Do you want more flexibility in your role? Our 5 tips to approaching the hybrid working conversation.
Many employees found benefits of working at home during the UK lockdown. With life returning somewhat to normal, some employers are expecting their employees to be back in office rather than embracing the hybrid working environment. If you want some form of hybrid working, now more than ever is the best time to approach the conversation. Here’s our 5 tips to make it a successful discussion:
Prepare for the conversation - The conversation might not be easy. Your manager might not be quickly convinced - they’ve had a lot of pressure over the past 18 months too and would probably hesitate at something else to oversee - So think about what you want to say: Why do you want to work in this way? Try to keep it professional rather than emotional and focus on how it will help you to deliver your work.
Be realistic - Although you might like the idea of never going back to your office cubicle again, you need to think realistically how much of your job you can do remotely, and in the long term (Jones, 2021). You’re most likely going to need to meet a happy medium, this could be a suggestion of 2-3 days remote working.
Provide evidence - There is a lot of evidence that hybrid working is successful, for employees: more productive, increased quality of work, reduced costs of travel, improved mental and physical health; For employers, reduced office costs and overheads, environmental benefits, and the ability to increase workforce equality and diversity (Bullock, 2020). More importantly, prepare some examples to discuss with your manager of how you have proved profitable benefits working from home - you’ve had about a year of doing so! Look for the evidence of what your competitors are offering, to give your manager some inspiration.
What about your colleagues? Have a chat with your colleagues/team about what they want also. Do they feel having you away from the office would damage team productivity or do they want hybrid working also? Especially if you manage a team, think about how you will remain in contact with one another. This could include suggesting daily quick check in’s on the work for the day and any support they need. You could suggest a weekly meeting where others can share their honest experience and what they’re finding hardest.
Suggest a trial - Keeping the options flexible, it will probably be most encouraging to suggest a trial period for hybrid working and schedule a meeting with your boss’ calendar to set goals and expectations for the trial period, then discuss how it worked. It would be a good idea to discuss with your peers also to bring into the meeting.
“Out of 15,000 business people across 80 nations, 85% believed that greater location flexibility led to an increase in productivity.” — (Dixon, 2019)
We are helping businesses to build equitable and transparent hybrid working models, policies and guidance, and supporting managers to implement new ways of working. Get in touch at hello@workwellpcs.co.uk and join our mailing list.
References
Bullock, J. (2020) Remote Work, an Evidence-Based Perspective. Medium [online]. Available from: https://medium.com/swlh/remote-work-an-evidence-based-perspective-146731290778
Dixon, M. (2019) IWG Global Workplace Study. International Workplace Group [online]. Available from: https://assets.regus.com/pdfs/iwg-workplace-survey/iwg-workplace-survey-2019.pdf
Jones, A. (2021) How to ask your boss for a hybrid working set up. BBC [online]. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210817-how-to-ask-your-boss-for-a-hybrid-working-set-up
