Hybrid working: Guidance for people professionals

The key steps to plan successful hybrid work include: 

• Agreeing an overall strategic position on hybrid (and broader flexible) working for the organisation and development of a policy and supporting guidance reflecting the strategy.  
• Defining hybrid working considering the specific organisational context. This might include several different forms of hybrid working even within one organisation, depending on role requirements. 
• Provision of training and ongoing development activity for people managers to support successful hybrid management and leadership. 
• Having effective approaches for potential challenges such as technology, employee wellbeing, inclusion and facilities. 

As a people professional there are considerations and systems that you will need to have in place to support hybrid working. It can be useful to consider all stages of the employee lifecycle. For example: 

1. Attraction of talent.  As hybrid and flexible working arrangements are highly desirable, these can form a key method for attracting talent to the organisation. Support talent acquisition by including information in recruitment advertising and company information. 
2. Include information about hybrid work opportunities in recruitment activities. Such information may support talent acquisition and help managers to have conversations about the organisation’s approach to such work during the acquisition process.  
3. Develop induction processes for hybrid workers. Processes for hybrid workers should include ways to assimilate company culture and values, as well as providing ways to build relationships with other hybrid team members.
4. Provide learning and development activities in hybrid workplaces to support long-term career development. 
5. Amend performance management systems or processes to account for hybrid working. When employees are working remotely or more flexibly, their performance may be harder to observe. Instead of assessing employees via time spent in the office (or in virtual meetings), managers will need to adjust to assessing performance through outcomes, contribution and value. Managers will not be able to monitor every aspect of an employee’s work when they are working remotely, nor should this normally be necessary. 
6. Ensure that reward and recognition strategies do not favour those in the office.
7. The inclusion and diversity aspects of hybrid working and in particular considering how hybrid working might support inclusion initiatives but also could increase the risk that some may be excluded through remote working.

Reflect hybrid working in the organisation’s flexible working policy. This should include: 

• Considerations of who (or what role types) are eligible for hybrid work.
• An outline of how employees can request hybrid work (or if it’s available to everyone).
• Providing guidance and training for managers on overseeing hybrid workers.
• Outlining how hybrid work intersects with other forms of flexible work in your organisation. 
• Determining whether hybrid work opportunities are formal and contractual or informal and ad hoc.
• Aligning with other related policies including, for example, expenses, IT usage, homeworking and data protection. 
• Setting out expectations for in-person attendance at the workplace, such as a number of days or specific events.

Where employees make a formal/statutory request for hybrid working through a flexible working policy (and the request is accepted) this will usually amount to a formal change to terms and conditions of employment. Hybrid working (and indeed other forms of flexible working) can also be undertaken on an informal basis without a contractual change. Organisations should make sure that employees and managers understand the differences and the implications of both. 

When communication is not well managed it can result in poor information flow, knowledge gaps, barriers to effective team working and exclusion of team members who are not in the office. Communication within hybrid teams needs to be more intentional as casual or ad-hoc conversations may be reduced. Effective communication needs to be seen as the responsibility of everyone in the team. 

Exactly how a hybrid team needs to communicate will vary depending on its size, the nature of the roles in the team and the specific type of hybrid working being undertaken. 

Communication can be enhanced by asynchronous tools such as Slack or chat functions in platforms such as Microsoft Teams. This allows people to have more schedule flexibility, as well as location flexibility, and reduces online meeting time.  

People professionals should ensure that your organisation’s systems are accessible in a remote location. Hybrid workers should be supported in fully using available technology.

It is essential to put in place appropriate security measures to ensure system, and data, integrity when employees are working away from the workplace. 

Remote access systems must support the practicalities of work as well as the health and wellbeing of the employee, including systems for the employee to meaningfully disconnect from work.   

Consider what equipment or technology will support effective and healthy remote working, including the provision of office furniture or mobile devices. 

