Go hybrid or go home, firms slow to adopt hybrid model loses

Adopting hybrid work arrangements determine a company’s success in the post-pandemic workscape.  It has become a new standard in white collar jobs. However, not everyone in the labor force spectrum. 

Investopedia suggests that hybrid work has the following benefits:

• Technology companies can benefit from this new work model
• Business districts might not return to their pre-pandemic form
• Employers and employees potentially can save money with hybrid work

So, who are the winners and losers?

Open-minded firms who cultivate a hybrid workplace can save as much as $11,000 per year for each employee who works at a 50-50 hybrid work ratio. Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics and an expert in helping employers optimize flexible and distributed workplace strategies said that savings comes primarily from increased productivity but also from real estate savings and reduced absenteeism. So, it is safe to say that employees can stand on the winners’ circle here.

Knowledge economy workers in a hybrid workplace also stand to benefit financially. Working from home can save thousands of dollars annually on daily commute, car maintenance, office attire, lunch-outs, etc. according to FlexJobs, a job search website for remote and flexible jobs. Lister places the potential savings at $600 to $6,000 per worker. 

Since many offices will need to be retrofitted to accommodate hybrid work, architects, designers and engineers are in a good position to be a winner in the hybrid model race. 

Technology companies are also poised to benefit from the global shift from traditional work arrangements to the hybrid work model. Many offices may require improvement in their conference room technology so that remote and on-site employees can communicate effectively. 

Case in point, the list of industries and professionals that benefit from the hybrid work model goes on but there are losers on the other end of the spectrum as well. 

Economist Joseph Schumpeter described this aspect of capitalism, whereby overall progress always comes at someone’s expense, as creative destruction. Businesses and workers in these areas may suffer in the short term and possibly in the long term. However, many will adapt and become successful again by changing locations, transferring their existing skills to different customers, or retraining and entering different lines of work that are in greater demand.18

Office cleaners and maintenance workers, public transit, food service workers and office real estate will likely suffer from the transition from in-office to remote work. 

“Economic losers will be organizations that are slow to change or adapt—ones who hedge their bets or pretend to embrace hybrid or remote-first work but who don’t actually put the systems, policies, and resources in place that are needed to make it successful,” says Wendy Ryan, CEO of Kadabra, a leadership and change consulting firm based in San Jose, Calif. “Organizations who embrace a human-centered approach to designing their workplaces, schedules, and in-person collaboration requirements are going to be best positioned to thrive over the next 20 years.”

A hybrid office may have a positive effect on employees’ job satisfaction by giving them greater flexibility to work in whatever environment helps them excel. That might mean coming into the office to collaborate with colleagues on a new project one day, then working from home the rest of the week.

It could also mean reserving a desk at the office to get away from home life distractions most days, or when there’s an important video meeting that will be more effective using the company’s conference room technology.

A hybrid office could provide economic benefits from greater efficiency, productivity, and mental health, as well as reductions in absenteeism and presenteeism, stress-related illness, burnout, and employee turnover.

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