Hybrid, The New 9-5

Kevin MacAllister, PwC. Leigh Meyer, Citi.

Jackie Henry, Deloitte.

More than 40% of workers in Northern Ireland are capable of working remotely but attitudes are shifting to support a hybrid model. Emma Deighan looks at the setups already in place at some of NI’s biggest firms.

An Ulster University paper released earlier this year titled ‘The Future of Remote Working in Northern Ireland’ revealed that less than 4% of workers here carried out their roles at home or remotely before the pandemic.

Fast forward into the depths of the pandemic and that figure grew to 40% according to the report by Dr Eoin Magennis, Anastasia Desmond and Gareth Hetherington.

It said: “Homeworking, teleworking or remote working (as it has increasingly become known) has increased only very slowly in recent decades, despite the development of IT and telecommunications technology. However, the COVID-19 pandemic produced a significant change in behaviour, following the introduction of the ‘work from home’ mandates in April 2020. Soon afterwards 41% of workers in NI were working from home and, by April 2021, more than 30% of UK businesses were reporting that some or all of their employees were still working remotely.”

It said earlier this year commuting levels here were almost 30% lower than what they were in January 2020, despite most restrictions being lifted. That figure suggests that around 30% of people are still working from home.

While the Executive has yet to lift its guidance on remote working, many employers have taken action into their own hands, calling on their employees for feedback on how to mould a new way of working. It’s a more liberal setup, but one that is proving to reap returns for those who have executed it.

Hybrid working has its benefits, that same report read. It has been proven to reduce sickness levels, taps into the economically inactive market, reduces commuting times and allows a new geographical reach for recruitment.

The negatives include a lack of collaboration and staff development and an ‘always on’ sentiment as well as a mental health fallout from a lack of interaction.

The report concluded: “It seems inevitable that many more people will be working remotely at least some of the time, in a post-COVID world.

“Where feasible, most businesses will pursue a hybrid/blended model for staff – this could range from 30% (where most responses fell) to all staff (in some ICT firms). For those who could adopt hybrid working, the preferred number of days was 4/1 (i.e. four days in the workplace and one day at home) for most firms. Some businesses in ICT and professional services tended towards a 3/2 split.”

The Executive has yet to change its guidance to work from home where you can and it could not provide a timeline on when this will change, which would give employers more power to fully execute new working patterns with confidence.

PwC launched a ‘Deal’ for its employees in spring last year. Kevin MacAllister, regional market leader there, said the move reflects “the firm’s commitment to supporting its people and responding to changing working patterns accelerated by COVID.”

Among the initiatives are an Empowered Day, which allows the workforce to decide the most effective working pattern for them on any given day, including earlier start and finish times.

“It also offers flexibility to continue working from home as part of a blended setup “with an expectation that people will spend an average of 40–60% of their time co-located with colleagues, either in our offices or at client sites”.

Reduced working days on Fridays during the summer months will allow workers to condense their week.

Kevin said: “These changes are in direct response to soundings from our people, who’ve said they value a mix of working from home and in the office. We want to help enshrine new working patterns so they outlast the pandemic.”

He said its new office at Merchant Square was designed to accommodate its new way of working with technology and meeting rooms as well as wellness spaces complementing hybrid.

“It’s all about connectivity and keeping people engaged as part of our community.

“Even our wellness space accommodates both in-person and online activity, so people don’t miss out. It’s a good Deal! Hybrid is the future but it’s clear our people like to spend time in the office with colleagues and that was always our intention for Merchant Square – a place you want to be, not have to be.”

Deloitte has employed a hybrid working model that suits each employee and it allows its staff to choose when to take UK public holidays. Its offices have been redesigned for new flexible ways of working with a home working equipment budget extended to all recent and new joiners.

Managing partner for People & Purpose Jackie Henry said the company has been supporting agile working since 2014, with the pandemic ramping up that model. While no particular set model is in place, recent staff surveys at the company show over 80% of staff expect to work from an office up to two days a week.

She said: “In future we intend to continue to give our people the choice of when, where and how they work and trust them to make the right decisions on where they need to be to do their best work, in balance with their professional and personal responsibilities.

“Critically, we want to ensure that the future of work is inclusive for all of our people. With a focus on wellbeing, our flexible approach to hybrid working aims to create opportunities for our people to thrive and reach their full potential. Allowing our people to choose when they take public holidays is just one example of how we are delivering on the commitment to be inclusive and flexible.

“What hybrid working looks like in future will be different for every employer, but research clearly shows it is something that many people now want and even expect, so Deloitte is very much embracing the change as an opportunity.”

National law firm Shoosmiths’ Gillian Crotty spoke recently to Ambition about the firm’s policy to focus on “output not occupancy”.

She said: “We don’t define agile working as issuing staff with laptops and an offer to work from home a few days a week. That is simply not enough. We were ready for home working even before the pandemic hit. Our preference is to trust our staff to deliver for clients above all else, but to do so in a way that promotes a true quality of life, reflecting the diversity of our people.”

Meanwhile at Citi, Site Lead Leigh Meyer said the new model is freeing up office space, saving on infrastructure as it embarks on one of its biggest recruitment campaigns here.

He said: “The pandemic has helped us in some ways, and while we are very sensitive to saying the pandemic was ever good, it has forced us into a position that we wouldn’t have gone into two years ago. It’s allowed us to operate a model where we don’t need to be in the office all the time.”

Jackie Henry says companies must be mindful, however, that new models don’t exclude.

She said a Deloitte survey found that women who work in a hybrid way are significantly more likely to report experiencing micro aggressions (66%) than those who work mainly in their workplace (29%) or in a remote way (45%).

It added that 52% of women who work in hybrid environments feel they have been excluded from important meetings, and 42% say they do not have enough exposure to leaders, a critical component of sponsorship and career progression.

Jackie said: “The majority of the women we polled have experienced exclusion when working in a hybrid environment, demonstrating the need for organisations to listen to their people. Building and maintaining a truly inclusive culture should be at the forefront of every corporate agenda.”

“In future we intend to continue to give our people the choice of when, where and how they work and trust them to make the right decisions on where they need to be to do their best work, in balance with their professional and personal responsibilities.”

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