hybrid workplace personas Archives

The Hybrid Manifesto: Principles for Hybrid Work

Posted on February 1, 2023March 21, 2024 by Dan Bladen

This post is a summary of the Hybrid Manifesto – a guide to a flourishing Hybrid Workplace Policy. For the full manifesto, please visit hybridmanifesto.org

–

What is The Hybrid Manifesto?

The Hybrid Manifesto is a document that sets out the guiding principles for implementing hybrid workplace policy. It aims to provide companies with a framework for creating a work environment that benefits their People, Profits, and the Planet.

Why did we write it?

We are at a crossroads in time.

With the availability of tools for fully remote work, people no longer need to commute to offices to do their jobs.

However, coming together in person has its own set of unique benefits, such as accomplishing shared goals, connecting as human beings, and building community.

The question is — how do you balance those two things? It’s a daunting task, especially when you’re doing it without the right support.

That’s why we wrote the Hybrid Manifesto.

At Kadence, we’ve helped countless organizations manage the transition to hybrid work over the last few years.

We wanted to use our knowledge to make it easier for every single organization on the planet to understand the foundations and principles behind hybrid work, and give them a framework to optimize their work environment through a hybrid workplace policy.

What are the foundational pillars of hybrid work?

The Hybrid Manifesto defines four key pillars that are essential for successful hybrid work: Trust, Alignment, Execution, and Flourishing.

Trust is the foundation for all team health and performance, and is established through effective, transparent communication.

Alignment ensures that everyone is rowing in the same direction, in sync with their team members and the company.

Execution means that everyone on the team is able to articulate the strategy of the organization and execute it.

Flourishing is the commitment of a hybrid organization to the long-term health of People, Profits, and the Planet.

Building these foundations in an organization has some important long-term benefits.

What are the key benefits of hybrid work?

The Hybrid Manifesto promotes the three key benefits of hybrid work:

1. Shared vision above corporate controls

Personal goals and company goals are aligned, as opposed to being “top-down”

2. Situational flexibility above rigidity and repetitiveness

Empowering people to choose where to work yields better performance and happier employees

3. Meaningful collaboration above individual burnout

The social role of collaboration is protected and valued as an important work tool

By implementing the principles outlined in the manifesto, organizations can achieve increased productivity, reduced burnout, and greater employee retention. Learn more about the Hybrid Manifesto here and how it can benefit your organization.

If you are a company thinking about transitioning to hybrid work, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team.

6 key steps to overcoming return-to-office resistance

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Dan Bladen

There’s a new phenomenon taking the working world by storm. Return-to-office resistance, or FORTO (fear of returning to the office), is the newest obstacle facing companies looking for a path forward after the pandemic.

And it makes sense. During two years of intermittent lockdowns, we all got exceptionally comfortable with a home office. For a great deal of us — it’s proving hard to let go: a recent study revealed 91% of employees in the US aren’t willing to sacrifice the ability to work from home in the future.

So what’s behind return-to-office resistance? And how can you, as an employer, help your team rekindle their love for office work?

Let’s dive in.

We’re all still recalibrating to social situations and the idea of being surrounded by people so frequently can be daunting and anxiety-inducing.

1. Understand the causes

There are three main reasons behind return-to-office resistance:

Flexibility

The ability to work from home has been life-changing for millions of people. It’s given us unprecedented control over our work/life balance, our daily routine, and our commute (or lack thereof!) You can imagine why, therefore, returning to the office feels like a step backward for many people. Why should I sacrifice my newfound flexibility for a more rigid system?

Habits

Of course, much of this resistance—and indeed the protection of flexibility—comes down to the habits we built up over the last few years. Habits, once crystallized, are famously hard to shift.

With the home office as the go-to, many of us are resisting change, even when that change constitutes reverting to the norm.

Health

We’re entering the worst flu season in 13 years and a lot of us are – for obvious reasons – still primed to avoid viruses and illness wherever possible.

