The Hybrid Office The Practical Guide For The Future Of The Workplace Ebook
Released Date: 7th September 2020
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Introduction This is a practical guide For The Future Of The Workplace Ebook was created to prepare businesses of all sizes for ‘the next normal’ and help future proof companies looking to excel. The Hybrid Office Ebook was written to help you shape your company's office and environments, alongside combining two essential pillars to any business success, culture & strategy.
This Hybrid Office Ebook is here to help Chief of Staff, EA's. PA's, HR & People teams, Founders and Business Leaders, to guide you and your business for the next phase of the office, the hybrid office. This Ebook will prepare you, your business and staff for maximum success. Introduction Chapter 1: The History Of The Office The Past The Present The Future New Considerations Chapter 2: The Next Steps The Actual Hybrid Office Where To Start What Can We Do? Flexible Approach To Focus Days Chapter 3: Next Steps For Your Business Recommended Actions For Your Business To Take Closing Comments Further Reading
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Chapter 1 Chapter one will take you on a quick overview of what the office was, what the office is today and the next phase of the office. Leading you with actionable steps for you to take. ● With how and where to start, ● The actions to take, ● How to rethink and reshape your status quo.
The History Of The Office The following section outlines: ● What the office was ● What the office stands for today ● Where the office is moving towards and being multi-location. Focus offers you a framework to reconsider what the office space means to your business and importantly your staff and how to consider reshaping the office for maximum potential and flexibility.
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The Past ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
The workday was too rigid 09.00 to 17.00 is a 100-year-old methodology One office-centric, remote work rarely existed Empty desks - a lot of people were in meetings Assigned seating - cause of many arguments, internal political unrest and employee stress Forced to your desk and fighting for a meeting room The cookie-cutter approach had to be one size fit all Closed-door offices ➡ Open office in 2000’s ➡ Shared Offices The HiPPO positioned themselves in the middle of the office watching over everyone and being visible Learning centrally, learning through viewing and hearing politics and clout, with some external courses and training Quarter or annual pulse surveys - rarely were actioned, too late for feedback Off-sites - Quarterly or bi-annual - felt forced and unproductive post offsite Lack of sharing important information, poor communication and no home for information
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The Present ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
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The mandatory working from home ‘experiment’ Almost fully remote - high level of anxieties A tiny percentage of people want to return to a fixed dedicated office Working longer hours, not necessarily working harder or smarter Finding out what works and what is missed Not being able to take a few minutes break Video call fatigue Wait and see approach about going back into the office (following Slack, Apple, Facebook, Google and the QSR for their approach to safety) No size fits any (key will be flexibility and not too many top down hard rules) Joining a company means meeting teams remotely, working with your manager remotely, meeting their pets and young members of the family alongside seeing inside a colleagues home without knowing them well. Learning is self-serve Pulse Survey ad-hoc Off-sites - Not really happening or happening in limited numbers in person, some remote Mixed documentation and sharing information. Many homes for important content and too many layers of communication
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The Future ● Hybrid and choice-based. Office as a service or Office as an experience ● Flexible: Answering what people have craved for years (It is important to note flexible and the choice is not going to be easy and requires retraining and a lot of trust) ● Data-driven approach: using data to build out new office spaces, new leases and costings ● Status Updates: Working From Home, Working From The Office, Working Remotely. Booking in and out of these statuses well in advance. ● The office is going to be a representation of what you want to be and what you want to achieve ● Employee-led - employees having more control, more autonomy, more choice ● Transparency-led - decisions and conversations having to be more transparent and actionable ● Experimental - offices will be for in-person and essential creative session ● Experience Based Offices - office will be planned experiences, for meetings, for brainstorming, for safe collaboration ● Improved space - office space designed for fewer people but more action and flexible areas ● Learning will not be in person as we are used to, training will be primarily online with specific external training ● More regular and better Pulse Surveying and feedback loops ● Alternative days for when people come into the office, TW&TS (yes it is pronounced TWATS) known as Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays ● More regular operational off-sites ● More regular, likely in-person half of the time but spaces for action ● Dedicated documentation, a home and hub and strong recommendation a centralised playbook
New Considerations 1. New Satellite offices - offering new satellite offices for swarms of employees, enabling a flexible space, geared for meetings, away sessions and dedicated focused work. 2. Smaller localised co-working spaces - designed for more flexible workspace, enabling teams to maximise output of teams
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Chapter 2:
The Next Steps This chapter outlines: ● How to start considering the hybrid office ● The opportunity to rethink the Monday to Friday 9-5 ● Reducing staff anxiety and reduce the feeling of large amounts of change for your staff ● Shaping your thinking for the future ● Rethinking focus days and shape a more productive asynchronous workforce
The Actual Hybrid Office There has been a lot made about the shift and escalation of the hybrid office. Almost every organisation across the business has had to enforce a mandatory work from home order. This is not the normal work from home, this has tested almost every person and every business to adapt. Looking ahead there is going to be a new world of work, the workplace is going to look and act very differently. The old and previous office rules will not apply as they do currently. The future of the workplace is going to have to be flexible, flexible for the employee and flexible for the teams. The next normal will be ● ● ● ● ●
Employee first Choice led Flexible New working schedule. Not based on 40-hour work week Will be based on skills and delivery of the team not the convenience for business and office space
Many organisations will live and breathe being purpose-driven rather than talking about for PR reasons to enforce mandatory work from home order. This is not the normal work from home, this has tested almost every person and every business to adapt.
