4 Modern Workplace Strategies
In the ever-evolving landscape of the modern workplace, organizations are defining their approaches to adapt to the diverse demands and preferences of their workforce. The Covid-19 pandemic made companies understand the necessity to embrace the new dynamic era of work and the crucial need to implement new flexible workplace strategies to their work process.
In 2023, a growing number of companies believe that it is crucial to provide some kind of modern agile work arrangement. The 4 most popular modern workplace strategies for both employers and employees include Remote-centric, Hybrid/Remote, Hybrid/Office, and Office-centric.
Remote-centric
Remote-centric is a fully remote workplace strategy, which became extremely popular during Covid-19. For 2023, around 13% of full-time employees are still working on a fully remote basis. The Remote-centric approach is easy to implement and offers unprecedented flexibility and cost-efficiency.
The fully remote workplace plan is a very straightforward strategy with a lot of advantages to offer. Embracing the Remote-centric approach translates to significant cost savings for companies, as it reduces real estate expenses on office spaces and utilities, because often these organizations are decentralized and do not own an office.
The fully remote work strategy liberates both organizations and their employees from geographical restrictions. This modern workplace approach offers great flexibility and freedom.
Using the Remote-centric workplace strategy may implement some potential problems during the work process. It can negatively impact the company culture and the experience of employees. Working fully remote can lead to communication challenges and gaps, as well as collaboration difficulties between employees or different teams.
Navigating on a Remote-centric workplace approach requires a thoughtful balance between leveraging its benefits and addressing potential drawbacks.
Hybrid / Remote
One of the most popular modern workplace strategies in the evolving business landscape is Hybrid/Remote. This flexible approach offers a hybrid attitude, leaning more towards remote work, for example more employees work remotely, while just a few come to the office.
According to Microsoft research, 66% of companies consider redesigning their workplace strategy and leaning in the direction of hybrid work. The Hybrid/Remote approach emerges as a harmonious blend, combining the advantages of fully remote work with the occasional need for physical presence. This hybrid approach is considered the most flexible modern strategy as it offers employees the freedom to choose whether to work remotely (from home) or come to the office. Leaning more about working offsite, reduces the expenses for office space, as not so many employees work onsite, and companies can easily operate in smaller spaces.
Managing hybrid workplace strategy requires careful planning, in order to coordinate in-office schedules, as this approach is considered the most difficult to use, implementing it can lead to some disadvantageous prospects.
The main cons of the approach may include miscommunication in different teams, imbalance between remote and in-office work, and logistical complexities. To ensure smooth workflow, companies should invest in technologies that facilitate seamless collaboration and working process.
Implementing an office management system can easily minimize potential drawbacks, such as lack of organization, logistical difficulties, and communication challenges. A workplace management software, that gives employees the opportunity to book a workstation prior coming to the office, can harness the best of both worlds and eliminate most potential difficulties.
If you haven’t already implemented a hybrid work schedule in your office, you need to know Why do hybrid workplaces need office management software?
Hybrid / Office
The most popular modern workplace strategy in the recent years is Hybrid/Office. This is a hybrid work approach, with more focus towards the in-office work environment, for example employees can work 4 days onsite and 1 day remotely. Hybrid work strategies are used in 28% of companies. Its popularity is due to the powerful synthesis, blending the advantages of in-office collaboration with the flexibility of remote work.
The Hybrid/Office workplace strategy allows companies to take advantages of the benefits of a physical workplace, while adapting to the growing demands for flexibility. Most organizations set a minimum in-office day for a month, for instance workers have to come to the office 15 days/month. This is a popular approach, because it supports company culture as it can bring stronger connection among team members and employees.
This agile approach profits the organization, by optimizing office usage and cutting real estate expenses, as companies can operate is smaller office spaces. Most organizations using Hybrid/Office workplace strategy adapt a hot desking or office hoteling system, which allows them to maintain less office space.
Navigating a Hybrid/Office agile approach can be difficult for organizations, especially without having the right technology and tools. Similarly, to the Hybrid/Remote strategy, it works best with a management software.
The proper workplace management system can play a pivotal role in the seamless managing of office resources. For example, using an office hoteling software will certainly eliminate the unfortunate possibility of arriving to work at a peak hour, only to find there are no workstations available.
Desk Buddy is an innovative and intuitive hot-desking platform, that allows easy workplace control. Our management software is accessible from any device and allows the employees to book a desk for a certain period of time, prior to going to work in the morning.
Hot Desking vs. Office Hoteling – find out which desk sharing technique is better for your company.
Office-centric
In the age of the agile business world, Office-centric workplace strategy stands as a faithful advocate for the traditional on-site approach. This was the normal work environment pre-Covid, that is slowly coming back to life, as a lot of organizations began successfully adopting it again.
The Office-centric workplace strategy benefits companies by nurturing company culture, as it creates a stronger sense of belonging, shared values, and connection. Moreover, onsite work is the simplest approach, that an organization can implement. Therefore, a WFH Research states that 59% of companies have their employees working full-time on site. The popularity of onsite work is due to the fact that some industries, such as health care, construction, engineering, etc., cannot operate remotely.
This modern strategy has a few major drawbacks for today’s agile world. Working in-office limits employees flexibility, which may impact their satisfaction and motivation. Having an Office-centric workplace strategy can increase the real estate expenses of companies, because they must have spacious office space to fit all the employees and suit their needs.
Organizations embracing the Office-centric workplace strategy uphold tradition and acknowledge the importance of face-to-face communication, team collaboration, and strong company culture. According to studies, by the end of 2024, 9 out of 10 companies, that still own an office space, will return to Office-centric workplace arrangement.
As organizations navigate the dynamic landscape of the modern workplace, the right choice of a suitable agile strategy is paramount for its success. All of the 4 most popular workplace strategies (Remote-centric, Hybrid/Remote, Hybrid/Office, and Office-centric) bring their own set of benefits and challenges to the company and its employees.
In the post-Covid world organizations are redefining the way they operate. In this journey of becoming more modern and flexible, companies comprehend the necessity of an innovative workplace management software. Flexible workplace strategies are definitely here to stay, as 71% of employers will continue to offer agile work schedules in 2024.