On the mental health front—the world is also gradually recalibrating to social situations (of which we had a notable lack for a couple of years). The idea of being surrounded by people so frequently may—to some—be daunting and anxiety-inducing.

The truth is, your employees may be experiencing a combination of these. In the next step, you’ll dig a bit deeper into their exact feelings surrounding office-based work.

2. Kickstart the discussion

It’s time to be proactive about the return-to-office discussion.

Not only do you want to dig into the reasons for your employees’ resistance—but you also want to identify the degrees of support and resistance to hybrid work in the company.

Consider an all-hands open discussion on the topic, or send out an anonymous internal survey. Encourage team members to reach out personally if they have any concerns you might not have considered.

The goal is to get a granular understanding of each and every employee—their starting position, their concerns, and how they can be addressed.

Showing proactivity will assure your team that you’re taking their questions about returning to the office seriously, and leading the transition as responsibly and smoothly as possible.

3. Communicate the benefits

Once you’ve built up a clearer picture of your employees’ attitudes to returning to the office, you should refocus the conversation on the benefits of in-person work. And the benefits are numerous:

Being part of the company culture

The office is still undoubtedly at the heart of company culture. It’s where colleagues have those little water cooler conversations and engage in social interactions that just aren’t possible over Zoom.

Changing your environment

Getting out of the house regularly can do wonders for your mental health if you’re feeling stuck in a rut or finding it hard to motivate yourself. This is especially true for those who identify as “Integrators”—people less able to segment work life and home life.

Building relationships

One of the best parts about spending time in the office is that you immediately break out of your WFH work silo. Time in the office enables you to forge relationships with new colleagues—and in turn brings about new ideas, advice and opportunities to collaborate.

High-quality collaboration

In a world where everything seems to have gone online, we’re gradually starting to remember the joys of real-life collaboration. Online workshops were great as a backup, but there’s nothing quite like the real thing. A designer, a product person, an engineer, and a marketing specialist in the same room—that’s when the magic happens.

At Kadence, we see office work as yet another tool in our toolbox. It’s not a case of “two days in, three days out”—it’s ensuring the right team members are in for the right reasons. Done right—office work is fun, fulfilling, and productive.

4. Put well-being first

The causes underlying return-to-office resistance are completely legitimate. The pandemic has taken a toll on both our physical and mental health, with the WHO finding a **25% increase in prevalence of anxiety since the beginning of 2020.

That’s why you should make team members feel as comfortable as possible about the prospect of dipping their toes back into office work.

In terms of physical health: Flu-proof your office with disinfecting stations, good air circulation, and regular cleaning.

In terms of mental health: Aside from encouraging open conversations throughout the return-to-office process, consider a company-wide program with Mental Health Ambassadors or Champions who are responsible for checking in on employees’ mental well-being and cultivating a culture of psychological safety.

Before rushing to implement a system for hybrid work, you should make it clear to your team that you are putting their health and safety first.

5. Create a destination workplace

Your team needs to ***see why it’s worth coming into the office on occasion. Especially those who are resisting hybrid work the most.

That’s why creating an absolutely kick-ass workplace will be your biggest asset in the transition to hybrid.

Here are some of the hallmarks of a modern office equipped for hybrid:

Biophilic design (plenty of plants and natural features)
Collaboration hubs with interactive whiteboards and video conferencing capabilities
Open areas with cushy chairs and refreshments for chance encounters or impromptu brainstorming sessions
Focus booths and silent zones for undisturbed, independent work
Large desks that enable a certain base-level social distancing

The more your employees love spending time in your office, the more they’ll make arrangements to come in.

6. Invest in hybrid software

This is the step that I consistently see companies skip. Yet it’s probably the most important of all.

It’s all very well spending a ton of money on a beautiful office, but if there’s no tool to adequately manage your employees’ time—it could all be for nothing.

Remember—the goal isn’t simply to get people into the office; it’s to get people into the office when it makes sense for them to be there.