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Where To Start Right now, it is important to remember you and your company are not starting over, you can treat it like an opportunity to refresh and take a new approach, but it is important for you and the leadership to understand that this is not an enforced start over. In essence, the workplace has always been seen as a flexible place, however, this has often been for those who have been given more flexibility. Since Q1 of 2020, we have been in mandatory lockdown and various different environments. Right now it is essential to plan for a workplace that is flexible, flexible for all members of staff and treat the office as a hybrid environment, this is essential from top to bottom. The opportunity here is to encourage one company-wide flexible plan, it is important for managers and department leads not to apply different rules. Trust is essential as is creating an environment and playbook for everyone to understand, know and agree to the agreed principles. Planning is essential, if you are planning to welcome people back into the office, plan the office to have social distancing throughout the office and limit the capacity, right now many people do not want to return to the office, and this is completely understandable. Encourage planning around teams coming into the office and planning days and encourage remote away days and help these teams and departments to organise safe remote away days. There is a chance with planning to allow staff returning from longer time out of the office to enable them to adjust to the big shift back to the returning to work or having to return to the office. It is important to make them feel better and importantly to feel safe to return. Recent times have taken its toll and now is time to offer the right support. Planning will also be essential for track and tracing and planning for second, third and fourth waves, alongside localised lockdowns. Ensure you have a plan for new waves and how you and the team will react and go back to safety first and working remotely. Return To School, School Holidays & Time Off Something to keep in mind is the upcoming return to school for many parents and guardians. There will be high anxiety levels for parents and those around them, alongside the impact it will have on the teams. School holidays come thick and fast and are important for you and the teams to prepare and plan for cover and managing annual leave alongside setting up the right support groups and mental health support.
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What Can We Do? The office has been missed by some, the old way of working is what many have been conditioned into and have fond memories of commuting, being at their desk and being around the colleagues, having a lunch break away from the same four walls and not feeling the pressure to work through. The office will have to change, become a space where more rules are put into place and more space is made. Move the desks apart, have more informal working areas and embrace having free meeting rooms and encourage your employees to walk and make use of the outdoor space where less limiting lockdowns are being rolled out. Right now there is an opportunity to breakdown the existing guidance and dynamics and co-create an updated set of guidelines for the company. Breakdown the known issues or existing problems you always wanted to address: ● ● ● ● ● ●
The Office (layout) The reliance of 40 hours in one office The problematic commutes Addressing being too busy to focus Tackling meeting culture Decision fatigue
The 40-hour workweek is a huge topic and something we have lived and worked by in the West since Henry Ford days, the current working day is filled with meetings, numerous distractions and rarely allows deep or productive work. Right now there is an opportunity to refresh the organisational culture and rewrite the rules away from 40 hours in the office or a strict 09.00 to 17.30. For many businesses there is an opportunity to move to coordinated patterns, this is where you and department and team leads can sit together and create varying guidelines for the team. Being rigid here will stop building trust for individuals. Although you have likely had to take the step up and take on the motivator role, you have a new way to motivate people with these tweaks and important changes. Motivate individuals, motive teams, motive departments to motivate and breathe fresh air into the organisation. Empower the Catalysts and internal influencers to carry important messages throughout your transitional period and co-create rules that all company employees get behind.
