What is a Hybrid Team? Here’s everything you need to know
The demand for a more technological world has increased. A world where the virtual presence is as significant as the face-to-face scenario came unexpectedly with the pandemic. With this, the purpose of innovation in the management of companies has become even more critical. Managing a company offline and online is the new reality we live in, being a top priority.
Although the hybrid model looks like something new, it is already known by several large companies. We’re talking about a management model gaining more space after the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, where remote work has become almost mandatory for most people. How can Outsourcing relieve the pandemic economic effect — The Bridge
It is important to think that keeping remote work for at least part cannot be discarded even after quarantine. Remote work has already become an experience with a high acceptance by employees and even managers, who are now considering adopting the hybrid work model.
To better explain what hybrid work is and how it works, We wrote this post to make life easier for companies to understand a possible new way of running their business. Even more due to the various changes that we are going through in a short time.
Where hybrid teams came from
A hybrid team is one in which some employees work remotely while others work in the company’s office. Thus, the use of technology and its various tools make this reality possible and even more straightforward. As companies grow and develop, it is also necessary to adapt to the current demands of employees.
As the world and the job market are constantly changing and evolving, it is expected that your people’s needs are always up to change as well. And so, your company continues to grow. Remember that having a good team is essential, and nothing will work if they won’t always stay aligned, even from a distance. Learn more about how to build a good technology team with this article from Divisio.
According to Pew Research Center, millennials (those currently between the ages of 22–37) make up 35% of the US workforce, making them the majority of the active group. This study shows that this group is naturally digital and needs technology to do its job well, making it even easier when we talk about hybrid work and the need for the best of both worlds for your company.
With this perspective, we can see that companies’ old management model may not make so much sense when we talk about the current moment that we are living. The traditional model where the employee arrives at the office at 8 am, and leaves at 5 pm may be the least qualified.
Therefore, opening the door to new forms of work, management, and giving new meaning to work, is essential. From this, hybrid companies emerged.
What are hybrid companies?
These are companies with a new work model where employees have the autonomy to choose how, where and when they work. To explain it better, they allow employees to choose to work in an office, either remotely or alternating between the two. Hybrid teams allow employees to control working hours, when and where they want to work, and when they are most productive.
Gartner’s survey shows that 82% of Brazilian companies will continue to work remotely even after the pandemic. In parallel, according to another study by Robert Half, 86% of professionals would like to continue working at home.
It is a management model that focuses more on the result than on the employee’s work hours. In the past, that employee who arrived early and was the last to leave the company was the example to be followed. Nowadays, that means nothing if the result is not the most satisfactory.
Modern management means that the focus is on results, which are always better, and for this to happen, it is necessary to have productivity. To be productive, it is necessary to invest in comfort and flexibility. And to have efficient, autonomous people who produce like this, it is necessary to have a great internal culture. We call libertarian management, where there are few rules, a lot of cultures, and the freedom to make mistakes and get it right. Keeping your company’s culture always in your employees’ minds means that they are still in line with your needs as a company.
After evaluating whether the idea of having a hybrid company is the best solution, it is up to the company to stipulate how this rotation will happen, always keeping in mind the employees’ demands.
How can the hybrid model work?
Talking about this new management can scare the most conservative at first sight. After all, doesn’t work from home decrease productivity?
Studies show that an employee’s main reason to choose remote work is productivity and focus. We are talking about working in your home’s comfort, respecting your limits, and increasing your production even more since there is no need to take traffic jams, and you still have more flexibility. Here are some positives reasons for adopting the hybrid business model:
- Reduced traffic delays — employees do not have to deal with traffic stress and delays when arriving at their companies.
- Decentralization and more autonomy for employees — favor the collaborative culture. Giving more autonomy can mean giving your employees more motivation to carry out their tasks, which will come out with better quality.
- Optimizing activities with more dynamic production processes optimize processes makes everyone work better, avoiding future frustrations.
- Cost reduction is less expenditure on energy, internet, transportation vouchers or fuel assistance, and other related costs since there will always be a rotation. Not everyone will be at the company at the same time.
- Better time management — working from home at least part of the time, the employee can better manage his work and personal life.
The hybrid team is not restricted to just one work environment as employees are naturally different. Employees are managed in various ways as well. When this chance is given, we can see:
How often people work remotely
- 32% never / cannot
- 16% one day per month
- 21% more than one day per week
- 13% one day a week
- 18% always
It is up to your company to sell your culture in a way that shows the benefits of adopting a new style of work. Allow your employees to give their opinion, ask and answer all their doubts about how the process will happen — always maintaining transparency.
