In late 2020, COVID-19 plunged the American workforce headlong into an ongoing experiment in alternative workplace arrangements.
Prior to COVID-19, only 6% of the workforce was fully remote. But the pandemic ushered in quarantine measures and social distancing requirements that forced businesses to adopt remote and hybrid models just to remain in business. This transition drove the percentage of the workforce working remotely from 6% to as high as almost 27% in 2021.
As the pandemic subsided, business owners began reopening their doors to in-office accommodations. But there remained a significant demand among employees to maintain at least a partially remote work schedule.
In this article, we’ll explore how a push for return to in-office attendance has exposed a growing preference for hybrid work arrangements across industries and organizations. Our discussion with UpCity’s panel of expert partners also explores the benefits and drawbacks of remote and hybrid arrangements, and how businesses are adapting to evolving workplace trends.
The transition to hybrid workplace policies
Hybrid models of flexible workplace policies were leveraged before and throughout the pandemic, but have now become even more prevalent as a way to keep employee satisfaction up and maintain productivity.
These hybrid models are structured in one of several ways:
- Employee-driven models allow employees to decide what days and hours they work in the office or if they work remote.
- Split-week hybrid schedule arrangements have set days for in-office work and remote work; often departments have offset schedules from one another, limiting the number of employees at the office on any given day of the week but allowing teams to collaborate.
- Departmental-level hybrid models allow each team to determine which days employees should be in the office and which days they are allowed to work remotely.
- Mixed-hybrid models employ a work policy that combines any mixture of the above three policies in ways to provide the most flexibility for their staff.
According to Gartner, flexible work arrangements have gained so much ground throughout the pandemic that the ability to work under a hybrid model has become an expectation rather than a perk. As a result, compromise-minded employers have offered hybrid models as a middle ground between employee freedom and the benefits of in-office collaboration.
Remote and hybrid workplace models are nothing new
A deeper dive into alternative workforce frameworks reveals that there was a 35% increase over the first decade of the millennium in the number of employees who worked at least one day a week outside of the office.
Companies who were already operating fully or partially remotely continued to do so throughout the pandemic and beyond.
“Our brand and web design business is fully remote, working from our home studio. We plan to continue operating as a fully remote business in 2023 and for the foreseeable future.” —Meg Mothershed, Co-owner and COO, Mothershed Design Co.
Others were founded during similar economic downturns, and learned that the remote arrangement helped them to survive in the long-term by insulating the business.
“Bloom was founded during a similar economic downturn, which is why we began operating as a virtual team—to keep overhead costs down and to pass on that savings to our clients. Our plan is to continue to work remotely, allowing our team to focus on high-quality creative work at a value that can help our marketing partners turn their recent budget-cuts into better ROI.” —Laura Caggiano, Chief Solutions Officer, Bloom Media
Pros and cons of hybrid work
Bloom Media’s plan to continue leveraging remote work arrangements raises several important benefits of why businesses and employees should embrace hybrid work arrangements. In the next section, we focus on hybrid work’s impact on employee productivity, employee satisfaction, and overall profitability.
Which workplace environment fosters the most employee productivity?
The widespread economic and operational disruption caused by COVID-19 meant that businesses were focused largely on survival throughout the pandemic. Strategic initiatives driven by historical trends and predictable data were swept aside in favor of much more agile and responsive operational tactics.
As more employee productivity and performance statistics emerge, analysts are discovering a shocking trend. As outlined by Great Place to Work in their survey of more than 800,000 employees across Fortune 500 companies, the removal of commutes, minimization of in-person meetings, and a shift in company culture in response to remote work led to an overall increase in productivity from 2020 to 2022.
In fact, Prodoscore’s data on productivity during the early months of the pandemic showed that an increase in phone and email activity combined with more consistent usage of CRM tools resulted in a 47% increase in productivity in 2020 versus the same period in 2019.
So how does a hybrid environment result in increased productivity, versus a fully in-person arrangement? For some of our experts in the UpCity community, it comes down to being able to focus when working independently away from the office while collaborating with coworkers while in the office.
“A hybrid environment allows employees to get the best of both worlds. The option to collaborate in-person and still have the community and in-person development options is important, but the ability to have flexibility for other important things in life is also important.” —Robb Fahrion, Partner, Flying V Group
However, the pandemic did reveal that there are some positions and industries where remote arrangements are not a good fit, as the work requires much more direct oversight and supervision to ensure projects are completed in a timely manner.
“Our work requires either hands-on supervision or employees capable of developing the details on their own, and not every employee can perform without that oversight. While some of our editors work remote, most of our staff works better with direct supervision, making in-person work best for our video production agency.” —Richard J. DePaso, Managing Director, Aardvark Video & Media Productions, LLC
The fact is, hybrid work arrangements provide staff with the ability to maximize their productivity while ensuring leadership fulfills the needs of employees who thrive in an office environment with direct access to feedback and guidance.