Clarify your organisation’s position on what support they can provide and what is regarded as a work expense, considering the security of both organisational data and the IT kit itself. Make clear if the organisation will pay for any of the following:

• Workstations.
• Office chair.
• IT kit.
• Broadband costs.
• Home insurance.
• Energy bills.

Hybrid working requires a different skill set to managing a fully in-person team. Even if managers have managed remote team previously, organisations should still consider putting in place learning and development to ensure effective people management. This should include some of the following:

Manager support and training programmes should advise on the practical management of hybrid working arrangements. This might include:

• managing requests for hybrid work
• effective ways of working
• co-ordinating hybrid schedules
• managing hybrid meetings
• developing skills to ensure effective communication  
• remote performance management skills (see below)
• how to build relationships and collaboration
• ensuring inclusion and diversity
• technology skills
• applying and communicating policies of fairness and inclusion
• training and support on managing work-life balance.

As well as many benefits, hybrid working can bring with it specific challenges around work-life balance and managing the boundaries between work and home. Some people find that remote and flexible working supports their wellbeing, but others find that it can be a detractor.   

Consider the following to maximise the potential of hybrid work for wellbeing: 

• Providing training and support to employees on managing work-life balance whilst working in a hybrid way / working from home. 

• Offering training on digital wellbeing and having healthy habits in relation to technology use.  

• Helping managers to understand the potential wellbeing implications of hybrid working and equipping them to have appropriate wellbeing conversations.  

• Ensuring managers are aware of potential signs and symptoms of poor wellbeing or mental health, as these may be weaker whilst employees are working in a remote or hybrid way.

The Future Work Design project has developed a Home and Hybrid working stress indicator tool for home and hybrid workers that may be of use.

Instead of assessing employees via time spent in the office (or in virtual meetings), managers will need to adjust to assessing performance through outcomes, contribution and value. Managers will not be able to monitor every aspect of an employee’s work when they are working remotely, nor should this normally be necessary. 

Consider some of the following: 

• Ensuring that performance is based upon outcomes, objectives and results, supported by effective objective setting. This may need to be reflected in policies or management training.  

• Advising managers to have scheduled one-to-one time with team members on a regular basis to discuss performance, provide feedback and update objectives. 

• Having mechanisms to identify and reward great performance, as well as address poor performance with hybrid workers. Monitoring the outcomes of performance management, reward and recognition, can help to ensure that hybrid workers are not disadvantaged compared to those who more typically work in person. 

People professionals should ensure that all hybrid working arrangements allow for fair opportunities and voice. The CIPD provides dedicated guidance on how teams can aim to successfully work in a hybrid manner, including establishing trust, a fair distribution of work and a circular review process for monitoring the effectiveness of hybrid work.

When considering hybrid working practices relating to EDI, you may also consider some of the following:   

• Identifying where any inclusion risks may arise if employees move to hybrid working and how these can be mitigated. Different organisations may have different risks relating to inclusion and hybrid work. People professionals, working with managers and leaders, should consider what those specific issues and risks might be, and how they can be overcome. This should include understanding the impact on EDI on specific groups. Engaging with relevant employee groups will enable understanding of the specific challenges and development of appropriate solutions. This process can help organisations to develop tailored approaches to ensuring inclusion risks are mitigated. 
• Taking steps to ensure equality of experience between employees in the office and employees at home.  
• HR should consider monitoring how hybrid work is influencing applications for employment, internal movement, promotion and reward, as well as any performance management ratings. Wherever possible, these should be mapped against protected characteristics including age, disability or race. This will help to identify if hybrid work is leading to any unintended consequences for inclusion. 

Employees working in a hybrid way will observe how they are treated, relative to other individuals or employee groups within their organisation, or even employees within other organisations. This places a high bar for leaders and HR to address employee concerns, needs and desires. Failure to apply or communicate the concept of fairness will lead to divisiveness and potential unrest amongst employees who may feel isolated, frustrated, and even discriminated against.