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With the ever-evolving nature of work, the traditional 9-to-5 office job is becoming a thing of the past. Instead, companies are embracing a more flexible approach to work, with hybrid and remote models becoming increasingly popular. 

In this blog, we’ll explore the benefits and challenges of hybrid work models and dive into some of the best practices for navigating this new way of working. Whether you’re an HR leader, manager, or entrepreneur, this blog is a must-read to identify the best ways to adapt your business into a hybrid working model. So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and let’s dive into the future of work structures!

What does a hybrid work model look like?

Hybrid and remote working models are often discussed in the same conversations. However, remote work is done entirely somewhere other than the office. In contrast, in a hybrid work model, employees have the flexibility to split their time between working remotely and working from a physical office or other designated workspaces. 

In a hybrid work model, employees have the freedom to choose when, where, and how they work based on the requirements of their role, the needs of their team, and their personal preferences. This type of work arrangement allows for a more flexible and adaptable approach to work, which can benefit both employees and employers.

However, there is no one fit-for-all hybrid model. Instead, every company should develop a hybrid model according to its business needs.

Pros & Cons of a Hybrid Work Model

As the world evolves and becomes more digitized daily, with everything moving online, hybrid work has gained rapid popularity. As remote work is an excellent way to find the best talent by looking beyond the city or country to hire employees that best fit the role, a hybrid working model can help boost employee productivity, enhance information security, and improve employee engagement. 

A large number of employees desire the advantages of both remote work and in-person collaboration. Specifically, 74% of employees seek flexible remote work options, while 67% are hopeful for increased opportunities for face-to-face interaction and collaboration following the pandemic. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to stay open to adapting and consider the possibility of implementing this new hybrid working model to succeed in the long term. This model can provide several advantages for both employers and employees, but it also comes with some challenges. Here are some of the top pros and cons to have in mind when considering a hybrid work model.

Hybrid work models     

Most companies currently implement five primary hybrid working models.

Flextime model

This model allows employees to choose their own schedules as long as they meet the required hours or deadlines. For example, an employee might work from the office in the morning and then work from home in the afternoon as long as they complete their work on time.

Split-week model

This model involves working some days in the office and some days remotely. For example, an employee might work from the office on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and work from home on Tuesday and Thursday.

Rotational model

In this model, employees alternate between working in the office and working remotely. For example, an employee might work in the office for two weeks and then work remotely for two weeks or rotate on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Hoteling model

This model involves reserving office space on an as-needed basis. Employees may reserve a desk or workspace for a specific day or time, as needed, to collaborate with colleagues or work on specific projects.

On-demand model

This model involves working almost entirely remotely but coming into the office on an as-needed basis for specific meetings or events. For example, an employee might work from home most of the time but come into the office for team meetings or client presentations.

Each of these models has its own benefits and drawbacks, and the best model for a particular organization will depend on factors such as the nature of the work, the preferences of the employees, and the organizational culture. Employers should carefully consider the needs and preferences of their employees, as well as the goals and objectives of the organization, in order to choose the best hybrid working model for their needs.

How to Get The Right Hybrid Work Model

The key to making the most out of the benefits of hybrid working and minimizing challenges is a well-formulated plan that outlines responsibilities and considers employee well-being prioritizing meaningful work. Here are some easy ways to adapt the best hybrid work model for your company.

Identify the right balance: Hybrid work models require balance. A company needs to be able to provide employees with a balance in the work environment. Start by identifying which employees can work from the office regularly and how many days. In addition, when employees work from home, work with them to establish realistic and workable deliveries and plan for the effectiveness of your employee interaction with their colleagues while working remotely.

Establish clear guidelines: Clearly define policies and expectations around remote work, in-office work, work schedules, communication, and collaboration to ensure a smooth transition to a hybrid work model.

Ensure effective communication: Use tools such as video conferencing, instant messaging, and project management software to ensure that team members can communicate effectively, regardless of their physical location.

Foster a culture of trust and collaboration: Emphasize the importance of trust and collaboration among team members, regardless of where they are working, to create a positive and productive work environment.

Manage Information Security: Work with your IT department to ensure security measures are in place if remote employees handle or access confidential data. Also, remember that adopting a hybrid work model includes cyber security training, software, and company-issued systems.

Provide the right technology and equipment: Ensure that employees have access to the right technology and equipment needed to work remotely, such as laptops, monitors, headsets, and high-speed internet connections.

