The flexible office practice was in existence in the past as well but hybrid workforce management needs complete strategy and technology to stand stronger than ever before.
Post-pandemic, when the global economy was upside down, there was growing urgency to cut operational costs. To survive in the market, it was only possible to reduce costs on company resources. However, businesses had to push their limits for achieving efficiency in the sudden growth of hybrid work in every industry.
In comparison to traditional working where shift hours are fixed, flexible working or hybrid work setup on the other side offer flexibility in working hours and locations. Hybrid working gives remote workers the opportunity to work from any location in the world. It presents the environment that remote workers can thrive only with laptops and reliable internet connectivity.
Though technological advancements have made it possible for remote workers to hold virtual meetings, store data in the cloud or any internal knowledge base software and so much more. However, hybrid workforce management is not possible without an employee productivity tracking tool. This enables the pathway to track accurate employee working hours, monitor their performance behavior, and keep data secure by blacklisting access to websites and applications. Let’s take an overview of flexible working and benefits it offers:
Remote working enables an increase in the productivity of remote workers. Now, they can have a better work-life balance. They can spend quality time with their families, attend to domestic chores and control their time to arrange their schedule. They save time on daily commuting which gives them ample opportunity to manage their time effectively.
Due to this, their motivation level is up. They have a better engagement with their peers and colleagues through interaction on Zoom or other platforms.
Even if they work in remote locations, with remote collaboration tools, integrated live chat tools, etc., they can feel connected to the organization. Through online training and periodic meetings with their managers, the workers get an opportunity to receive constant feedback.
Flexible working gives access to a talented pool of resources on a global scale which was limited in traditional working. Companies are gaining a lot due to their inclusion of diversity in their work culture. Newer ideas and out-of-the-box solutions are contributing to the productivity and profitability of the organizations. This ensures employee retention for quite a long time.
With flexible working, there has been a reduction in rental cost for an office building. There is also reduced pressure on the demand for ergonomic furniture, expenses on electricity, security, and logistics cost for transportation of employees through company transportation.
You can eliminate the stress, burnout, and common hassles of the daily commute with a flexible office. This gives employees extra time which they can use for other activities. Tiredness or work pressure gets reduced as flexible working offers to choose and maintain the schedule as per their own choices.
A remote worker while discharging their duties also gets an opportunity to look after their family and attend to domestic chores which may sometimes be urgent. They are able to spend quality time with their families and also able to perform their duties without the office tasks getting affected. This is achievable by using artificial intelligence tools which, for many organizations, act as a solution for work from home.
Tools like user activity monitoring software provide every user’s active and idle time to the supervisor. The worker can take certain breaks to refresh and recharge themselves. All of this is done with supervisor tracking which can also be used to enhance employee productivity during remote work.
Flexible working is gaining acceptance by a large number of companies. This trend continues to be on an increasing scale. There are some inherent advantages to it like lower cost of operations, low employee attrition, higher employee motivation and engagement, greater access to a pool of talent. But, if the implementation is not done properly and communicated, then this model will not work well for the organization and remote employees will not be productive.
Following are some of the ways through which a flexible office can work in the setup of the organization:
Proper planning is the key to success for any task. Likewise, management should have a detailed plan for the implementation of flexible working. This includes planning the migration from fixed office to flexible office. This plan should be free from loopholes with access to communication. Offer clarity for all employees about the intention of management for this migration.
To make flexible workers productive, effective communication channels are the key. Besides virtual online meetings, there should also be periodic interactions between managers and groups of employees. Managers should talk to employees and get updates on their current performance and plans. Integrating live chat tools and productivity tracking software can be useful in fostering communication and collaboration.
Train team leaders and managers in the process of migration from a fixed office to a flexible office. After all, success lies in effective management and control of remote workers. To ensure productivity from them, it is necessary to communicate the company’s expectations from them. This will encourage them to commit achievable and measurable targets on a day-to-day basis. Remember, in remote working, workers are away from the discipline of set working schedules.
Before rolling out the migration for the whole company, do it on a preliminary scale. Employee monitoring software for remote teams gives management an opportunity to remove bottlenecks. Especially during the implementation of flexible working. Thus, they can figure out how to properly manage remote workers. Eliminate such roadblocks using work from home monitoring software to ease the process for companies as well as employees.
Needless to say, a flexible office will continue to stay for a much longer period. As the change possibly becomes permanent, companies should be now more tech-savvy. While also ensuring continuity of operations in the present, and being relevant and tech-ready for the future. For that matter, productivity tracking software is already emerging as part of the new normal across global organizations.
