Employees are working from home more frequently, and more businesses are starting to allow flexible working hours along with a mix of remote and onsite team members. Many founders know that flexibility is a powerful motivator. That's why you want to offer remote and on-site work locations to employees, but you don't know where to start when it comes to setting up their first remote vs onsite workplace.
Whether you're an employer for a small start-up, or a manager in a large international firm with offices around the globe or somewhere in between, choosing the most suitable type of office for your needs might be causing you some confusion.
Remote vs onsite vs hybrid: we thought we'd help by gathering some tips to help you decide the workplace for your organization. Here are 5 factors to help you figure it out.
Understand your employees' needs. You can't determine the best work arrangement without first knowing what your employees need to be productive and happy.
Understand your organization's needs. Consider how roles, departments, and teams function together and how that would change with a different work arrangement.
Take an honest look at your company culture. How will each type of work arrangement affect it? Will some types of arrangements have negative consequences? What can your organization afford?
What does your culture look like currently? Some organizations simply can't operate without an in-house team. In these cases, the mission is so important, or the work is so proprietary, that a hybrid or remote team would not be feasible. For example, a startup that is building a new device needs the engineering team to be onsite to ensure proper collaboration and innovation.
If your company has a strong emphasis on teamwork and collaboration, consider whether remote or hybrid teams will fit into your current work environment. A remote culture for some may not be as effective for others. For example, if your teams are used to being co-located, it might take time to adjust to a new way of working.
Given the unique needs of your organization and the people who work there, picking the right model is about understanding your resources.
If you're a small company with fewer than 50 employees and no plans to grow much beyond that size, then it might make sense to maintain an office space. It can help build camaraderie among employees and let them all feel like they're part of the team.
But if you have more than 50 employees and you're planning on continued growth, then it might not make sense to have a dedicated office space. Do you really need that much space if everyone isn't going to be there every day? Unless your business requires specialized facilities and equipment then it's probably not worth maintaining an expensive space that sits empty most of the time.
Next important resource to consider is technology. Is your company using tools that support remote work? Do those tools support collaboration, productivity and employee well-being? If not, you may have to invest in new solutions.
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When it comes to deciding whether remote or in-office work is best for your organization, there's no one-size-fits-all answer. You'll have to consider the factors of Productivity & Operational Efficiencies.
Once you've defined your terms, it's time to look at your goals. If your organization is planning on expanding into new markets, you may want a hybrid model that allows employees in those markets to work remotely while they're still establishing themselves in that area. If you're looking to cut costs by reducing office space and other expenses, moving entirely remote may be the way to go.
There are also considerations outside of workplace concerns. When working from home is an option, it might be harder for managers and supervisors to monitor workers' productivity as closely as they would if everyone were in the office.
So after considering these factors, you can choose the type of workplace that makes your employees more productive while increasing the organizational efficiency.
In 2022 and beyond, employers will need to carefully consider what workplace model is best for their organization as they develop their business strategies. You need to consider your organizational culture, the type of work you need to get done, and what the right balance is between employee productivity and health.
Many organizations have been forced to rethink their approach to work. For some, remote working is the new normal. For others, the workplace is closed and employees are unable to return. Each of these scenarios has its own set of challenges — not just for IT but also for operations, finance and HR teams as they seek to maintain business continuity while keeping employees safe.
With so much change in such a short time, it's normal for organizations to decide between remote vs hybrid vs onsite. And what's best for them at this moment and in the future. The good news is that a hybrid workplace can offer the best of both worlds: flexibility for employees and the ability to continue with business as usual.
A hybrid workplace allows people who need or want to work remotely to do so — depending on their role and responsibilities. But it also enables onsite employees who are doing their jobs more effectively in person or whose roles don't lend themselves to remote work.
It's easy to see why many organizations are rethinking where employees should work in the short term, especially since returning to offices may not be an option for everyone yet. But even when it is possible, think about your team members who would prefer not to return.
The way we work together is changing. Today, collaboration within organizations is more important than ever — not just to get work done but also to engage employees. According to Gallup, companies with engaged employees outperform those without by up to 202%. And that means employers need a flexible workplace strategy that supports collaboration in many different ways.
The first step in creating this strategy is identifying the types of collaboration you need most in your organization. Once you know what kinds of collaboration you want to support, it becomes easier to determine the right mix of onsite and remote work for your organization.
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Takeaway: There are a lot of factors to take into account when deciding on whether to have a remote, onsite or hybrid workplace. When it comes to remote vs. onsite workflows, there's no simple answer to determine which approach is better. Both have their pros and cons, and there are different ways of handling each one. It really depends on the situation and type of collaboration that needs to occur between your workforce and your vendors/customers/etc.
While it's up to you and your team to determine what the right solution is for your organization, we hope that the pros and cons of the various collaboration options outlined in this post will help you think through the process.
