Are You Equipped To Handle The New Hybrid Workforce?

With the possibility of the Indian vaccination drive completing its course by the end of this year, there’s hope for normalcy in 2022. Until then, remote and hybrid working continues. However, there seems to be an increasing need for a hybrid workforce as some business operations and functions demand it. This naturally changes the overall employee experience and the manner in which leadership needs to address this change. We’re a few months into this working style, but are you equipped to handle the new hybrid workforce for the long run?

Here’s what needs to be taken into account –

Flexibility, But With A Balance

The most remarkable thing about the hybrid model is flexibility. The power of working from anywhere, with anyone, is what saved many businesses from shutting shop during the lockdown. However, with this flexibility in the hybrid model, there needs to be a balance of which employee comes in to office when and along with who. A PwC research states that for the sake of maintaining a company culture, 68% of executives are of the belief that an employee should be in the office at least thrice a week. Identifying these clusters is not simple, and therefore leadership and HR teams must chalk out a role-specific plan that favours all, while also being cautious of the prevalent virus.

Why must a certain employee work from office on particular days? Does this employee need to collaborate with others, if yes, up to what extent? Is this employee aware of the company’s vision and his/her role in it? Are all safety measures executed smoothly to make this employee comfortable about coming to office?

What types of meetings must be held in person? Is it really necessary for the entire workforce to be present in the office at least one day a week? Should new joinees and low performing employees frequent office more often as compared to others?

These are questions employers and leaders need to have clear answers for, to prevent any disruption in the current working processes. It’s important to create a working model that gives each employee an equal share of flexibility.

Engage, Ideate And Collaborate

With employees taking turns to come into office, HR teams and leaders need to put in more effort towards keeping engagement levels high. Employees need to feel connected to each other despite working virtually. The essence of brainstorming together in a room needs to be maintained to produce the same interaction and output when ideating on a Zoom call. Impromptu breaks and casual conversations that often births creativity also need to be encouraged. Fun workshops for employees, frequent internal communication and empathetic leadership, has proved to be impactful in boosting employee engagement and productivity.

Working physically apart from each other creates a disconnect that affects one’s way of thinking and working cohesively. Therefore, it is imperative to have a clear and meaningful line of communication regularly to motivate the team.

Keep An Eye Out For Talent

One of the biggest advantages that a hybrid workforce entails, is that talent can be included from a wider pool. There are a lot of opportunities to hire candidates from different locations, people with disabilities, new mothers and single parents, to name a few sectors that encompass a broader talent pool. Not only does it create higher job satisfaction among existing employees when working with fresh talent that suits the company culture, but it also magnifies the company’s employer branding strategies.

If you wish for business to grow, your talent too needs to grow. Recruiting candidates from these sections can bring in new ideas and perspectives that can boost profits in the long run.

Good Leadership Requires More Effort

While the above highlights what employers and leaders need to do from a business point of view, a leader needs to adapt to exclusive situations to manage a hybrid workforce. This includes trusting employees to perform their duties without micromanaging, forming interpersonal relations with the team, understanding their mental well-being and instilling a sense of recognition.

To understand what more it takes to manage a hybrid workforce, our manager and leaders have something unique to say here!

Leadership Trends To Adapt In 2021

We’re already one month into the new year and while business may seem to be taking off, this is not a time to let our guard down as the pandemic is still very much alive. Of course, remote working continues for majority of the Indian workforce, but business leaders have it differently. Besides working remotely, the responsibility of managing a hybrid workforce is where the new challenge lies. What skillset is required? How can things be done differently to be more effective? Paying close attention to the dynamic changes over the past months, we’ve created a list of leadership trends that need to be adapted in 2021 for smooth running of the company.

1. Expand Horizontal Development

Horizontal development is the growth of one’s skillset by adding new skills and tools to become more proficient. These skills are specific to business requirements and increases one’s knowledge about the industry. Also known as the traditional leader development, now more than ever it is imperative for those in senior positions to invest in this type of training. This form of development often helps to put one’s knowledge into practical use.

The speed at which economic and climatic conditions are changing, horizontal development support leaders in preparing for the next “unprecedented moment”.

2. Be Open To Vertical Development

It’s been proven that vertical development makes one a better leader! This aspect of development focuses on broadening one’s way of thinking and behaving. As a result, one is more capable of adapting to circumstances and being more adjustable in certain situations. Given that it changes one’s mindset, it enhances those in positions of power to be more collaborative, self-aware and mindful of what needs to be done.

Such changes have a positive impact on the culture and functioning of the organization as a whole. Of the two development leadership trends, the latter assists an individual to weather out stormy weather with resilience while the former provides one with technical knowledge on how to reach safe waters.