“In a hybrid setting, the team is allowed to work in the way that makes them most productive. For some of the team, that’s at home, for some it may be at a coffee shop. For others, it’s in-person and around people. We try to enable this autonomy with our team by providing a stipend to work at a co-working space around others if they work better in that type of environment.” —Brian Craig, Director of Client Services, DentalScapes
Which workplace environment fosters the most employee satisfaction?
In 2021, the Census Bureau reported that the average American commute had reached an all-time high of 27.6 minutes one-way as of 2019. From that point forward, data on the average commute would be forever changed by wide-sweeping remote work arrangements.
Saving all that time spent commuting allowed WFH employees to get to work earlier and claim more of their own time back to spend doing things they enjoy.
“I believe hybrid working is the best of both worlds…The greatest advantages of hybrid work for us have been improved work-life balance, more efficient use of employee time, control over work hours, burnout mitigation, and higher productivity.” —Gia Ching, Managing Director, GCC Consulting (Beauty and Medical Marketing)
Hybrid arrangements allow employees to focus on their health and well-being while maintaining a level of productivity sought after by employers. For example, working in-person often requires employees to miss a full day of work and productivity in order to attend a healthcare appointment for either themselves or a loved one.
“You’re more likely to be satisfied with your work environment when you know you’re not going to be fired if you need to work from home when you’re sick. You’re more likely to be satisfied when you’re in an environment that fosters productivity… Satisfaction is when you can work in an environment you’re comfortable in; a hybrid environment offers that.” —Marissa Massey, Head of SEO & Content, Creekmore Marketing
Fully-remote companies can leverage the arrangement as a benefit, ensuring a solid fit with the company culture from the start. Recognizing that those same employees might sometimes feel the need to collaborate with their team in-person, offering a hybrid option further enhances the work experience for both leadership and employees alike.
“Shifting to a primarily remote work arrangement works extremely well for us. We have the right people, tools, and processes in place to do so…We do maintain a shared office space for meetings and days when team members need to be together in person. However, you can’t beat the work/life balance that working remotely affords.” —Jen Stafford, CEO and Co-Founder, CTRL+ALT Digital
Which workplace environment is the most cost-effective for business owners?
At a purely bottom-line, profit-and-loss level, any model that removes the overhead costs of real estate and facility operations and maintenance from the equation will be the most cost-effective solution. Those who support an in-office experience make the case that the added oversight afforded by working together in a shared space can increase the efficiency—and the profitability—of the work being done.
“For our firm, maintaining an in-person marketing presence offsets the expense factor of in-person work in ways that can’t be negated. For example, when our team is working for a current client and a potential client comes to the office and sees us at our desks, from the lobby, this generates a level of trust that is hard to source any other way.” —Tracy Niedermeyer, Director / Producer, Maxime Photo and Video
Further, in-person work arrangements provide a familiar structure that many older employees are accustomed to. It’s also easier to foster teamwork and collaboration with an in-person model, and leadership can quickly recognize and address performance issues at a high level.
“In-person work arrangements provide more oversight, ease the approval process, eliminate the need for excessive meetings, and allow leadership more control over billable hours…It’s a challenge to relay to employees all you are doing on the management and operational end to continue to hire, give raises, provide benefits, and the other things employees expect. In-person allows for transparency on this front, to show staff that we’re doing all we can do to make this an amazing place to work.” —Caitlin Wiggins, Director of Marketing, Liquified Creative
On the other hand, hybrid and remote models open doors to more skilled talent regardless of physical location. This means that your team can be more productive and handle more profitable client projects, which will net a profit that might otherwise be eaten up by struggling to find the right fit in a limited, regional talent pool.
“You have to factor in turnover with brick-and-mortar sites. Your talent pool is limited to a reasonable commute. Opening up remote roles reduces the cost of maintaining large facilities while radically opening up the available talent pool. Of course some businesses need onsite operations, and those will not go away, but adding a remote component to certain roles reduces cost and turnover.” —MariAnne Vanella, CEO, The Vanella Group, Inc.
How businesses are adapting to hybrid work
When comparing the management benefits of in-office work to the employee benefits of purely remote work, there are a number of challenges posed by both models.
The workforce has become used to the added flexibility and work-life balance that work-from-home has injected into their lives while still meeting—and perhaps even exceeding—the demands of their roles.
Alternatively, remote working poses some significant challenges to the average worker.
- Not every role is designed to be physically isolated from leadership, peers, or clients. Some roles require extensive collaboration and interaction.
- Not everyone has the home office space necessary to work from home. Daily home life can be chaotic and distracting, and it’s hard to remain focused if you don’t have a quiet, uncluttered space.
