Hybrid working is here stay. So how do you make it work for your business long term?
Just read our strategy guide.
Just three years ago, we all had to react fast to keep our businesses going during one of the most challenging periods we’ve ever faced.
This has changed everything. Today, people in businesses are further apart than ever with some at home, some in the office and some hybrid working. Many employees now like working this way and don’t want to go back.
People’s mind-sets have changed too. Employees now have different requirements, from where they work, what sense of purpose they see in their role and even what their employers are doing to support their well-being.
So the first question we’re all facing is, ‘How can we meet these new needs and make hybrid working work for our business in the long term?’
Hybrid working has brought us big benefits
This mixture of home and office working has certainly transformed the business landscape – for the better.
47% of people say hybrid working has contributed to their well-being, 78% say they have a better work-life balance, and 52% say they have fewer distractions. But it’s also brought fresh challenges for employers and their staff. More people are feeling lonely, more people want more from their company’s technology, and many people don’t feel part of the team like they did in the office.
In fact, this is a generational shift, and no-one can seem to agree on how to move forward. Surprisingly, 18 to 24-year-olds are some of the biggest advocates for office working with only 30% taking fully remote roles. Whilst 24 to 36-year-olds want remote working with 54% of this age group currently in remote roles. Meanwhile, the 50+ age group are feeling isolated and left out in this dispersed working world. The upshot of all of this is that 1 in 5 Brits now want a fully remote job.
In short, with such varying needs to meet, it’s no longer what your employees can do for you, it’s what you can do for your employees.
But many businesses don’t want to upset the status quo. It’s human nature. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But with this transformational change in workplace culture, attitudes and requirements, companies have to stop resisting change and re-evaluate what they need to do to be successful in the future.
So the second big question is, ‘How can we shape hybrid working to keep everyone happy and still keep our business in profit?’
Well, we believe the answer is careful preparation and planning in four key business areas:
Understand the changes you need to make
First of all, carry out a 3 R’s review.
- Respond – Start by writing down all the changes you made to keep your business going when the pandemic and lockdown first hit us all in 2020.
- Reflect – Re-examine these changes and see if they still match your goals and workspace today. See if there are any additional gaps you need to address for the future.
- Reassess – After these two stages, you should now be able to write a plan framework to help shape your business going forward.
If you would like support in reviewing your strategy, book a bespoke IT Strategy Workshop.
Modernise your IT infrastructure
The infrastructure needed for businesses is constantly changing. But now more than ever, companies are experiencing the biggest shift in their tech requirements.
With a dispersed workforce, businesses are moving away from traditional on-site hardware and are using cloud technologies, or a mixture of the two. So a good place to start is by understanding the cloud and the benefits it brings to your working model – whether it’s purely remote, purely office or a hybrid working model.
Above all, your infrastructure should be easy to manage, ready to scale, and built to protect your precious data and systems. The best IT infrastructures achieve this seamlessly and help your business to respond faster when it counts.
We can advise you on your IT infrastructure, cloud technologies and hybrid working. To find out more, click here.
Transform your workspace – wherever it is
The workspace is where work gets done. But nowadays it’s not always defined where the ‘workspace’ is. Nevertheless, the tools and technology your business has should empower and enable every member of your team, and take their individual requirements into account.
But your business is not like any other. And your people have unique ways of working. So, creating a “way of working” guidelines with YOUR people, will set expectations while understanding how your team prefers to work. Cover things like, where, when, how, what, when it comes to working. Because the key to modern working is allowing your people to work in a way that is most productive and effective for them. By working with your team on a document that establishes modern working, you’ll soon benefit from improved communication, collaboration, and a boost in productivity.
ComputerWorld’s workspace transformation consultants can advise you on many aspects of your team’s workspace. This will allow your staff to work on any device, anywhere, at any time, using both legacy Windows applications and modern applications from the cloud such as Microsoft 365.
Maximize the power of Microsoft 365 for your teams. Book your Microsoft 365 Maturity Workshop now!
Make sure you’re fully protected
Not surprisingly, cybersecurity is at the top of many people’s thoughts. 39% of businesses in the UK experienced a cyber-attack in 2022 – 89% of these were phishing attacks and 21% were more sophisticated malware or ransomware attacks. In addition, a staggering 31% of these businesses estimate they were attacked at least once a week.
Clearly, as we’ve changed how we work, we need to radically change how we protect our data. But don’t just pay more money to plug potential issues on an ad hoc basis. You should review your current data and how you work, then assess which security technology would be the best for your needs.
If you would like support with cybersecurity strategies, click here.
Don’t strategize alone – Get more by working together
So it is clear, the business landscape has changed rapidly. So businesses and their individual needs have changed quickly too. Every company has had to create its own unique structure and way of working.
So it’s now more important than ever that companies set a direction and IT strategy that will equip them to meet the challenges of the future. Technology shouldn’t limit your workplace, but enable your teams to grow and achieve your company’s goals.