How to embrace hybrid working permanently after lockdown

One of these is Schroders, although the asset manager announced in August it had “permanently embraced” flexible working across its business.

Indeed, a survey of employers from professional body CIPD found two-thirds (63 per cent) planned to introduce or expand the use of hybrid working, as working from home became more commonplace last year.

While video calls with colleagues and clients have become normal out of necessity, how can a long-term model of hybrid working that is adopted by choice, be successfully maintained?

Lessons from outside the advice industry

Other companies that had incorporated remote working as part of a flexible culture before lockdown are those in the technology and digital sectors.

Dell Technologies’ UK senior vice-president and general manager Dayne Turbitt says that for more than a decade the company has built a workplace culture based on the concept that work is not “where you are, but what you do”.

According to Turbitt, two-thirds of team members at Dell Technologies worked flexibly on any given day before March 2020, and 30 per cent worked remotely.

“The critical success factor is personal connections. There are many ways to maintain personal connections and encourage collaboration while working flexibly and remotely.

“At Dell, we’ve thought about innovating office design and using shared space – changing it from a traditional working base to drop-in, collaborative, workshop-style spaces that encourage teamwork.”

The ability of staff to do their job at home has therefore put a spotlight on the role of the office as a hub for collaborative working and to foster team relationships, rather than a place for attendance.

Digital agency Clock has also operated flexible and remote working policies since it was established in 1997. Its founder Syd Nadim says: “You can maintain existing relationships over a video call but, for most people, they are built during social events and personal interaction.”

Nadim adds: “When people are in the office, we will look to make the time spent together meaningful rather than just doing what they would have done at home, in the office. We will make time for collaboration, walking meetings, having lunch together, team-building exercises and ideally a social at the end of the day.”

As well as the set-up of the company workplace, consideration also needs to be paid to staffs’ various home offices.

The Royal Society for Public Health warns that employers still have a duty of care for their employees even when they work from home.

Clock’s Nadim says: “You need to consider home set-ups and ensure that best practice is maintained, so the team don’t get back injuries from bad chairs or desks. Just having a policy probably isn’t enough – we have a duty of care for staff that needs to be met.”

Trust vs presenteeism

While companies rethink their use of office space after lockdown, and the shift to remote working promps some to permanently shutter offices altogether, others with flexible working practices before lockdown did not have an office at all.

Bobbie Hough, managing director at agency Hough Bellis Communications, which has never had an office, says company culture is paramount to a successful move to new working practices.

Hough says: “To be successful, more flexible approaches to working require a culture built on high trust. That requires new leadership and management styles.

“It’s about empowering employees and trusting them to get on with the work. But empowering teams requires someone to give up power further up the food chain – that’s the hard part.”

Indeed, research from the CIPD found perceptions of productivity differed between organisations that had offered line manager training in managing remote workers and those that had not.

Of those employers who offered such training, 43 per cent said productivity had increased during homeworking, compared with 29 per cent that had not offered training, according to a survey from the professional body.

Hybrid practices therefore challenge presenteeism in the workplace. Clock’s Nadim says: “It’s important to consider that everyone has a preference for the type of work environment in which they excel.

“While one person thrives in a home cocoon, another may thrive on the energy of a busy office. And that could change when they’re carrying out a different task.”

Getting clients on board

For professions such as financial advice, ensuring clients are also on board will be key when considering a permanent shift to a hybrid model.

Schroders’ head of UK intermediary solutions Gillian Hepburn says one piece of advice would be to ensure “absolute clarity” on the value proposition for clients.

A survey of 8,760 people by Boring Money found that two in five would favour paying a lower fee for digital advice, while three in 10 (29 per cent) said they would prefer face-to-face advice, even if it cost more.

Schroders' Hepburn says: “I am already hearing of clients who want to negotiate a reduction in their adviser charges based on the fact that regular meetings (or the majority of them) might move to online on a more permanent basis.

“However, the amount of work for an adviser pre and post-meeting doesn’t change, only how that meeting takes place, so it’s important to articulate the overall proposition to the client and the value of advice.”

Chloe Cheung is a features writer at FTAdviser