How to handle the problems with hybrid work scheduling

7 min readJun 15, 2023

Introduction

You must now organise your work experience if you go to an office a few times every week. Why? Because sharing workstations and vying for meeting room space will undoubtedly present difficulties. The experience on the ground in the workplace is more important than ever as hybrid work practises develop, especially given the soaring office occupancy during the middle of the week. Facilities managers (FM), workplace strategists, and their counterparts in human resources (HR) must all deal with a variety of hybrid work arrangements. They must strike a balance between the requirement for desk sharing and large, collaborative meeting rooms and the needs of the staff for freedom and flexibility in setting their own schedules. All of this can be simplified by using an able workspace management software.

Expect some space sharing and occupancy problems across departments if most departments commute to work on the same days, on what is known as the “mid-week mountain” of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. You’ll need a commute plan that works with your flexible schedule.

According to a Gallup study, “both in terms of voluntary attendance and employer-required days on-site, Fridays and Mondays are the least popular days to be on-site.” The days of the week that hybrid employees work on-site the most are Tuesday through Thursday. These days are also when employers are most likely to request on-site labour.

Nobody wants their time spent at work to be wasted. To effectively manage all of these hybrid job elements, you need to be patient, cooperative, and strategically organised. Employees must contend with the high expense of commuting at the same time that prices for housing, food, energy, and other commodities are rising rapidly. Everyone’s commute to work must be worthwhile. Recent figures show that the top reason for going to work for 45% of people is the increased potential to interact with coworkers, clients, and vendors.

Tackling issues in a hybrid setup

The office experience can seem futile if workers are present but their team members are WFH (working from home) that day or if there are an excessive number of virtual meetings. Microsoft claims that there is now a “worth-it equation” for going to work: 78% of business decision-makers and 73% of employees agree that there must be more to going to work than just meeting company goals.

Additionally, workplace and FM teams are under pressure to maximise underutilised office space and contribute to the reduction of real estate costs across international property portfolios. Everyone’s commute to work must be worthwhile. Recent figures show that the top reason for going to work for 45% of people is the increased potential to interact with coworkers, clients, and vendors.

Important questions to address while implementing a hybrid workplace setup

Additionally, workplace and FM teams are under pressure to maximise underutilised office space and contribute to the reduction of real estate costs across international property portfolios. Consider the following questions, but create your own unique details for any office or coworking location you now use or intend to use:

What are the tools needed by each team?
What is the number of staff working in each department?
How many people live completely off the grid or are too far away from a regional office to regularly commute?
How frequently will independent contractors and freelancers visit your office?
Which teams need their own private spaces with locks on the doors?
Do you require the capability of reserving or terminating office and meeting space at any time?
How will you let staff members know about reservations?
Can workers make phone reservations for space?
How can you use technology to gather data to see what’s really happening?

It’s best to incorporate a committee

It might not be possible for managers and department heads to fully represent employee opinion on this committee. It can be crucial to involve employees early on if the goal is to have staff accept hybrid rules. By involving representatives from different departments or teams, the committee can gather valuable insights, identify potential obstacles, and propose solutions that consider the needs and preferences of both remote and in-person employees. This collaborative approach fosters transparency, promotes equitable decision-making, and ultimately contributes to a smoother implementation of hybrid scheduling with reduced disruptions and improved employee satisfaction.

Create a trial programme to specify the hybrid job scheduling technique after that.

Workplace hybridization is one thing. Participation by employees is a different matter. The only way to ensure a successful adoption is to test what works. Here comes a test project. It follows naturally from recognising pain spots. Depending on how much time you spend on things that are best done in person, determine how many days a week or months it would be beneficial to meet in person. Mandates for “blanket days in the office” only function if employees follow them. However, throughout the past year, enforcement has only been effective when there is a purposeful intention.

Microsoft’s WorkLab offers some useful organising advice on how to set up the in-office experience if you’re searching for something more prescriptive:

Two days in the workplace every week, with one day geared towards team building and the other towards fostering close relationships with coworkers and wider networks.
A team on-site day followed by a workday or work block without meetings. Since they know they can make up the lost time the next day, this model can assist people in concentrating their on-site time on team development, cooperation, and connection.
Numerous on-site days with face-to-face meetings scheduled during core hours allow workers to escape rush hour and plan their workday around school drop-off and other obligations.

In order to make your hybrid work scheduling model as equal as possible, you might need to stagger or mix up in-office days other than the mid-week or vary it up every few weeks if your firm is huge. There are no absolute laws.

Many of our clients use Mondays and Fridays to assist in bringing clients in during less busy commute days. Since the trip feels smoother because there are fewer people on the roads and trains, they are finding that employees respond strongly to these days. Some people these days are designating certain days as “Motivation Mondays” or “Fun Fridays” and making time for team-building activities and social gatherings like happy hours.

Pilot testing, data collection and analysis, programme revision, and eventual rollout to the entire firm

To make decisions that will have an impact on the entire organisation, it is important to be open to testing and experimenting as well as using survey feedback from pilot participants and data from reservation and scheduling software (as well as other metrics-driven facilities software, such as IWMS and other space planning and optimisation tools).

To better understand the subtle distinctions between them, it could be useful to pilot this programme with two or three quite different departments. The needs of various teams must be balanced carefully in order to determine what acceptable sacrifices or new investments are required.

In 2021, Microsoft discovered that while 58% of people mentioned focused work as a reason they preferred to work in an office, the same percentage also stated that they preferred to work from home for the same reason. Your systems and policies must be able to support both at the same time. The type of space and software required will depend on this.

Quiet spaces are used by many businesses to provide areas for focused time. However, it must be weighed against the human need for social interaction and the impact that interaction has on business success, employee satisfaction, and corporate culture. Lastly, never forget to communicate before communicating again.

Final Thoughts

In a hybrid setup, where teams work both remotely and in a physical office, the importance of using workspace management software cannot be overstated. This software serves as a central hub that enables seamless collaboration, coordination, and organization across different locations and time zones. By utilizing workspace management software, teams can easily access shared files, documents, and project updates, fostering efficient communication and productivity.

Additionally, such software allows for real-time visibility into team members’ availability and schedules, facilitating better planning and coordination of tasks. It also streamlines resource allocation and reservation of physical spaces, ensuring optimal utilization of office facilities. Ultimately, workspace management software empowers hybrid teams to overcome the challenges of distance and disparate work environments, promoting effective collaboration, enhanced productivity, and cohesive work culture.

Neoffice provides one of the best workspace management systems for hybrid workplaces. Our hybrid workspace solutions can help to make a smooth working environment in your organisation.

Neoffice Workplace Management Solution

Neoffice is built with a suite of workspace tools that help employees choose how and where they work while providing organizations with a platform to manage their hybrid workplace with ease and complete control.

The solution comes with 9 features on one single app — Team planner to manage a collaborative effort for a team, Seat Scheduling, Meeting room Booking, Hot Desking, Car park Slot Booking, Digital cafeteria to pre-order your meals at work, Employee commute solution, Survey forms. All Features are modular and the client can choose to subscribe to the relevant solution.

To know more about the solution, do drop a mail to hello@neofficesoftware.com or a call us on our Helpline +91 80 4680 5757