Evaluate and adapt: Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the hybrid work model and make adjustments as needed to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of both employees and the business.

In conclusion, the shift towards hybrid work models has been a game-changer for organizations and their employees. Employees can enjoy a better work-life balance, increased productivity, and reduced stress levels with the flexibility to work from home or in the office.

At the same time, businesses can enjoy lower costs and a more productive workforce. While there are challenges that come with adopting hybrid work models, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. As long as organizations put in place clear guidelines, effective communication, a culture of trust and collaboration, the right technology and equipment, and are willing to adapt to changing circumstances, hybrid work models can be a win-win situation for everyone involved.

How we work today is almost unrecognizable from how people used to work 10 years ago. Since Covid hit, the world has changed completely, putting our social interactions upside down and pushing us to reinvent our ways of communicating and engaging with each other. And although we’re beyond the chaotic early days of Covid-19, companies around the globe still need to make a considerable effort to accept and readapt to the new reality. Zoom calls and working in casual attire from the comfort of our living rooms became part of our new normal, and there might be no going back to the old days of everyday in-person meetings in suits and ties. Human Resources faced the challenge of responding to a remote team while recruiting new potential employees through a computer screen.

On this note, the work environment has changed significantly, becoming more difficult, yet more exciting for companies to reinvent how work is done and to adapt to our new world.

As 2023 begins and more challenges like recession arise, recruitment teams can’t let their guard down. Therefore, understanding what is coming and adapting to it has become one of the best business skills. HR teams need to identify new trends to become more adaptable to change and, therefore, more efficient despite the global setup and the unique challenges we might encounter. 

With that in mind, here are seven 2023 workplace trends that will define the future of work. 

1. Remote Work

For some years now (even before Covid-19 hit us, forcing us to adapt to a new reality of working), many companies have started following the increasingly common practice of having remote teams. Now, as we move into 2023, organizations will become more comfortable with implementing this work structure. Many workers, will gravitate to companies that allow remote work with the option to come to the office when needed. According to Forrester, the number of remote workers at the end of 2021 was 3x pre-pandemic levels, and 74% of professionals expect remote work to become standard.

Remote teams are a great way of cooperating and leveraging skilled specialists. In the case of software development, hiring a remote team of developers and engineers is a great strategy for success. Now more than ever, companies, big and small, around the globe are leveraging remote work to their advantage by hiring tech talent remotely.

Also, remote hiring allows companies to access a pool of tech talent around the world so that they can select the best talent for their project. In 2023, employers will reassess current hybrid working arrangements in order to rebuild culture, improve mental health and retain talent. 

2. Automation

Companies worldwide are automating as many processes as possible because they have figured out that employees spend a lot of time on repetitive manual tasks. A study by McKinsey and Co. found that 85% of companies have accelerated the digitization of their businesses.

These tasks can become frustrating and even lead to human errors. Automation eliminates that factor. A company can automate transactions, approvals, and workflows, among other processes, to free employees from manual tasks that only waste time. Automation is the big growth area – introducing automated systems to replace what was previously done manually. 

In addition, companies are also able to automate product and service deployment. Automation, in combination with AI, is a great tool for companies to let their employees spend their time solving complex issues instead of doing mundane tasks. That will mean some existing roles changing or becoming obsolete, but also new roles being created.

3. Anywhere Operations Model

Remote operations are not only possible, but they also come with plenty of advantages. According to Gartner, through 2023, 40% of organizations will blend virtual and physical experiences, leading to increased workforce productivity and customer reach. 

Anywhere operation is an organizational model that allows IT companies to operate fully remotely while supporting customer service, enabling employees, and managing the deployment of products/services from anywhere in the world.

Anywhere operations, also known as “remote operations,” create decentralized models, enabling better business flexibility and access to a broader talent pool. This means that companies can perform at the same scale and with the same effectiveness across a wide range of roles and responsibilities, regardless of their geographic location. On that note, anywhere operations can enhance companies’ performance, by reducing costs of aging hardware, improving employee and customer experience, and giving companies access to a broad talent pool of experts ready to join the team. 

4. Technology as a Business Strategy

If the last years have taught us technology is a crucial tool for every business to survive, it’s not a surprise that one of the most popular trends of future work has to do with it; today, more and more organizations realize the importance of incorporating a tech strategy into their internal process to keep their business working.

