More than two years into the most significant working revolution of the past century, we have reached a pivotal point. Employees have experienced the benefits of hybrid work firsthand and many have expectations for it to continue. Hybrid working is now not just a trend, it’s a must-have for organizations; with 11% of global workforce working exclusively from the office, 6% are working exclusively from home and 70% are working a blend of two to four days from the office, with the remainder from home.
These stark facts, revealed in our HP Global Hybrid Working Survey, mark a watershed moment that comes with significant responsibilities and opportunities. They mean we can no longer view hybrid working as an intriguing ‘muddle along’ novelty. We have to embrace it as a long-term reality, and we have to make it work for all.
A better working model for most… but not for all
While most organizations in the UAE recognize the importance of flexible working, there remain opportunities to fully realize its vast potential. Two thirds (66%) say it has made them more productive, while a significant 70% believe it offers an opportunity to enhance employee well-being.
However, inequalities are beginning to emerge, and unless we take action these could undermine hard fought for inclusive working cultures. Many young people in our survey spoke of feeling sidelined by the hybrid working experience. Almost one in five (19%) of those under 30 feel their PC or laptop isn’t fast or reliable enough to participate fully in hybrid meetings, while almost half of the respondents have experienced ‘tech shame’ or embarrassment when their tech has disrupted a hybrid meeting.
Whilst young peoples’ experience of hybrid working seems to be the most polarising, they are not alone. One in five (20%) of UAE’s hybrid workers still feel left out of decision-making processes when they’re not physically in the room. So how can we make the shift from ‘muddle through’ hybrid working to seamless hybrid working that works for all?
The 3 C’s that can make hybrid working, work
We believe success lies in embracing three crucial C’s – Connection, Clarity, and Collaboration – at the heart of your new hybrid working culture.
Achieving all-important Connection
We all need to feel truly seen and heard to feel a connection with our peers and our work. Yet staggeringly, two years into the hybrid working revolution, less than 10 million of the 90 million meeting rooms worldwide are equipped with the video conferencing facilities that allow true connection to occur.
Little surprise then that one in five workers in the UAE (22%) feel they can’t properly follow what is going on in hybrid meetings and a third (38%) believe it’s easier to have their ideas heard in person. The simple truth is that in hybrid meetings it’s all too easy for those joining remotely to be drowned out and sidelined. If we are to make hybrid-working work for all, investing in technology that enables employees to feel truly connected – wherever they are – has to be a business priority.
HP Presence meeting space and PC technology addresses the issue of sidelining with high quality video and audio functionality and smart features to empower employees to feel equally seen, heard and connected whether in the room or not. HP Speaker Frame highlights those who are speaking to make sure everyone feels heard when talking, while premium audio sound-levelling ensures it is the meeting conversation – the moment of connection – that is always the focus of attention rather than any background noise.
But it’s not just quality of connection we have to focus on. Creating opportunities for connection is equally key, because of those who feel less productive in a hybrid working set up, 47% believe connecting with the right people has been made more challenging in the new hybrid working culture.
Why Clarity is also fundamental
So how can you overcome this barrier to effective communication in your culture? Nearly two thirds of workers in the UAE believe it comes down to clarity, with 68% saying that working statuses in collaboration and productivity apps no longer adequately reflect today’s flexible working styles.
Many believe the ability to alert colleagues to nuanced working states is key to promoting greater togetherness. Two in five (42%) say a ‘free until’ message would aid colleague connectivity, while 40% say they’d welcome the clarity that a ‘ready to collaborate’ status would give.
How can you ensure quality Collaboration across multiple environments?
Collaboration has always been the rocket fuel for innovation and success. But in today’s hybrid working cultures it not only provides forward momentum, rather the all-important ‘glue’ that allows geographically widely spread colleagues to feel united in their mission.
So how can you ensure collaboration remains at the heart of your hybrid working culture when two thirds (60%) of the UAE workforce says they still find it easier to work with others in the office?
Ultimately, it’s about sending out the message that collaboration is prized; by setting aside key times of the day or week when collaboration is prioritised, and by creating environments that promote quality collaborative experiences.
With over half (52%) of the UAE workforce believing it’s easier to interpret body language in person, it’s about enabling intuitive, people-centric collaboration across multiple environments. For instance, high quality video like that enabled by HP 965 4K Streaming Webcam empowers colleagues to clearly see and understand each other’s responses in hybrid meetings.
Hybrid is a term with wildly different connotations. It can imply a compromised result. But it can equally symbolise the fusion of best in class to create something truly special.
As we enter an era in which the majority of global workforce is now working across a blend of environments, we owe it to the many millions for whom hybrid working is the new reality, to make it the latter. A fusion of the best of both, that creates a future of work that works brilliantly for all.
