Getting hybrid right: Employers, employees seek solutions to downsides

Hybrid—that’s the key word in any discussion of the world of work’s new normal. When the pandemic forced a pivot from in-office to at-home work, some employees thrived in the safety, flexibility, and convenience of working from home while others suffered from isolation and less than adequate technology.

Now with many pandemic restrictions being eased, both employers and employees are conflicted. Some yearn for face-to-face collaboration but still need the ability to work from home. Hybrid arrangements, where people work part of the time in the office and part of the time elsewhere, seem to provide the best of both worlds, but employers and employees alike often still struggle to get it right.

Exploring the fairness factor

As more workers go hybrid or even fully remote, many are wondering what they’re missing by not being in the workplace. Are they missing out on plum assignments, or maybe even putting promotions at risk? Do they feel out of the loop and, therefore, not as valuable as they want to be?

In September, Envoy, a workplace platform provider, reported results of a survey it conducted of 1,000 U.S. employees and 250 executives to gauge the impact of proximity bias. Proximity bias is the effect that leads people to favor familiar people and ideas and not looking at what’s less familiar in the same light.