‘Three keys to unlocking hybrid work successes’

With around 40 per cent of the global workforce considering leaving their current jobs at the end 2021, employers are told to be incredibly thoughtful about how they approach the new world of work.

Dubbed hybrid work, the new approach sees employees being given the freedom and flexibility to divide their time between working in an office and working remotely.

Speaking at the virtual Microsoft 365 ‘Summit: Future of Hybrid Work’, Regional General Manager for the Middle East and Africa Multi-Country Region at Microsoft, Ibrahim Youssry, explained that companies must approach this next phase of work quite carefully because it will fundamentally impact who stays, who goes, and who seeks to join their teams.

According to Youssry, one must not forget that the mass move to remote working has had several downsides. For starters, an influx of virtual meetings and digital communication is causing employees to experience digital exhaustion. And a lack of spontaneous interaction can result in much siloed thinking because there is little opportunity for people from different teams to collaborate around how to solve a problem or to share creative ideas.

“Our recent Work Trend Index Report shows that flexible work is here to stay. Based on surveys from over 30,000 workers, in 31 countries, and drawing on data pulled from applications like Teams, Outlook and Office 365, the report also reveals that hybrid work is hard.”

“How you shape your business culture going forward, what you do to attract and retain talent, how you respond to changes in your working environment and how you approach future innovation will all be key to success in the coming years,” Youssry noted.

He continued by outlining three interventions that businesses can implement to ensure that they get hybrid work right: enabling extreme flexibility; taking a proactive approach to company culture; and prioritising inclusion.