3. Amplify Internal Communication

One of the key skills a leader must adapt to is amplifying internal communication with the entire workforce. With the amount of uncertainty and anxiousness last year brought, easing these worries through regular and meaningful communication is expected by leaders today. More than just being one of the main leadership trends in 2021, communicating with the team frequently is a crucial business requirement as the lack of it can impact productivity and output.

As the hybrid working model stands to be the latest normal, internal communication is the key to balancing this workforce.

4. Lead With Transparency

Transparent leadership is leading by honesty, sharing information (good and bad) that impacts an employee’s experience, and being open to accepting feedback. The absence of it deters employees from being completely loyal to the company and ultimately, prompts them to look elsewhere for other opportunities.

Being transparent builds stronger interpersonal relationships and collaboration at work, thereby increasing employee engagement, innovation and the freedom to express oneself. When it comes to being a leader, earning the trust of your team is of utmost importance as it also sets the pace of business growth.

5. Be Human; Empathetic

One of the biggest lessons 2020 taught us was to be kind and understanding of what the other person is going through. Empathetic leadership took precedence as the secret skill required to hold the company together through such scary and uncertain situations. One year later, this skill remains as a priority as it sets the base to have honest conversations on how one is coping through work.

Empathetic leadership can be inculcated via training workshops that address aspects on work life such as setting boundaries, understanding the need to say no to working weekends, being understanding of family interruptions during video calls, how to maintain a work-life balance and the likes.

More than just advising on what to do next, these leadership trends have structured business growth and expansion plans that can be implemented only through the right form of leadership and organization governance.

Training Workshops Can Drive Empathetic Leadership

Empathy, compassion, approachability and transparency are more than just this year’s workplace buzzwords! The onslaught of the pandemic has more or less levelled the playing field for organizations across the globe. Be it through budget cuts, forced redundancies and other cost-saving measures, companies have scrambled hard and fast to keep their heads above water. And at a time like this, the one virtue that stands out is empathy. But when most managers and leaders are scared of coming across as “weak” when displaying empathy, what can do done? Will simple training workshops be enough?

A combination of long working hours, Zoom fatigue, juggling household responsibilities and taking care of one’s own well-being has taken a severe toll on the way that people are currently functioning. In the early days of the pandemic, citizens of every country had turned towards their leaders for a sense of security and support. The very same principle applied to workplaces. Employees found themselves waiting in anticipation for fresh communication from their leaders and managers, updates on where the business was headed and what the future held for each one of them.

This is where empathetic leadership steps in to take the reins and adapt to the ever-changing economic landscape. In many ways, the pandemic opened doors (albeit virtually) for employers and employees to start having honest conversations about how they’re coping, what’s working well and what needs to change.

While the well-being conversation at Indian workplaces might be a few years (if not months) old, let’s get something straight –

Leaders Cannot Cultivate Empathy Overnight

Workplace culture is a huge indicator of how well adjusted, engaged and happy your employees are. If managers and leaders were never empathetic and accommodating to begin with, there is no secret formula that will help change their behaviour within a short span of time. When it comes to empathy, a top-down approach is fundamental to creating an environment that is built on trust. A compassionate leader is tuned to pay close attention to what their people need, sometimes even before they can vocalize their thoughts. Empathetic leadership calls for bravery in the truest sense of the term. It takes courage to abandon old ways of thinking and lead without having the faintest idea of what lies ahead.

For example, giving your employees the autonomy to choose if they feel comfortable (or not) to return to office is a step in the right direction. Employees are putting their best foot forward at work every day, despite the fear, anxiety and uncertainty that the pandemic has brought with it. Burnout has a massive impact on everything from well-being and engagement to productivity and even employee retention.

And if you look at the numbers, they tell the same story. The Workforce Institute at UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) and Workplace Intelligence conducted a survey of 3,900 employees and business leaders across 11 nations. Not surprisingly, they found that burnout and fatigue are EQUALLY concerning for employees working remotely and those in a physical workspace.

What’s Next? Training Workshops

The best that leaders and managers can do is to cultivate empathy, lead with compassion and communicate honestly with their teams about the state of affairs. Training workshops that focus on these aspects can go a long way in helping those in positions of power. Moreover, it helps break the misconception of being empathetic is a sign of weakness!

Arranging frequent training workshops that focus on well-being, physical health and managing stress for example, are great ways to ease the burden, at least a little. Setting clear boundaries and virtual work guidelines through consistent email communication draws attention to the importance of having a work-life balance (yes, despite being stuck at home).

As an organization, be it the CEO or the newest intern, this year has been packed with all sorts of learnings and experiences. Roles at work are evolving. Which is precisely why we need to cultivate empathy for each other, empathy for those infected by the virus and empathy for the innumerable unprecedented situations that organizations find themselves in on a daily basis.