Hybrid and company culture – time to get in sync

The events of recent years have acted as a catapult; bringing us forward by a good ten years when it comes to the hybrid working model. Pre-2020, many of the corporates were trying versions of ‘hybrid’ on for size; embracing flexible working hours and creating agile spaces to entertain different working styles.

Hybrid working is positioned as the most attractive working model as it offers the best of both worlds, allowing the worker to work from home or the office. It provides a solution to any dissatisfaction caused by regular long commutes and, on the flip side, any loss of social interaction. The perfect pitch is, it presents the individual with the autonomy to choose.

Culture is all about sharing the same values and practices. The two concepts – hybrid working and corporate culture - must become interchangeable as each will rely on the other to survive. Done correctly, hybrid has to be incorporated into the company culture.

Pre-pandemic, businesses cultivated their work cultures in their offices. Now things are different. Post-pandemic, there are less connections to be made for new recruits as people split their time between work and home. Employees need to spend a certain time together, and not be isolated, for corporate values to permeate and to take hold and for practises to be learned.

To increase collaboration and prevent individuals from becoming isolated and entering vacuums, we need to find a way to ensure that the hybrid balance is right, without imposing draconian limitations that will, ultimately, drive staff away.

And let’s not forget Gen Z, the workforce of the future and on which corporate culture, going forward, depends. This generation barely knew office culture before the pandemic and they are starting out without any preconceived ideas of what to expect – we need their buy in as their energy will fill these spaces and provide the culture going forward.

According to Deloitte’s Global 2022 Gen-Z and Milennial Survey, four out of ten Gen Zs would like to leave their jobs within two years and a third would do so without anything else lined up, reflecting considerable dissatisfaction levels. However, the survey also found that those satisfied with their employers’ ‘societal and environmental impact’ along with their efforts to ‘create a diverse and inclusive culture’ are more likely to hang around for more than five years.

Interestingly, Deloitte’s survey also found that 75 per cent of Gen Zs and 76 per cent of millennials would prefer a hybrid or remote working pattern however, of those same individuals, 20 per cent who had experienced remote working said that it made forming connections with colleagues more difficult.

This puts the onus on the employer to either maintain a hybrid model or to introduce one – but, there’s a caveat. Employers have to make sure to get it right for a younger generation as they will walk away if businesses get it wrong.