Hybrid Work: Benefits and Best Practices for Employees

For several months now, employees have been juggling increasingly between on-site and remote work. For those who know how to make the most of it, this hybrid working model presents numerous opportunities — for both the company and the employee. What are these advantages? And what best practices should employees adopt to successfully transition to this new way of working?

[This article is an extract from the White Paper "Future of Work: Embracing Hybrid Work!" >>> access the full white paper for free]

Hybrid work: what are the benefits for employees?

Greater flexibility and autonomy through hybrid work

In France, for 62% of office employees, the main benefit of remote work lies in the ability to better organise their time.¹ This increased flexibility allows employees to work at their own pace and manage their personal constraints more easily.

Read also: Collaborative tools and remote work: Philippe Pinault on RMC

Hybrid work also tends to empower employees and give them greater autonomy — a benefit cited by 88% of employees in this Malakoff Humanis study. According to an American study on quality of working life, autonomy is moreover an essential component of well-being at work.

Better concentration

In the office, it's easy for employees to get distracted: colleagues may come to ask questions while they are working, conversations nearby may make it hard to concentrate, or someone may suggest yet another coffee break… On average, a manager is interrupted every 12 minutes at work.² Yet, according to a study by Gloria Mark, an employee takes around 23 minutes to refocus after being interrupted.

In these conditions, it is not always easy to be efficient.

By contrast, hybrid workers have greater choice over their work environment and can choose to settle in a space where they can concentrate more easily.

Time savings

Moreover, working from home or from a third place such as a country home or co-working space allows employees to reduce — or even eliminate — their daily commute, which averages over one hour a day.³ This time saving means employees are less stressed and more effective in their work.

Improved quality of working life

According to an Owl Labs study, remote employees are on average 22% happier than colleagues who spend all their time at the office. They also report a better work-life balance, greater focus and lower stress levels. Hybrid work is therefore a strong lever for improving quality of working life (QWL) for your employees.

Read also: The evolution of working models: what place for quality of working life?

What best practices should you adopt?

Communicate regularly

Not coming into the office every day does not mean staying in your own bubble. On the contrary, it is essential for employees to communicate regularly — both with their manager to share progress on ongoing projects, and with other colleagues to stay up to date on company activities and have more informal conversations. This regular communication will also help employees feel less isolated.

Organise your work well

Flexible working hours require organisational discipline. While tempting, encourage employees not to mix personal tasks with professional ones. This will help them think clearly and focus on one thing at a time.

At the start of the day, employees can take stock of what they want to accomplish. To avoid forgetting anything, advise them to record all their appointments in their calendar, and to block out specific time slots for particular tasks — such as following up with someone who hasn't responded to your email, or drafting meeting minutes. Finally, employees can use the end of the day to plan their tasks for the next day.

Take breaks

Working in a hybrid way doesn't mean working "like a machine". Just as in the office, remind employees to take breaks throughout the day to rest and limit screen-related fatigue.

INRS recommends at least 5 minutes of break every hour for intensive screen work, or 15 minutes every 2 hours for normal usage.

Where possible, encourage employees to alternate between screen-based and screen-free work, including time for meetings and administrative tasks.

Separate professional and personal life

The boundary between professional and personal life can quickly blur when working remotely. Indeed, to compensate for their "absence", the hybrid employee may feel obliged to work at any hour of the day, from morning to night. This can harm their health and prevent them from fully disconnecting. Several best practices can help prevent this:

• Set up a dedicated workspace — used exclusively for work.
• Define the working hours you wish to keep, and stop using your computer once those hours have passed.
• Deactivate notifications on work devices (phone, computer…) in the evenings and at weekends.

Hybrid work also means following the rules of IT security

Employees sometimes wonder whether they would be better off downloading an app not approved by IT, but which would save them time. While this may seem harmless at first glance, it is actually quite the opposite! Data leaks and losses, viruses, hacking… the risks are greater than they think.

It is therefore crucial to follow IT security rules and apply all the best practices suggested by the company to prevent cyberattacks. If employees genuinely need a new tool to work, encourage them to contact IT before downloading anything. IT will then be able to suggest more secure alternatives.

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Access the White Paper

This article is an extract from the White Paper "Future of Work: Embracing Hybrid Work!". You will discover: the 8 main challenges of hybrid work; best practices to adopt for managers, HR, internal communications, IT and employees; and the tools to put in place to facilitate hybrid work.

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¹Glassdoor study 2020
²Sciforma study 2010
³BVA for Salesforce study "Employees and Mobility"

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Author: Emmanuelle Abensur