Digital transformation in the workplace was intended to make companies and their workforces more agile and resilient, keeping them at the cutting edge. By 2030, Gen Z will make up 30% of the total workforce. Evolving customer expectations, increasing automation, and growing competition have all accelerated new ways of working. Those changes also helped set the stage for remote work and the rise of the hybrid workforce.
According to McKinsey, 58% of employees continue to have the option to work from home at least one day each week, while 35% have the option to do so five days a week.
For employers, the question may be shifting from “Can we?” to “Should we?” Workers, however, continue to value flexibility. In fact, 87% of employees who have the option to work remotely choose to do so.
Digital transformation alone won’t secure success in the future of work. Whether organizations operate with a fully remote team, a hybrid workforce, or employees distributed across multiple locations, companies must learn how to enable work and engage employees from anywhere.
Make Connecting and Collaborating Easy
A critical ingredient in supporting a successful hybrid workforce is your technology stack. If employees encounter obstacles to communication and collaboration, you’re creating frustration before work even begins.
Make it easy for employees to connect and do meaningful work across locations and time zones. That includes tools for scheduling meetings, hosting video calls, managing document versions, and accessing reliable IT support.
These tools create the virtual hallways and meeting rooms where coworkers can collaborate while also building the relationships that drive engagement. “Establishing channels for formal as well as informal communication is important for any business that employs remote workers.”
Before organizations can focus on professional development or remote recruiting, they must establish the right foundation for the employees they already have. Team members should be able to reach one another easily and access the information they need from anywhere.
Ensure Your Managers Are Equipped to Handle a Hybrid Workforce
Working remotely requires different skills and tools than working in person. The same is true for managers. In fact, managing teams remotely is different from managing teams in person.
Common challenges managers face in a hybrid workforce include:
- Lack of clear expectations and boundaries
- Communication
- Isolation and loneliness
- Lack of trust
- Burnout
Provide managers with specific training and clear expectations related to remote work. This is especially important during onboarding. Training should address the needs of both in-office and remote employees to create a more consistent experience across the workforce.
Focus on Employee Voice
Without the opportunity to stop by a coworker’s desk, visit a manager’s office, or talk during lunch, there is more room for both miscommunication and a lack of communication.
Communication should always move in both directions. As organizations communicate regularly with employees, they should also create opportunities to listen.
“The employee voice exists where everyone in the organization feels they have a say in the decision-making process, where they feel heard and listened to, and their views are taken into account and acted upon.”
Within a hybrid workforce, employee participation can become uneven. Remote employees may have fewer opportunities to contribute during meetings or informal discussions.
Leading talent management and HR expert Josh Bersin advises companies to make employee voices a top priority. “First and foremost, you have to make ’employee listening’ a cultural value.”
Creating multiple channels for feedback helps organizations reach every employee and encourages participation in ways that feel comfortable and accessible.
Recognize Contributions Big and Small
Work anniversaries and major initiatives certainly deserve recognition. However, appreciation becomes even more important in a hybrid workforce. Recognition positively reinforces achievements and key milestones, but it also encourages behaviors that strengthen company culture.
When employees work from different locations, many valuable contributions happen outside of leadership’s view. Introducing a new employee to a process, sharing important project context, organizing a team event, or helping an overwhelmed coworker are all contributions that can easily go unnoticed.
Traditional workplace interactions also disappear. Casual thank-yous in the hallway or quick acknowledgments during in-person conversations aren’t always possible.
Giving employees opportunities to recognize one another publicly helps reinforce a culture of appreciation. Encouraging managers and leadership to provide frequent, less formal recognition also reminds employees that their contributions are valued.
Don’t Neglect Accessibility
Although remote work can remove barriers for some employees, it can also introduce new accessibility challenges. Much of the conversation around accessibility has focused on physical workplaces. The same attention hasn’t always been given to digital environments.
According to Accessibility.com, remote work can create new challenges for employees with disabilities. Lori Golden, Abilities Strategy Leader at EY, explains that organizations must ensure employees can “experience things in equitable ways.”
Accessibility challenges can include difficulty participating in video calls, barriers related to hearing disabilities, or challenges associated with adopting new technologies.
“[W]e must shift the mindset from having to provide accommodations, to ensuring better design in order to create meaningful workplace experiences for everyone.”
Making inclusivity and accessibility central to workplace design helps improve engagement across the entire hybrid workforce. Organizations should also create environments where employees feel comfortable disclosing disabilities and requesting support.
According to Harvard Business Review, employees who disclose their disabilities at work are 30% more engaged in terms of career satisfaction, confidence, aspirations, and their sense of belonging.
Be Mindful and Intentional
The key to engaging a hybrid workforce is approaching it with the same level of authenticity and intentionality that you would bring to an in-person environment. Every initiative should be designed with inclusion in mind. Employees want to feel connected, heard, and valued, regardless of where they work.
The tools and settings may continue to evolve, but the reasons for investing in employee engagement will remain the same.
