Why employees want “hybrid working”

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to design digital workplaces or “offices in the cloud.” These environments enable companies to allow flexible and remote working for their teams. I also teach the digital literacy, fluency, communication and collaboration skills needed to work in these modern technology-rich workplaces.

As can be seen from above, 64% of employees surveyed want to spend between 1 and 4 days “at the office.”

There are a number of reasons for this, but primarily it boils down to this:

1) At home time = distractionless work
2) At home time = less commuting
3) At the office = in-person collaboration

So people enjoy the flexibility of not having to commute everyday and to have time to do deep work – neither possible by having to be at the office.

The stumbling block to leaving the office behind altogether is subpar online communication and collaboration.

The question is: What would the preference be if these same individuals were to experience a digital workplace that enabled high quality, intimate communication and collaboration at distance?

In other words what if virtual communication and collaboration was a good, and in some cases even better than being in-person? (And yes that is possible.)

My guess is, then the percentage of those wanting to work from anywhere 5 days a week, would grow substantially larger.

Note: Many people think “working remotely” means isolation (because of the idea the word “remote” conjures up) and means never seeing your colleagues in person. Nothing could be further from the truth. In mature work-from-anywhere workplaces in-person meetups are highly valued and intentionally planned at regular intervals throughout the year.