Luckily, software exists for this very purpose. Hybrid management tools help you coordinate your people, projects, and spaces, so team members are always on the same page with desk booking, room booking, and collaborative meetings.

Investing in hybrid software will assure your employees that—when they are ready to make the move back to the office—there is a solid plan already in place.

At Kadence, we’ve gone through all of the growing pains of transitioning to hybrid work.

That’s why we’re committed to helping companies struggling with the same core questions. What kind of work system is right for us? How can we encourage employees to use our office?

There’s no right answer and no one-size-fits-all, but if you’ve read this far you’ve clearly begun the soul-searching process for your company.

If you’d like to learn more about hybrid work, and tools that help you coordinate your team, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’d love to hear your story and provide whatever help we can.

6 hybrid work personas your company needs to know about

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Dan Bladen

… and what you can do to help them thrive.

The world of work has changed beyond recognition. Going into the office 5 days a week feels like a relic of the past, yet we’re also beginning to see the drawbacks of a fully remote system.

Thousands of companies are moving to a hybrid model. A recent study found that 74% of US companies had already implemented, or were in the process of implementing hybrid work—rushing to give their employees flexibility.

But what does it actually mean to give employees flexibility, when every employee is so different?

Knowing the types of workers that have emerged into the hybrid era is the first step to understanding how you, as an employer, can give them just the kind of flexibility they need.

Let’s dive in.

Old School Oliver lives and dies by the office. The mere thought of not having a permanent, dedicated desk space sends shivers down his spine.

1. Adaptive Adam

Adaptive Adam is the chameleon in the company. He’s just as happy getting in the zone at home as he is hunkering down at a desk in the office—and he recognises the benefits in both.

He expects a dynamic workplace culture that moulds to his needs, with meeting spaces for effective collaboration and focus booths or quiet rooms for deep work. As he’s always flitting between home and office, Adam desperately needs his company to provide a tool that helps him manage those transitions smoothly.

He still remembers that one time when his favourite desk in the corner was occupied by Angela from Marketing. But she always works from home on Tuesdays!

What does Adam need? A modern workspace with a variety of meeting spaces and focus rooms, and a hybrid management tool that enables painless and transparent room/desk booking.

2. Solo Sarah

Solo Sarah has taken to home-based work like a duck to water.

She’s fiercely independent and she thrives when she’s left to get on with things — with minimal distraction. Though she doesn’t mind coming into the office for a meeting once in a while, she will default to remote work whenever possible.

Perhaps she has a busy family life or she lives a long way from town— whatever it is, you’ll probably next see her at the company Christmas party.

What does Sarah need? Support to craft the ultimate WFH set up —but also the right incentives and encouragement to bring her to the office on days when she is a crucial cog in the machine.

3. Old School Oliver

Old School Oliver lives and dies by the office. The mere thought of not having a permanent, dedicated desk space sends shivers down his spine.

For him, offices are THE environment where he knows he can thrive. Sure, he just about got through two years of home office, but he did it kicking and screaming. It’s just not his thing. Nothing makes Oliver happier than the sight of a work station set up for him to succeed — cactus, coffee cup and all. That’s where you’ll find him — all day, every day.

What does Oliver need? A permanent desk. Simple as. If that’s absolutely not possible, then he’ll make do with a desk management tool that allows recurring booking.

Claire deeply appreciates the flexibility to work from home. That’s what makes her one of the 83% of workers who believe a hybrid model is optimal.

4. Cultural Claire

Cultural Claire is also a big fan of the office. Unlike Oliver, who relies on the office to enable his productivity, Claire seeks it out for the social rewards.

She comes in regularly for the feeling of human connection — Chris from Product cracking puns by the water cooler, Angela’s infectious laugh, Friday after-work drinks.

As much as she loves office-based work, Claire also deeply appreciates the flexibility to work from home. That’s what makes her one of the 83% of workers who believe a hybrid model is optimal.

