Fostering Human Connection in a Hybrid World with a Digital Workspace
Sponsored by Google Workspace
As we are moving into a post-pandemic stage, employers now confront a new challenge adjusting to the growth in requests for flexibility in where their staff works. 74% of companies intend to shift some employees to remote permanently(1) based on an internal consumer survey by Google.
However, building a connected workplace in the era of hybrid work is uncharted (and frequently tricky) territory. In a hybrid setting, some employees work entirely in person, some remotely, while others alternate between the two. This arrangement has become increasingly widespread due to the pandemic. Therefore, fostering solid interpersonal relationships among the hybrid staff is crucial as a connected workforce is more collaborative, engaged, and effective. It also promotes compassion, trust, and motivation among employees.
Hybrid working is here to stay, but does it live up to expectations? What factors are most important in a hybrid working environment? How can technology support well-being so everyone can maximize their impact?
Key challenges of a hybrid workplace
It may come as no surprise to learn from the research that many workers favor the hybrid work model because it gives them more flexibility and frequently makes their jobs more fun. Despite some businesses returning to the office full-time, many others are adjusting to meet the evolving needs of their workforce and have made hybrid work a long-term answer.
● The lack of human connection
The lack of human connection may seem obvious compared to working physically in an office. Yet, it significantly affects streamlining processes and even mental health. Although cultivating an organizational culture in a remote setting is substantially more challenging, hybrid work still has issues because people who work remotely occasionally feel disconnected from the system.
Without a suitable substitute for human interaction, quick questions that employees could typically ask easily inside the office become more of an involved procedure via email. Thankfully we have tools like Google Workspace that helps hybrid teams (1) of any size connect, create, and collaborate from anywhere and on any device. And it has been focused on empowering anywhere, anytime collaboration for well over a decade.
Secondly, aside from the practical considerations, spending the entire day alone at home can be isolating. Some company employees have scheduled lunch meets with their coworkers during the week, but it takes some work. This has helped with communication among colleagues and check-in more directly than any technology solution enables.
● Hybrid work has created a need for restructuring and better resource coordination
Hybrid work has created a need for improved resource coordination both remotely and on-site. Today’s home offices must be permanent workstations that enhance individual productivity. To ensure that remote team members are integrated into team interactions, on-site offices, and conference rooms must have remote-capable collaboration stations and digital workspace. Today, companies must provide a collaboration solution that matches the changing way employees work, including hybrid and remote enablement, robust video and audio capabilities, and tight platform integrations. An effective solution like Google Workspace can increase overall productivity by 14%, and a team can spend 36% more time on creative or innovative work (2).
● The challenge in the use of technology
According to the report by ninjaOne, many organizations don’t maximize the use of technology that supports hybrid work. Remote work has gone from being the exception to the rule, but this quick change has a price. Technology investments, new software programs, and the development of communication methods appropriate for remote work are frequently hampered by a lack of policies, poor IT management, ambiguous roles, and inadequate security training. IT must now find solutions to these new problems.
Hybrid work models are enabled by (2) intelligent digital workspaces, networking, security software, cloud computing, and automation of tasks and workflows. Combined, these technologies and new hybrid work policies let employees work securely from anywhere on any device and access the people, data, applications, and tools they need to get work done.
Fostering better human connection in the workplace
According to research by Cigna, lonely workers are less productive, miss twice as many work days, are more likely to leave their jobs, and produce 12% less good work. It also reported that young adults and moms of young children had experienced increased loneliness due to the pandemic.
Friendship and a sense of community at work are two cures for loneliness. According to another research by BetterUp, employees who feel a strong sense of belonging perform 56% better on the job, have a 50% lower chance of leaving the company, take 75% fewer sick days, and have a 167% higher employer promoter score. A company with 10,000 employees can save $52 million a year because of these advantages.
Here are some strategies to foster better Human connection in a hybrid workplace
● Create a digitally accessible culture
People don’t like to feel excluded. Therefore, ensure that the essential elements of your company’s culture are accessible to both office-based and remote employees. Before the pandemic, workplace culture and company culture were directly correlated. Free lunches, game rooms, coffee, pet-friendly workplaces, happy hours, and mentorship programs all contributed to the development of active company cultures. However, in the hybrid world, these enjoyable benefits have a significant drawback: they only function physically. We are, after all, social creatures, so it is undoubtedly easier to create a positive workplace culture in person. However, there are other options.
There can be accessible digital alternatives available to everyone in your company, not just those who can use them in person. Think about beginning an online learning subscription, encouraging staff to unplug when they’re not working, or introducing a monthly wellness allowance. And by no means should happy hours cease to be enjoyed. Just be sure that your culture’s fundamental principles are available to everyone, not just those that visit the office. Establishing a hybrid culture needs a “hybrid first” mindset1 that won’t happen overnight. But hybrid collaboration will eventually become second nature by recognizing the need to adapt current working norms and embracing these easy-to-implement measures.
● Work together with HR to customize onboarding
Ensuring employees feel welcomed by the organization is vital in improving the employee experience. Without ever setting foot in an office, businesses have gone through a cycle of employees whose contracts started and terminated during the pandemic. A supportive organizational culture can be developed by combining the efforts of HR and IT.
The HR and IT onboarding process are where organizational connectedness starts. Employees frequently receive hardware with unclear instructions and little training, which makes for a bad onboarding experience. As a result, an employee’s productivity may be hindered, and their annoyance may start early due to this negative experience. Therefore, a step-by-step checklist for staff onboarding and personalizing setup with IT-led video calls is essential.
Even though ticketing systems and other processes are crucial for most large corporate IT operations, adequately describing the systems gives staff members the knowledge and tools they need to use them, increasing IT efficiency throughout the organization.
● Create a human connection ritual
Start sessions with personal check-ins so attendees can discuss what’s going on in their life, relate to one another’s circumstances, and get to know one another better. Employees score four points lower on the UCLA Loneliness Scale when technology fosters meaningful interactions rather than merely adding more responsibilities. In The Business of Relationship, friendship expert Shasta Nelson states, “Friendship = Positivity + Consistency + Vulnerability.” Fostering human connection in the workplace requires ritualizing opportunities for frequent feedback, personal sharing, and praise.
Making these rituals a part of your daily schedule will help foster a supportive and collaborative environment, whether through Gratitude Fridays, a tool like Google Workspace for praising individuals on recent initiatives, or by closing meetings with affirmations and shout-outs. Employees who talk to their coworkers more on the phone and in-person report feeling less lonesome at work. A small groups or one-on-one relationship building meetings (1) are a great way to connect around shared work or personal updates and interests.
As organizations seek to refine how they will operate in more fluid and flexible hybrid work models, many are doubling down on their use of intelligent digital collaboration platforms. (2) These tools serve to engage better employees distributed across locations — connecting them to the people, business resources, and technologies they need to drive business results. Hybrid work does not have to become the next big disruptor. It could be a logical development of methods and tools that help distributed teams for years. However, everyone can stay productive by guaranteeing seamless communication between those working physically and remotely — in meetings and across all ways people engage. A comprehensive intelligent digital workspace like Google Workspace (1) can help hybrid teams of any size connect, create, and collaborate from anywhere and on any device.
Download Whitepapers: for further reference
1- Navigating hybrid work: A Google Workspace handbook, Google Cloud
