed it out.

“Modern leaders decentralise and empower. They build more egalitarian organisations that rely on self-management, the judgement of those nearest to the customer and simple rules,” commented Dom Hawes, Selbey Anderson’s chief executive.

“These businesses are extremely flexible, fast to react and can be more profitable too. If a leader can’t enable their team to make almost every decision for themselves, they are hiring the wrong people.”

While it is important that leaders build upon culture and happiness, performance still needs to be maintained. A beneficial skill when managing hybrid working teams is the ability to recognise a high-performing team, as well as a poor-performing team.

Denise Millard, Perrys Motor Sales chief executive, believes being able to tell the difference is an important leadership quality: “There’s beauty in silence. I’ve gathered great insight from sitting back and observing team dynamics. Understand how team members interact with each other, the different personalities, who works particularly well and under what conditions, and which team members possess a specific skill set. This will help in allowing you to recognise at what point changes need to be made.”

According to YuLife, the top three characteristics of a high-performing team are:

1. Ambition
2. Alignment
3. Accountability