Do you know who the best people are for hybrid working?

As the return to the workplace continues, many organisations struggle with how to manage their people in the new hybrid model. 

 

Who among the workforce is best suited to working from home? 

 

Who is best suited for the support of the office environment? 

 

Who is most comfortable working from both? 

 

The simple answer is that we just don’t know. There is no empirical data that helps a business understand it’s people and how they are likely to perform in the new working environment. Even if there was data available, it would not be specific to you and your organisation. 

 

Many traditionally office-based employees have found a new freedom working from home and have saved thousands of pounds in commuting costs and time. Why would they want to return to the office if they are being effective at home? 

 

And now we have the cost-of-living crises, who really wants to build extra costs into their lives unless there is something in it for them? 

The counter argument is of course, that being in the office encourages networking, promotes idea generation and builds relationships, all of which benefit the employee and the employer through career opportunity and effectiveness. To the employee, these reasons are sound yet intangible, as there is no immediate benefit. 

 

So would it be useful to understand who is best suited to the office and who is best suited to be at home? I think so, and using psychometrics is one of the tools that you can use to help you understand your people and their location effectiveness. 

 

If we can understand who works best and where, we can adjust our recruiting patterns and our development plans to better reflect the new reality. We can have honest, unbiased data-led conversations with our staff about why we think it is best to return to the office and make it in their best interest. That, I think is a much better conversation to have than one which says: 

 

“Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.” 

 

Jacob Rees-Mogg