Studies show that companies that permit flexible work have better relationships between managers and employees. The barriers of old work models where C-LEVELS were locked in a room and a physical barrier are dissolving, as the contemporary culture allows team members at all levels to be able to bond, connect and grow together.
How to implement the hybrid model?
Invest in technology and necessary resources — your company must determine which tools to use, using platforms and applications that favor communication. The members of the same team, for example, need to follow each step of the creation process wherever they are.
- Communication: communication between managers and team members is crucial to align your company. There are tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
- Telephony: keeping in touch by phone calls can help you solve problems faster.
- Videoconference: promotes a sense of closeness and can function as meetings to define certain goals and activities. You can use Zoom, Skype, or Google Meet.
- Organization: keeping organization helps to maintain order in the company. Apps like Trello or Monday take care of showing the process of each project.
Prioritize security — The company must have a protection plan for its valuable data. Adopting the cloud system is also an ally for workers to have access, even from home, to the company’s virtual platforms and all available tools. The goal here is not to have important information leaked and even to prevent hacker attacks. Keep in mind the LGPD (General Data Protection Law), which guarantees your data protection. Investing in solutions like virtual private networks (VPN) and secure Wi-Fi can also help.
Although having and managing a hybrid team brings several challenges, where without a doubt the biggest is to create and maintain the culture, technology also helps to fill the gaps needed and create a work environment that allows remote, or office, or shared work. Here are some tips for that:
How to manage the hybrid model in your company
Here are some tips:
- Specify which job will be a priority for the remote and a preference for the face-to-face. For example, You can use remote work for tasks that need high concentration or take a long time, the deep work. On the other hand, face-to-face activities require more socialization, such as brainstorming and meetings, for example.
- Define the number of days or weeks that will be in person or remote. Go according to your need. Some companies choose to share with three weeks of remote work and 1 of face-to-face work, and others do it only once a month, as well as some choose more than once face-to-face in the same week. There is no correct answer here. Assess what will be best for you.
- Always keep track of your team’s productivity, and see how they are dealing with the combination of the remote and office models. Using new means to keep track of your team’s productivity, even at home, can help keep everything on track. Thus guaranteeing a better performance of workers, wherever they are.
- Adapt internal communication with tools that enable more significant interaction and communication between your staff. Communication must remain clear and continuous regardless of who is working at home or in the office.
- Always maintain your company’s organizational culture, always promote actions to help in this regard. Maintaining this culture is paramount for your company. It is your set of values, mission, and vision about the world. But, it is also composed of organic actions and is acquired by perception and awareness daily. As the culture is fluid, changeable, and is present in each of the collaborators, it is also essential to maintain the need to follow the impacts generated by the changes and seek to create connections, preventing people from feeling like simple employees must deliver something to you.
A study by Capterra- software search and comparison platform with 409 employees of small and medium-sized companies ( with up to 250 employees) from various sectors across the country- concluded that 47% of the SMEs interviewed had no business continuity management plan. It was necessary to allocate financial resources overnight to keep the company running and adjust to the pandemic’s new reality, as is the example of the businesses that needed to restructure to deliver calls.
Never let your company reach the peak of its pain. Always take action before the situation becomes uncontrollable. Therefore, always remain attentive to the results of your company and your needs. We are talking about a great acceleration and digital transformation.
According to the CEO of Divisio, Luiz Eduardo Figueiredo: “If you are not a technology company, then become one, or your days will be numbered.”
Conclusion and the future of teams: Smart Hybrid Teams
After seeing all of this, we can conclude that our reality jumped about five years from what we would call a technological revolution — making changes that should happen gradually become a priority to be executed as quickly as possible.
Thus, we can see the importance of technology today and the need to integrate this into your work model. All companies are technology companies now.
We have also seen that the hybrid work model is the new future and is already being implemented in most companies. Despite being used even before the pandemic, it is only gaining momentum.
The idea now is to do the best for your company and prevent it from going backward or even falling behind in the market. Therefore, if you have not yet adopted this new management mode, it is time to embrace it and put it into practice as soon as possible.
Returning to the offices entirely is not the best way for your profits and production to increase even more. In this way, the experiences generated by remote work, even during the pandemic, can now be used to make your hybrid model even more successful.
And if you want to know what the future of these hybrid companies will be, download our e-book and learn how to keep your company always ahead and stand out, not just being one more in the market. We aim to make a difference for you and your company in the best possible way. Learn more about Smart Hybrid Teams.
3 strategies of fortune 500’s that you should be using to grow your team
For a long time, remote work was seen as something rare, or even an extra luxury so that employees could work in the comfort of their homes. With the changes in the current scenario, we were basically forced to jump into the future. Get your free copy now.