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Flexible Approach To Focus Days Working from home became a way for many people to ‘get their heads down’, ‘focus’ and ‘actually do some work’. Although the working world has flipped, it is essential you and leadership teams deliberately think about encouraging more flexible focus day(s). Decide whether focus days will be remote, will they be in the office or will they be from home? Helping the teams to navigate through this transition is an essential step for company success. There will also be the other side of focusing away from the office, as there are many who cannot concentrate at home or need an office set up to succeed. It is important you help the teams manage this and help individuals develop what works for them and safely for all.
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Chapter 3:
Next Steps For Your Business This section offers recommendations on: ● How to start considering the hybrid office ● The opportunity to rethink the Monday to Friday 9-5 ● Reduce your staff anxiety and reducing the perceived large shifts and changes impacting your teams ● Shape your thinking for the future ● Rethink focus days and shape a more productive asynchronous workforce
Recommended Actions For Your Business To Take Create Agreed Principles ● Create a safety-first rule: If you do not feel comfortable stay home and communicate with your boss ● Have an internal motto that promotes hybrid thinking. Always question: Have we covered those in the office? Those out of the office? Those working remotely? ● Create a company wide playbook to keep all staff members aware of the updated business strategy, what the teams are delivering and by when. The playbook should also include agreed metrics and KPI’s across all teams. Include this on the dedicated communication hub and update weekly to monthly ● Clearly name different working locations and create a formalised language: ○ WIO (working in office), WFH (working from home) working remotely (WR), encourage team members to use a check in system to keep each teams updated ● Meeting scheduling and meeting room bookings must supply URLs for video conference calls (Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc) and ensure agenda and pre reads are agreed ● Better time management protocols - Work proactively with your company to enable better time management, empower department leads to enforce these communications ● Build out a series of templates to: ○ Help teams manage their time ○ Manage their workloads ○ Create their personal development plan
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○ Create and record their performance plan ○ Create meeting agendas and pre reads ○ Note taking templates - Include how to collect and share meeting notes and share these guidelines. This must include the agreed actions and next steps. This is especially important while working in multi venues. Help staff to create time in their calendars to arrange deep work and empower team members to find a space where they can concentrate to deliver their work, whether this is in the office, at home or in a remote location Propose a new communication format: Develop a format where communications are crystal clear A system you and the team can use is the BLUF system – bottom line upfront with the most important information at the top of the email and then points considered, debate and how you got to this decision A tried and tested email template and methodology you can use: ○ Action - The important information and action that needs taking from the team ○ Info - Supply the full information that is required, think: clear, concise and brief. ○ Impact – Where there is an impact, people or commercial speak openly about the expected impact. ○ Decision - how you and the team made the decision ○ Request - Ask for everyone to acknowledge they have seen and are in acceptance
People First: ● Consider creating a buddy system for those in the office and those who work remotely. While the Hybrid Office is being set up there will be many who rarely get to work cross department and is essential to keep all employees engaged and connected. ● Ask each team member to create a company wide profile including information about their role, their work skills, their personal interests. ● Create an onboarding process that includes both in office and working remotely procedures and run through both methods to have a one size fits all approach ● Create regular re-onboarding for those working flexibility and entering the office a low number of visits per month. This will ensure the guidelines are followed ● Introduce hybrid happy hours, coffee breaks and fitness classes, these can be streamed and randomised to connect different staff members together
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● Create frequent away days with precise problem solving exercises and team building activities. It is important to note remote away days can be challenging and requires dedicated planning and more than a laptop and a phone The Right Software and Tools: ● Select one communication channel for important updates. Email is most accessible. Try to ensure all communications stick to core office hours ● Select one tool to be the centralised communication hub, instant messenger tools are not designed to work this way and often conversations are lost Centralised systems such as Notion, Atlassian Confluence, Microsoft Sharepoint, Happeo, Threads.com or Basecamp. Asynchronous communication will reduce stress and notification fatigue ● All conversation should be centralised and threaded for open and transparent communication. Any company wide emails or documents must be