- Time management is a challenge for many employees ill-equipped to work independently. Many employees benefit from the structure that comes with office life.
- Working remotely makes it difficult to unplug from work. In 2022, 25% of respondents to a Statista study said that the inability to unplug from work after hours and set boundaries was their most significant challenge in remote work settings.
- Despite digital tools that fully support communication and collaboration, employee engagement can be challenging while working remotely.
Which workplace environment will be the most common?
It’s important to remember that, despite the rhetoric and spin on either side of the argument, that remote work existed successfully before the pandemic.
“Remote is nothing new. It happened well before the pandemic as many companies looked to reduce their brick and mortar from both a cost savings and forward-thinking approach that work can be done anywhere. Globalization was creating new approaches for employers to expand their workforce and the remote hybrid work environment was part of globalization. Employers will continue to try a variety of working environments to improve the employee experience.” —Patty Silbert, EVP Aspirant RPO, Aspirant
We’ve been exploring new approaches to improving how businesses operate for awhile, and many business owners are willing to embrace hybrid work arrangements, as it’s hard to ignore the benefits a mix of remote and in-person can generate.
“I believe a hybrid model will be the most common. We have already learned that the work can be done remotely. Yet, we also learned the importance of socialization and being around other teammates to foster relational and professional growth.” —Brandon Forschino, CEO, Out of Dust Marketing
While the pandemic caused a catastrophic series of events costing millions of lives, it was also a testament to the human ability to adapt and evolve in order to survive. Working through the benefits and drawbacks of remote work has forced companies to evolve the average workplace into something new. This evolution might otherwise have taken decades of trial and error.
“Many companies have found that remote work can be just as productive, if not more, than in-person work. As a result, companies are starting to realize the benefits of remote work, such as cost savings on office space, and the ability to attract a wider pool of talent. The hybrid workplace provides a middle-ground, allowing companies to adapt to the changing needs of employees and the market, while also providing benefits such as cost savings, increased productivity, and employee satisfaction.” —Ezra Weeks, Manager of Recruitment and Business Development North America, Recruitment Canada
Hybrid models have emerged as the most logical solution with the most staying power simply because hybrid arrangements allow stakeholders on both sides of the remote work and in-office argument to leverage the benefits but eliminate the drawbacks.
“People are social beings, and…we like to meet with people and communicate face-to-face at the office. In a hybrid environment, people can choose where they want to work, and that gives them freedom and balance otherwise not possible. At the office, they communicate with colleagues and improve internal communication, while working from home, they concentrate more on the results.” —Daria Leshchenko, CEO and Partner, SupportYourApp
The legacy of COVID-19: flexible work is the future of work
What business owners cannot afford to do is to get too rigidly attached to either remote or in-office work. If it came down to prioritizing one over the other, however, our experts agree that providing some form of remote-first option is the best way to conduct business in the future.
“Remote-first environments will continue to be a factor for the best and brightest talent for positions that can do remote work. Businesses need to understand and plan accordingly that by forcing working styles of any type will limit their ability to attract and retain talent.” —Andrew Wallace, CEO, PortoSpire, LLC
It’s not just about the talent. Offering hybrid work models ensures that your business is contributing to the global effort to minimize our environmental impact and do what’s necessary to control emissions overall. This requires a mindset shift in what it means to work and where that work can realistically be performed.
“The shift to hybrid and remote work arrangements has made it very clear that work is an activity, not a place. Transportation contributes more than 25% of Canada’s total GHG emissions. Information and communications technology solutions that enable the remote workplace significantly reduce the fuel used to commute to and from work, as well as the building, heating and cooling of office space.” —Paul Bies, President, Mystique Brand Communications Inc.
Remote work has highlighted the realization that too often we attach the activity of work with a specific, physical space, and that doing so limits how successful your organization can be in the future.
“Digital nomads, the option to search for jobs in other cities, states, and countries, increased time and focus on home life. It’s opened a new world for some workers. Our remote culture allows us to be extremely agile. We have teams working in multiple states at any given time. We can serve clients wherever they are and we’re not restricted to one regional market, even as a small team.” —Domenique Comparetto, Head of Content Strategy, Altered State Productions
Embracing hybrid work models in 2023 and beyond
What are your plans for your team? Are you considering a full return to the office? Does your team want to continue working remotely, or are they looking for ways to do both? Do you understand the HR implications of the options on the table?
If you’re in an industry where you can embrace flexible work, UpCity has the resources and tools you need to plan your next steps. Have the resources to pull off a hybrid work environment but you need help planning that transition? Our marketplace of top-rated B2B service professionals and consultants can help connect you with the right experts to ensure your team is structured to succeed in 2023 and beyond.