What does Claire need? A destination workplace. Collaboration hubs, cosy open areas and biophilic design are just a few things that will make her feel fulfilled and happy at work.

5. Unpredictable Ulrich

The greatest mystery of all. Ulrich the Unpredictable.

You haven’t seen him in half a year, and suddenly he’s coming in every day. He comes in every day, then he disappears to the Azores, where he works from a goat farm for three weeks. He comes back from the goat farm and suddenly he’s dialing in from a café in Toronto.

You can try to understand him, but you might not get very far. Ulrich is… well, Ulrich.

What does Ulrich need? A hybrid workplace tool that can cope with even the most unpredictable work regimes. And a quick word from the boss, perhaps 😉

6. Stretched Selma

Stretched Selma is the poor soul trying to make all of this work.

Her role in operations has undergone by far the biggest changes in the company since the pandemic. Not only is she still having to oversee the day-to-day fundamentals of people and culture management, she’s also now been tasked with making hybrid work work for everyone.

She has a vision for how this can be done, but no time to execute her ideas. That means, for now, the team will have to make do with Google Calendar when it comes to scheduling and coordination.

What does Selma need? The Swiss Army Knife of hybrid work management systems. A platform that will cover the essentials of hybrid work—and, as a bonus, provide tools to maximise the potential of this new hybrid reality.

So what does this all mean?

It means that it’s more complicated than everyone coming in two days a week. A nuanced set of employees requires a nuanced approach to hybrid work.

The biggest challenge is not making sure everyone has a desk when they come into the office. It’s making sure that they are coming into the office for the right reasons.

Tools like Kadence go above and beyond basic facility management (i.e who has what desk). They empower team members to be 100% in sync with one another, so that the unique benefits of office-based and home-based work are properly taken advantage of.

When you get Claire, Adam and Sarah in a room together, great things can happen.

The office has become another tool for work. Let’s make good use of it.

Hybrid Persona #1: The Soloist

Posted on August 10, 2021 by Dan Bladen

In a new mini-series of blogs, we take a light-hearted look at different types of employees, their personas and how the transition to hybrid might affect them, and more importantly what you can do to keep them happy.

First up, one of the key remote working employee personas: it’s the Soloist. Most famous example: Albert Einstein.

The Soloist is an independent creature, a lone worker happiest working from their garden office in sweatpants; mandatory remote working has been a paradise for them. No commute, flexibility and the freedom to pop into the kitchen every few hours to mix their sourdough starter. They like to get their head down away from the distractions and noise of the office. They’re typically older and more established at the company – unlike their more junior colleagues, they don’t feel the need to network and nurture relationships.

Einstein, perhaps the world’s most decorated Soloist, famously wore the same outfit every day so that he didn’t waste precious brainpower on deciding what to wear. For the Soloist, dressing up for the office is an unnecessary extravagance.

Soloists are typically highly productive. They’re happiest in a hands-off culture that allows them to dictate their own working patterns. They thrive when they’re judged on the quality of their output rather than time spent at their desk. Autonomy and choice are important to them. The challenge for organizations is ensuring that the Soloist remains engaged with company culture and doesn’t become isolated. Particularly over the medium to long term, as culture evolves and employees come and go, the Soloist may find themselves losing touch with the workplace community.

Here are ten tips to help you keep your Soloists feeling happy, engaged and valued in a hybrid workplace culture.

1. Keep your lone worker connected with workplace technology

Communication and project management platforms such as Slack and Asana help keep communication lines open no matter where employees are based. Easier for quick-fire conversations than email, they’re the virtual equivalent of informal office chats. You can use them for both work and play too. Social Slack channels help recreate those watercooler moments, facilitate connection and encourage Soloists out of their home office silos. Insist that all employees use your chosen platforms even if they spend time in the office, so you don’t leave anybody out of updates and conversations.

2. Practice hybrid meeting equality

Team members who attend meetings in person will typically benefit from a richer experience, picking up on the social cues and non-verbal communication so important to human interaction.