stored on this hub software, this is not just for existing staff but potential new hires ● Create a company wide rule that each meeting has a video conference URL or phone number. The majority of standard software suites (G-Suite and Microsoft Office) offers this via official plugins ● Rethink meetings and the need for daily standups: Leverage voice notes or video for quick updates vs having to book in numerous video call / video conferencing meetings. This can also work for standups and end of day sit downs vs having to be “live” ● Create a system for scheduling in the office, out of the office, working remotely - this system should be completed and followed across the company. This has to be company wide. Ensure senior leaders are leading by example and using this system ● Build out fully Hybrid All Hands (Town Halls) and ask the Management team sessions, invest in the right equipment from higher end mics, video cameras and lighting. Record these sessions and upload to the communication hub and send the URL for those who have missed the event ● Send regular Pulse Surveys to the company and have quick turnarounds. Enable open conversations and feedback sessions An Important Reminder: Go the extra mile supporting the staff ● Set up a hotline, a private channel on your chat tool or email for those who require support ● Set up a mental health helpline or offer a mental health partner who can support staff independently. This increases trust and enables people to speak freely
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● Remember to go over and above your guidelines ○ Reduce Anxiety: Be wary that many people are anxious about working at home or anxious about coming back to the office. COVID spikes and localised lockdowns will be stressful for all ○ With localised guidelines, it will be important to keep everyone updated especially while working from home or working remotely
Closing Comments The world of work has desperately needed a refresh, the HQ or one office approach has been outdated for decades. Right now provides an opportunity to recreate multiple locations as the right flexible office. You now have the opportunity to work with your leadership team and management teams to create the new workplace you are proud of, that will keep your staff happy, increase productivity and create a space you would be proud of for new employees to call their work home. If you are in a position to, look to reshape your office space and build out more informal work areas. Potentially shape the office into clear sections or units, deep work, collaborative work and offer a relaxed space. Take the chance to reduce office politics and meeting room booking dramas by rethinking scheduling, footfall into the office and encourage multi location work. There are a large number of software that can help you with location check ins, video updates and standups, centralised hubs for communication and documentation and reducing noise of communication across multiple channels. Do not limit yourself because your existing software is not flexible enough. Lastly, if you are going to request full attendance in the near future, reduce the stress of returning to the office by creating dedicated communication channels, speaking to individuals directly, using crystal clear email communications and leverage imagery and create videos to put those minds at rest. Your organisation’s next normal is for you and your team to shape, grab this opportunity with both hands. Make work...actually work.
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Thanks For Reading  Would you like any assistance in setting up the Hybrid Office?  Or do you have any questions?  Get in touch with me directly below: Â
 Danny Denhard - Founder of Focus. Â
đ&#x;“§: ​danny@focus.business  đ&#x;”—: ​www.focus.business  đ&#x;“˛ Or text helpline: +447480064060 Â
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The world of work is broken. ​Focus​ is on a mission to fix this.  Less noise - Less distraction - More ​Focus​.  focus.business​ is your dedicated ​culture​ and ​strategy​ consultancy helping businesses of all sizes improve their world of work and delivery.  Important Reads From Focus:  � � � �
Find out if your company’s culture is broken - ​Link Find out if you are a ​good​ or ​bad​ manager  Are you a bad HiPPO? - ​Link Revisit your company strategy after COVID - ​LinkÂ
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Further Reading ● The Allen Curve - Distance between colleagues is essential - https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2019/09/12/is-the-allen-curve-still-true/ ● Office redesign ○ https://www.wired.co.uk/article/post-covid-office-design ○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6I4ps3VezA ● Remote Future - Wordpress Founder on Morning Brew Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-work-as-we-know-it-gone-for-good/id 1480059697?i=1000488460061 ● Reimaging the office - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/04/covid-reimagine-off ice-workplace-cubicles-hotdesking ● Return to the office checklist - https://www.focus.business/return-to-the-office-checklist ● Return the office pulse survey - https://www.focus.business/return-to-the-office-pulse-surveys ● Remote Management Tips - https://www.focus.business/remote-management-tips ● The decrease of only WFH has started - https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news/articles/number-brits-working-exc lusively-from-home-steadily-decreasing-says-ons ● Weekly Leaders Letter Newsletter - https://leadersletter.substack.com/ Image sources: Unsplash.com
The Hybrid Office: The Future Of The Workplace Ebook From w ww.focus.business
