Hybrid working: destroying the “lazy layabout” myth

Vivek Behl at WalkMe argues that businesses can drive productivity from anywhere 

Hybrid working has transformed the lives of many people across the UK over the last few years. We’re now at the point where only three in ten UK businesses currently operate fully on-site, reflecting the huge extent to which hybrid working has become the new normal.

However, for every person who has been able to have more flexible and balanced work, there is another who hasn’t been allowed to reap the benefits of hybrid work. 

With some well-known figures criticising hybrid working – for instance, The Apprentice host Alan Sugar called home workers lazy layabouts – some businesses will be wondering if there are any negative effects of not having everybody in the office.

Most importantly, will productivity be impacted? With mass hybrid working still in relative infancy, it’s important that businesses take the time to step back and think about how they can enable people to be as productive as possible when they’re not in the office.

Opening up digital visibility

Some more ‘old school’ business leaders may enjoy the idea of seeing their employees at their desks – and some insist on it. To be clear, there is some evidence that home workers aren’t always as productive as their office-based counterparts.

A paper published by the US National Bureau of Economic Research looked at the productivity of workers in the data entry sector in India. It found that the productivity of those working from home was 18 per cent lower than those in office.

On the other side of the coin, increasing numbers of businesses are finding it’s no longer necessary to have everybody sitting in front of you to check that people are getting their work done and everything is running smoothly. Since so much work is done digitally, using digital measures of productivity to ensure goals are being met is even more effective than looking over someone’s shoulder.

Concrete data can show business leaders on an aggregate level how their employees are getting their work done. This will help to understand pain points employees face across the tech stack, and enable them to take corrective action to remove any barriers to success.

This visibility into how employees are actually getting their work done can be extremely useful for any kind of business. There’s no need to ask employees in a meeting whether or not they’re able to properly use a new CRM system, log an IT ticket, or submit a request for time off because organisations can understand this far better through the right digital technologies.

Most importantly, having these insights can enable enterprises to improve  processes, so staff can work more intelligently, and accomplish more. 

Removing barriers to productivity

Once they have visibility over activity, businesses can start looking for barriers to productivity. One of the most common problems holding back remote workforces is when people are unable to fully harness the software and apps they’re being given.

Many companies invest in hundreds of different enterprise applications; they may think each new app they tack onto the top of the ever-growing pile is helping, when actually they are increasing digital friction and risking technology overload.

In many cases, individuals are becoming overwhelmed by the increasingly numerous and complex  digital technologies they’re expected to use, to the point where they have difficulty processing information on countless different pieces of software. This can lead to Software Paralysis, a state of severely interrupted work, reducing productivity and morale.

But if businesses make sure to rigorously track how and when staff are using different apps, they can identify the specific apps and processes within apps  that are stymying productivity, and take action.

For instance, they may see that people are spending a lot of time trying to update customer data inside a CRM. They might end up not only getting frustrated and wasting time, which impacts their productivity, but they might also unintentionally cause inaccurate data to enter a workflow, which could have costly ripple effects across the business. 

Organisations should look for ways to simplify user journeys across applications. On-screen guidance provides employees with the support they need to get their work done without interrupting the flow of work.

Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) provide customised on-screen guidance across even the most complex tech stack while enabling visibility into user behaviour to continuously improve the experience for employees while optimising productivity.

Empowering employees to thrive

There are many factors that influence the best kind of work arrangement for every organisation. But the argument against remote and hybrid work arrangements simply cannot claim that employees cannot be held to the same standards as their in-office counterparts.

Based on current sentiment in the UK, businesses that make a success of hybrid working will ultimately stand to reap the rewards a happy workforce can bring. Warwick University has found that workers are 12% more productive when they are happy – meaning hybrid working could have a huge transformative effect.

Businesses just need to ensure they have the right visibility over what is happening when employees are not right in front of their eyes, so they are able to identify and remove barriers.

This will clear a path for employees to be more productive and happier than ever, proving the likes of Alan Sugar wrong and ultimately boosting company performance.

Vivek Behl is Digital Transformation Officer at WalkMe

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com