The Soloist, staring at a laptop screen, will potentially miss out. Try to mitigate against this by making an extra effort to ensure that these lone workers feel included and valued in your meetings, whether in-person or remote. Our hybrid meetings article is full of tips, including making time for small talk at the beginning, giving everybody a chance to contribute on each point and implementing tech that creates an immersive meeting experience for remote attendees. Acknowledge screen fatigue too, and only schedule meetings when necessary.

3. Keep lone workers in the loop

The Soloist can get FOMO too. Nobody likes the feeling that they’re the last to hear big news. It’s important to make sure they’re kept in the loop of any changes at work. Make any big announcements over a virtual call so that everyone gets to hear them at the same time and through the same medium. Make sure that remote employees have the same opportunity to respond and feedback as everybody else.

4. Show them you care

If you have a Soloist in your team, there’s a risk that conversations with them become purely mechanical – project updates, task setting or performance reviews. Those serendipitous encounters in the corridor or after work drinks when you chat about personal things – holidays, your families, or the Super Bowl – don’t happen.

Be sure to make room for personal connection in your interactions with Soloists. Show an interest in their private lives. Get to know what’s going on for them. If conversations easily get bogged down in work topics, why not schedule a fortnightly check-in call with day-to-day work strictly off the agenda?

5. Celebrate their contributions

Feeling undervalued can lead to resentment. At home for most of the time, the Soloist isn’t around to get that pat on the back or appreciative nod during a meeting. Left unchecked, they can start to feel underappreciated. Celebrating contributions can be as simple as publicly saying thank you for a piece of work or achievement during a team call, or making a point of acknowledging individual contributions when sharing a project update.

6. Offer flexible working

One of the biggest benefits the Soloist enjoys is the flexibility to fit work around life. Provided they’re performing, afford them the autonomy to choose when they work and embrace asynchronous communication. We all have times of the day when we’re more productive, and it’s not always between nine and five.

7. Be clear on in-person meeting cadence

If you require staff to come into the office for face-to-face meetings, be clear on what you expect. Short-notice requests to come in might be a problem for Soloists, so communicate dates and times clearly and in good time – finding a routine with a regular cadence will work best.

8. Bring the office to them

Companies such as Fujitsu are setting up hub and spoke models, with a slimmed down HQ and satellite offices in urban areas or close to train stations. These satellites give workers an easy option when they need or want to meet in-person. They break down one of the barriers Soloists may have to coming in – difficulty getting to the office.

9. Seamless in-office experience

Creating a great in-office experience will make your Soloists’ trips into the office as pain-free as possible. One of the biggest sources of anxiety for remote workers coming into the office is hot desk anxiety. You can eliminate this by enabling your employees to book a desk in advance, either as a one-off or on a regular cadence.

They’ll get peace of mind that there’s a clean desk waiting for them in a location they know they can work in. Desk scheduling software systems such as Kadence also give organizations a wealth of usage data, so you can design workplaces using data-driven usage insights.

10. Ensure equipment parity

From a lumbar support chair to an ergonomic keyboard, providing Soloists with a good level of equipment for their home office will help them feel valued, and support their wellbeing. In a remote-first culture, many companies will be moving to a desk hoteling system and repurposing office space for collaboration and meeting space. If you’re in that boat, why not offer surplus desk equipment to home workers so they can upgrade their spare room or garden shed for work?

The Soloist employee persona – made for the remote-first hybrid workplace

After decades of a one-size-fits-all approach, the workplace as we know it is in flux. There’s no doubt those who prefer lone working are well suited to this hybrid workplace revolution. If they’ve struggled with coming into the office on a fixed routine in the past, the sudden new-found freedom will have been a breath of fresh air.

So don’t try to force your Soloists back to the office unnecessarily. Instead, embrace their independence and put in place a hybrid working model and remote working tools and strategies to keep them connected and engaged from afar.

