Hybrid & People Experience: a new role for the new normal
How my role as Office Manager evolved with Hybrid Work
In March 2020 I started a new job at tb.lx by Daimler Trucks & Buses as an Office Manager. Back then, as the job title indicates, I had to manage and take care of an office. A week into my new role, the “virus that shall not be named” sent us all into remote work and I became the Office Manager without an office. Now, with tb.lx as a Hybrid company, my role evolved to creating the best work environment possible in the office and remotely.
What does an Office Manager do?
If you are not familiar with the responsibilities of an Office Manager, let me give you a little more insight. The role of an office manager might be different for each company, but for us it is someone who’s responsible for the smooth daily running of an office and administrative tasks, as well as the wellbeing and comfort of each person by creating the best environment of collaboration, focus, recharging and socialization between. We’re often the eyes and ears of the company.
An Office Manager with no office?
In the beginning of 2020, I was suddenly Office-less. The entire company was working from home and I was left wondering: “What do I do now without an office? Is there enough work for me? Do they still need me?”
At first, being remote seemed simple, but in reality, it didn’t make my job any easier — it’s the complete opposite actually. It turns out I had more than enough work from new pre-boarding and onboarding processes, to online events and activities, to keeping up with the wellbeing and Culture of the entire company. And since at tb.lx we think the hybrid set up is the future of work, the Office Manager role turned into a Hybrid & People Experience role.
Shifting the focus to Hybrid & People Experience
In this new role, the focus is on keeping the engagement and the culture alive, the people connected, and including remote workers as much as the people working in the office. As a Hybrid & People Experience, I still need to pay attention to the office and for that reason you may find me in there at least once a week to check if there’s enough food in the pantry and fridge, if there’s expenses to pay back, welcome kits to prepare for the new joiners, important documents to be signed, and the list goes on. Let’s deep dive into some of the key responsibilities:
1. Welcoming people remotely: Pre-boarding and onboarding processes
One of the biggest concerns in the remote office are new joiners, namely the pre-boarding and onboarding processes. Being inclusive and making new team members feel welcomed and integrated in the company culture even when joining remotely is a challenge. The first step we took was making it more personal than ever with an improved welcome kit, and the second step was making sure they have a proper set up at home (e.g.: monitor, keyboard, mouse, adapters needed, computer stands,…), just like they would have in the office.
As for the first day, the question was: “What’s the best way for people to meet each other?” We recreated the welcome breakfasts we used to do in the office in a virtual setting. Making sure that teams meet the new person is one step to keep the culture alive. As the facilitator of these online events, I create the invites for the call and break out the company into smaller groups where the new joiners speed meet & greet everyone. It’s also very important to take meeting fatigue into account here, so trying to gather more than one joiner each time is a good tip — for example, doing welcome breakfasts once a month, or once every two weeks.
2. Keeping up with Wellbeing and Culture
The real challenge is keeping the culture and engagement alive and making sure people continue to feel appreciated.
As the responsible for Hybrid & People Experience, to keep an eye on people’s wellbeing, instead of looking for them in their rooms and stopping by to say hello, I began scheduling virtual coffee breaks with the people that I usually talk to or those who don’t come to the office that often. At first, this might seem and feel forced, but after a while you get used to it. It’s all about making a conscious effort to reach out and ask “How are you feeling?” “How are you doing?” on an informal touchpoint. Just like you call a friend to check on them. Regarding the people that come to the office, since I go there quite often, I already have some insights on how they’re doing.
At tb.lx, we make sure to:
- Celebrate every milestone and accomplishment in their tb.lx journey:
— 🎉 Congratulate every employee for their 1st Month with us and for their company anniversary . - Support their personal life:
— 🍼 Send a maternity/paternity basket for the parents to be;
— 💐 Send flowers in case of wedding, for sick employees/spouses or in case of death. - Support socialization face to face:
— 🎈Organize some non-mandatory in-person events (e.g.: on the company anniversary, Summer Party Get-together, happy hours,…)
3. Documenting everything is even more important in Hybrid Work
Being distributed between home and office also means that we can’t rely on word-of-mouth or memory anymore, and people won’t just come to my desk if they have questions. So, another important step was documenting everything in a single source of truth. All the important information about the company and processes can be found online and is accessible to everyone.
And with documentation comes responsibility to make sure that the information flows properly and people know where to find it. To prevent it from being lost over time, we started a series in our company chat called “Did you know”, in which we weekly share a fact/curiosity about the company and we keep repeating them, stressing important information. It’s both a reminder for the ones that joined long ago, and new shots of information for the new joiners.
To sum up, here’s a side-by-side comparison of the “new normal” role
As a role that was born from necessity and is being defined on the go, the scope of a Hybrid & People Experience expert may be different for each company. And what is true for us today might improve and evolve tomorrow. We are eager to learn and make sure that working at tb.lx is a great experience regardless of where you are working from.
If you went through a similar change at work, let us know how your journey was. We’re curious to know what worked for you and what didn’t.
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And if you want to try the hybrid approach for yourself, we are hiring: tblx.io/careers
Catarina Capela works as a People Experience Specialist at tb.lx