Technology as a business strategy simply refers to implementing technology and IT solutions at all levels of business planning. This is, rather than considering technology on its own, it is considered a core piece of all aspects of business operations. A solid technology strategy consists of a business plan with clear principles, objectives, and tactics for using technology to achieve organizational objectives. 

It may define specific IT solutions, identify staff members’ responsibilities for managing these technologies, scalability possibilities, and, most important, how these technologies will align with the business’s objectives.

5. Employee Experience at the Centre

The workplace of 2023 will focus on employers and their happiness. An employee’s journey from hire to exit is full of different behaviors and experiences, both good and bad. Therefore keeping a good employee experience is vital, for it determines not only the permanence of an employee within an organization but also their productivity and engagement. 

Employee experience impacts every business facet. Therefore, it is no surprise that as the years pass, companies that actively manage to keep a good and permanent culture maintain higher employee retention and boast higher employee engagement rates than those with weak cultures.

6. Flexible Work Scheduling 

It’s time to rethink the standard 9 to 5 workday. In 2023, experts believe that more organizations will embrace the idea that outcome is better than input, but why exactly? Flexibility makes workers happier, and, eventually, more productive. 

A flexible working schedule allows employees to create their own calendars and to concentrate and eliminate distractions. Also, as workers are free to take more breaks, it’s easier for them to feel less stressed and relaxed, and, therefore, more efficient and engaged with the company’s mission.

A few years ago, we could not have imagined that we would be working with engineering teams remotely, without even an in-person interview or an in-person team meeting instead of a Zoom call. Now, as we get closer to 2023, we are less scared of remote models and ready to take on any new challenges to come. 

The presence of new technologies and organization models is undeniable; therefore, there is no better time to seize the opportunity and get all the necessary insights on what is new and how to adapt your company to not fall behind in the market. 

As companies and organizations discover the benefits of remote work, they also discover the limitations of current work-from-home practices.

This article will discuss a strategic technology trend that solves these limitations and is bound to become a standard for many organizations: Anywhere operations.

What are anywhere operations?

Anywhere operation is an organizational model that allows IT companies to fully operate remotely while supporting customer service, enabling employees, and managing the deployment of products/services from anywhere in the world.

This is possible thanks to cloud technology and a decentralized infrastructure independent of one location, server, firewall, etc.

The anywhere operations model might sound like work from home; however, it goes beyond its capabilities. Work from home allows companies to continue operations without the need for employees to be at the office. 

And while it is undoubtedly a functional model for some businesses, it presents limitations for many organizations, especially IT companies.

This is where anywhere operations come in to solve the management limitations of work from home. It can be considered as the next step of work from home. 

The anywhere operations model utilizes new management solutions and a decentralized infrastructure to allow IT companies to be genuinely independent of physical location.

What are the differences between anywhere operations and work from home?

It’s important to fully understand the differences between these two models to successfully implement an anywhere operations strategy. 

So, let’s take a look at some characteristics that set anywhere operations apart from work from home:

These differences are also some of the benefits of this operational model. We will explore them further in the following section.

Benefits of anywhere operations

Thanks to the constant development of new technologies and software, the world of IT and tech companies advance faster than any other industry. 

This presents CTOs with the challenge of staying up to date with new advancements to support the company’s growth while managing the high costs of upgrading and maintaining an IT infrastructure. 

Anywhere operations reduce costs of aging hardware, improves employee and customer experience, and give companies access to a broad talent pool of experts ready to join the team. 

Let’s take a closer look at these benefits:

Customer Support

Anywhere operations are not just for employees. It also allows companies to offer better customer experiences. One example of this is customer service. 

Providing the best customer service has always been a challenge. Every year the quality standard gets higher, and customers get used to that. If there is no advancement in a company’s customer service, then they get left behind no matter how good the product is.

In fact, 33% of Americans report they will consider switching companies after a single instance of poor service. With that in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why $62 billion are lost annually by U.S. companies due to poor customer service. 

Anywhere operations allow companies to solve this issue by giving them the capability to employ workers in different time zones. Thanks to the decentralized infrastructure, workers can collaborate and share information as if they were in an office together and offer quick customer service at any time. 

Now customers don’t have to wait until the next day to get a solution for their problems.

Collaboration and productivity

The COVID-19 pandemic rushed companies into a work-from-home modality, and many of them adapted well to this change. Mainly because of remote work tools and because eventually, they would go back to the office. 