4 Hybrid Employee Personas & Questions To Ask To Keep Them Happy

Posted on July 28, 2021October 2, 2023 by Dan Bladen

Have you ever stopped to think about the different employee personas in your office?

We bet you’ve got some people who like to get their head down, headphones on and work away in silence.

And others who are social butterflies, always networking and have their finger on the pulse of everything that’s going on. Then there’s the early-starters vs stay-laters. People with Post-it covered desks vs people with clean and clear desks. The list goes on.

With the freedom to work as we please, the past 18 months of remote working have amplified these differences. Planning a post-pandemic, hybrid workplace that accommodates everybody is a tall order.

Hybrid working employee personas

If you’re tasked with helping your organization go hybrid, understanding the different workplace personas will put you in a great position to create an environment that works across the board.

It will help you judge the most effective office configuration, understand what support people might need, and gauge the cultural tone you need to strike.

You’ll probably have questions such as: how can you alleviate return-to-work anxiety? What systems do you need to smooth the transition? How do you keep different employees engaged?

To help, over the course of a new, four-part blog series, we’re taking a look at the most common hybrid workplace personas you’re likely to come across. Each blog will explore the characteristics and needs of a different type: the Soloist, the Adapter, the Culturalist and the Traditionalist. Here’s a sneak preview of each one.

The Soloist

Soloists have taken to remote working like ducks to water. They’re independent and thrive when left to get on with minimal intervention. The flexibility of remote work suits them. They don’t mind coming into the office for a meeting when required, but will default to working remotely whenever possible. They might live far from the office or have a busy family life.

The challenge for organizations is how to keep their Soloists engaged with the workplace culture and not allowing them to become too isolated. An inclusive approach to hybrid meetings and regular communication is key to ensuring they never feel left out.

Read more in our article: Hybrid Workplace Personas: The Soloist

The Adapter

The Adapter is flexible and always finds the best space for their work. They’re as happy getting their head down to focus at home or in a café as they are coming into the office. They expect a dynamic workplace culture that flexes to meet their needs. On days when they’re in the office, they’ll want not just meeting and collaboration space, but space to focus and do quiet work.

To keep Adapters happy, you’ll need to keep pace with tech that provides them with seamless transitions between home and office. Tech such as simple and intuitive space booking software, so they always know when to come in and where to sit. No fuss, no stress.

Read more in our article: Hybrid Workplace Personas: The Adapter

The Culturalist

The Culturalist thrives on human connection and enjoys the social experience of coming into the office more than most. They’ve missed bumping into colleagues in the corridor, after work drinks and the general buzz of office life.

They’re happy to come into the office regularly, but still want the flexibility to work from home for some of the week. You’ll need to provide them with intuitive tools that give them visibility of when and where their teammates are working, and easily bookable collaboration spaces.

Read more in our article: Hybrid Workplace Personas: The Culturalist

The Traditionalist

The Traditionalist favors the office. Given the opportunity, they’d go in every day and would like things to return to the pre-pandemic norm. They prefer to have their own assigned desk and might be troubled by the thought of hot desking or desk hoteling. As fans of structure, the flexibility of remote working doesn’t appeal.

Organizations catering for Traditionalists will need to find a way to strike a balance between the dynamic nature of hybrid working and the stability of an office-first workplace. An intuitive, agile system that enables workers to easily book regular desk space over a period of time will provide reassurance, make it easy for administrators to manage office space, and make sure favorite desks don’t get snapped up by hot-deskers!

Read more in our article: Hybrid Workplace Personas: The Traditionalist

You’ll probably have come across some, if not all, of these employee personas in your organization. Stay tuned for a deep dive into each one, including tips on how you can meet their needs and set up a hybrid workplace and culture that keeps each one of them happy.

As a first step, why not download our Employee Survey Tool Kit? It will help you understand your employees’ needs and routines in order to identify what kind of spaces, tools or solutions will create the best work experience for them.