The pandemic forced everyone to send workforces home to work remotely. A year or so down the line, many organisations are enabling their workforces to make the transition back to the office. However, many employees have found they like working from home at least some of the time and want to keep it that way. This ‘hybrid working’ model is both a practical and permanent reality - but it needs a practical, permanent approach to go with it.
It’s something that we discussed at length in our recent webinar, and the views of Mark Walton, CEO of Sensée, and Sarah Janes, Managing Director of Layer 8 Ltd, were a real eye-opener. What’s clear is that employees are putting in the effort to make hybrid working models work, but their employers aren’t yet stepping up to the plate to support them enough.
This is despite the fact that, even to the most resistant of employers, it’s now abundantly clear that workers can be trusted to get their jobs done just as effectively at home as in the office. According to research conducted last summer by HR consultants Mercer, 94% of employers found that productivity levels among remote workers were maintained or even improved during the early part of the pandemic. But whether through a lack of trust in their employees to work independently, or a fear of expensive office space being rendered redundant, a lot of employers are doing enough to consider the full implications of supporting remote working.