They thought of work from home as a temporary solution because they know these tools have limitations.

Limitations that are solved by anywhere operations. This model lets employees access company data and systems at any moment from any device, boosting collaboration and productivity. 

In addition, anywhere operations empower employees by allowing them to work in their own schedule while achieving the company goals. It’s not surprising that 77% of telecommuters report being more productive than in an office.

Secure remote access

We’ve mentioned secure remote access before, but what does that mean? It means that people in an organization can access any relevant data from any device at any moment from anywhere in the world with protection protocols against cyber threats. 

Some examples of cybersecurity strategies that work with anywhere operations are multifactor and password-less authentication, Zero Trust Network Access, and Secure Access Service Edge.

Having secure remote access is a priority for any remote work, and cloud infrastructure is the only way to achieve it.

Disaster recovery

Another thing that secure remote access helps with is disaster recovery (DR). Many external factors can impede a business from running properly. Factors like natural disasters or even the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many unprepared companies to change into a work-from-home modality. Resulting in disruption of business. 

With the cloud infrastructure of anywhere operations, a DR plan becomes simpler. Since physical factors don’t affect and everything is remotely accessible, businesses can continue operating smoothly.

Automation

Another benefit of having a decentralized cloud infrastructure is that it allows the automation of various processes. Companies worldwide are automating as many processes as possible because they have figured out that employees spend a lot of time on repetitive manual tasks. 

These tasks can become frustrating and even lead to human errors. Automation eliminates that factor. A company can automate transactions, approvals, and workflows, among other processes, to free employees from manual tasks that only waste time. 

In addition, companies are also able to automate product and service deployment. Automation in combination with AI is a great tool to let your employees spend their time solving complex issues instead of doing mundane tasks.

Cost efficiency

Migrating from the current system to a cloud-based, anywhere operations model can seem like an expensive project. However, in the short and long term, it is cost-effective.

What really is expensive is hardware. The costs of upgrading and maintaining an aging IT infrastructure are much more expensive. Now add the fact that as the IT equipment ages, its performance drops considerably. This is due to the fact that software is based on current technology, giving hardware a short lifespan. 

Since you don’t have to worry about these costs, anywhere operations end up being a lower-cost alternative. 

Talent

One of the biggest limitations for businesses that are not using an anywhere operations model is talent acquisition. For a person to be hired, they don’t only need the proper qualifications, but they also need to live in the same city as the office. This fact reduces the talent pool significantly. 

While this might sound like a problem work from home solves, it still has limitations compared to anywhere operations. 

Oftentimes, a work-from-home role still requires that the employee is near the office for many reasons. Usually, this is the case for companies who had to adapt to this modality due to the pandemic, which is still location-dependent. 

With anywhere operations, workers should be able to literally be anywhere and still be able to access relevant information for their work. 

Companies that apply this strategy successfully have no geographical limitations for hiring. They can focus on building the right team and not worry about relocation or sponsorships. 

A great way for organizations to handle talent acquisition once they are free of geographical limitations is through nearshore staff augmentation. 

We will tell you more in the next section.

What is nearshore staff augmentation?

You might have heard this term in recent years, especially as IT companies are starting to employ remote work modalities more and more. 

So, what exactly is staff augmentation?

Staff augmentation is an outsourcing strategy that allows companies to hire tech talent from anywhere in the world and manage them directly as your team. They can be hired for the short or long term, depending on the company’s goals.

With this in mind, nearshore staff augmentation means the same thing, but the company chooses candidates in neighboring countries. The purpose of doing this is that neighboring countries expand the talent pool while having similar time zones and language.

This might sound similar to project outsourcing; however, the main difference is the following:

Staff augmentation firms handle everything from recruiting, hiring, and training to management. Allowing companies to quickly add skilled talent to the current team and work directly for the CTO or manager.

This talent acquisition strategy is great when you want to add skilled tech professionals quickly to your team.

Benefits of nearshore staff augmentation

Now, let’s explore the specific benefits of building your IT team through nearshore staff augmentation. Some of the benefits include:

Over to you…

An anywhere operations model provides a modern solution to many challenges IT companies face nowadays. And while it might sound easier to stay with the current management model, in the long run, it might make your company get left behind. 

According to Gartner, by the end of 2023, 40% of organizations will have applied anywhere operations. Will your company be one of them?