What TYPE of Hybrid Workforce?

Many of us will head to an office with colleagues in the near future (if not already). We may be in office full-time or part-time. Some of us will be remote full-time or part-time.

We’ve been using the term “hybrid” to describe any permutation of an in office + remote workforce or working group. At Live in Their World, we’ve identified three variations of a hybrid organization or working group, each with its own advantages and challenges. One differentiator is whether any employees are what we call blended employees—those who are part-time in office and part-time remote.

· Full-Time Mix (Hybrid Variation #1): Employees are a mix of full-time in office and full-time remote.

· Come Together (Hybrid Variation #2): All employees are on the same blended schedule, so that they are all in the office part-time (to collaborate and for team building), and they all work remotely at the same time (often to focus on individual work).

· Employee Flex Plan (Hybrid Variation #3): Employees are some combination of blended, full-time in office and/or full-time remote, depending on the specific job and employee preferences. Blended employees may be asked to come in specific days each week or month for collaboration, and/or be in office additional days, as they prefer. There may be set times when everyone—or most everyone—is expected to be in office (i.e., for intensive collaboration on projects.) Unlike Come Together hybrid, all employees are not regularly co-located or remote at the same time.

A note about equity among hybrid employees

There are several aspects of the remote work environment that can reflect or increase inequity. These include:

· internet service (which may be slower for some remote or blended employees than the in-office internet)

· poor workstation set up, leading to discomfort or pain

· distractions in the work area (e.g., noise, light, temperature)

· lack of access to free office supplies.

Organizations, and managers should address these inequities as much as possible.

(Note: For purposes here, part-time employees who always work remotely are considered full time remote; similarly, part-time employees who always work in the office are considered full time in-office. For remote employees, we don’t consider attending infrequent retreats in-person as in-office.)

© Copyright 2021 by Robin S. Rosenberg, Ph.D.