A boon to the bottom line
Businesses that have adopted hybrid working models are more productive and are saving time and money. Which is why they are here to stay
Remember when working flexibly meant you had to put up with snide asides from people assuming you were having a lie-in or catching up on daytime TV? One positive about the past couple of years is that they have conclusively put paid to such stale old gags about (not) working from home. In fact, this period of remote and hybrid working has actually delivered a productivity dividend for most businesses.
“During Covid, hybrid just became the norm. Businesses didn’t fall over – in fact, hybrid working is more productive in my experience,” says Mark Dixon, founder of flexible-workspace provider Regus. “When we had everyone together in a big office, I could guarantee that people would always look busy whenever I walked past, but really I had no idea whether they were actually being productive or not.”
Research backs up this view. In a poll conducted by PWC last year, 57 per cent of business leaders said that, thanks to hybrid working, their firms had performed better against productivity measures than before. A mere 4 per cent said that productivity had declined.
Those numbers are enough to make any boss sit up and take notice, but the positive impact of hybrid working on the P&L shouldn’t be discounted, says Dixon. “Businesses have realised that a hybrid model not only means happier and more engaged employees, but also a significant saving on the bottom line.”
Hybrid working reduces the amount of office space a company requires, resulting in savings on traditionally fixed overheads such as rent, heating and support staff. These savings can add up to £8,100 per employee per year, according to research conducted by Workplace Analytics.
“The conventional use of office space is incredibly inefficient,” says Dixon. “A company that has a thousand staff has a thousand desks, but they are only used about 30 per cent of the time.”
Furthermore, workspaces are typically concentrated in large office buildings in expensive city centre locations, which means long commutes for staff. So it’s easy to see where huge savings can be made that deliver a better balance for employees.
Rather than having too much expensive space, companies can use hub-and-spoke locations such as those provided by Regus to enable people to work where they need to – be that at home, in a city centre hub for big meetings, or at a spoke office location near their homes. The business saves money and gains flexibility, while employees spend less time travelling but can still congregate regularly to keep the company culture alive and well.
Hybrid working reduces the amount of office space a company requires, resulting in savings on rent, heating and support staff
Regus’s parent company, IWG, has a presence in more than 120 countries, and members can access any of its 3,400 offices. Tech giant Cisco has just connected thousands of employees to this global network. It’s a recognition that hybrid working is here to stay, says Cisco’s VP of workplace resources, Christian Bigsby.
“There will be those who really understand the idea of activating their teams and bringing people together versus those who are still just looking for attendance,” he says. “Attendance isn’t a proxy for productivity. Just showing up isn’t enough. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re never going back to full occupancy, five days a week in an office.”
And it’s not just multinationals that can benefit. SMEs of any size can use more than 300 “flexspace” locations in the UK, from Exeter to Aberdeen, booking as many desks or days as needed through a handy app.
Fears that it would be harder to come up with great new ideas in a hybrid environment have proved unfounded – although creativity does require a different approach from the “all gather round the flipchart” school of brainstorming, says consultant and start-up entrepreneur Chris Barez-Brown.
His tips for generating ideas in hybrid meetings include investing in tech to deliver the smoothest possible experience, limiting sessions to avoid screen fatigue and making sure that remote participants don’t lose out to those who are physically present.
“Don’t let the room win,” he counsels. “Start by briefing everyone together, then facilitate the group in the room separately and let the remote people go and do their own stuff. Then bring everyone back together at the end to harvest ideas.”
So, far from being a sofa-surfers’ charter, for companies looking to boost results, reduce costs and create a happier workforce, hybrid working works for staff and bosses alike, concludes Dixon.
“It’s about saying to people, ‘You can work wherever you need to be at your most productive.’ My own productivity as CEO of this business has doubled. I can do a video meeting every 15 minutes if I want. In the office, it can take that long just to get everyone to come to the meeting room.”
86% Hybrid employees who say their productivity has either increased or remained the same
(Reed Skills for Success survey, 2021)
84% UK companies who have adopted hybrid working
(Chartered Management Institute, 2022)
69% Companies planning to shrink office footprints and move to flexible solutions
(Regus: Welcome to the Future of Work white paper)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/static/hybrid-working-hub-and-spoke-regus-iwg/