Here at Boxpod, we make sure that we are up to date with the latest workplace trends. It helps us to ensure that we offer the workspaces that businesses are looking for, regardless of their particular circumstances. One of the trends that we have been seeing growing over the past few years, but especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, is the concept of hybrid working – the idea that employees can work a mixture of on premises – an office or workshop, for example, and remotely – at home or in a flexible-workspace.

Hybrid working can be beneficial for employees, giving them more flexibility, less commuting, and potentially better productivity, and also beneficial to employers – better productivity, happier employees, and potentially the opportunity to downsize their premises.

Along with these benefits, however, come certain challenges. They mean that businesses need to take a new approach to certain aspects of the way that they function – how they build company culture, the technology that they use, and how personnel communicates with each other, for example.

The 5 C Challenges of Hybrid Working

When it comes to the challenges associated with hybrid working, they can be categorised into five categories:

• Communication
• Co-ordination
• Connection
• Creativity
• Culture

1. Communication

When it comes to ensuring that communication does not suffer when there is hybrid working within an organisation, they will normally turn to technology. Applications such as Zoom or Teams enable as well as mobile phones and WhatsApp can all be useful in encouraging communication.

This means, however, that devices must be allocated to employees, and (importantly for us here at Boxpod), the commercial property must be able to accommodate this technology. This means that you should have good internet connections in the commercial property, as well as appropriate spaces within the premises to hold these meetings.

In addition to this, other forms of communication should be considered – do staff working in certain areas within the business (HR or Accounts, for example) need more privacy to carry out their work? Is an open-plan office best for all of your staff? Would some of them benefit from being in a smaller office when they are on the premises and not remote working?

With more of your staff working on computer systems, and other technological requirements, you might need to consider the need for more space for servers and data storage.

2. Co-ordination

Regardless of the way that you intend to run your hybrid working, there will need to be a degree of coordination. This is always the case when employees are working in different locations. Some of the co-ordination issues include organising where each staff member will be sitting should they be in the office (do you need a desk-booking system, for example?), determining how colleagues should communicate between themselves and co-ordinating any resources that are needed in order for this to happen.

Another aspect that should be looked at includes identifying how to ensure that all colleagues are involved in making certain decisions if they are not physically on the commercial property.

3. Connection

The term ‘connection’ refers not only to the need for the right technology to enable hybrid working, but also looks at the social connections that can often be lost in these circumstances. The shared workspace can be a great place for networks and mentoring, as well as for motivation, for example. Businesses should look at how they are going to encourage this.

This impacts your commercial property through the physical installation and enabling of technology, but also in layout – designing spaces that are suitable for collaborative working, where networking can take place, creativity thrives, and social connections are built.

4. Creativity

It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what inspires people. But we do know that often it is related to the environment that you are in – and who you are with. If you are looking for creativity, it can often be very beneficial to be together with other people – a concept often known as ‘collective creativity’. Of course, spaces can be made within the commercial property to accommodate the need for collective creativity, but this might require more planning and, therefore, less fluidity or spontaneity in the creative process.

Likewise, it is also believed that individual creativity can improve according to who is around. This is another consideration that should be made when you are deciding whether hybrid working is appropriate for some or all of your employees.

5. Culture

One of the biggest aspects to consider when you are thinking about hybrid working and more specifically about your commercial property is company culture and your corporate identity. Without having employees in the same building as you and being able to influence attitudes within the business through the commercial property, it can be difficult to implement and maintain the company culture that you want.

With technology such as AI and automation that might be used more frequently with hybrid working, it can be easy to lose the personal touches that are important to a company’s culture. This means that you should try to find ways that you can add these personal touches – perhaps do not automate everything, make an effort to get to know the staff (and for them to get to know each other), and enable face-to-face contact as much as possible when staff are on premises.

You can try to enhance your corporate identity through the design of your commercial property – perhaps incorporating company branding, deciding on whether you would like an open-plan office, a collection of enclosed offices, or a mixture of the two.

Final Thoughts

Businesses today not only have to think about how they treat their customers and how they look to the outside world, but they also need to look at how attractive they are as an employer and look after and motivate their workforce. Hybrid working is one way that businesses are moving forward, but in order for it to work properly, there are a number of considerations that need to be made – and this includes how your commercial property will work for you.

Here at Boxpod, we have a range of different commercial properties to suit your needs. So why not have a look through them and choose which one works best for you?

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