Making hybrid work, work

As we all know, working from home is fantastic for some things, and not so fantastic for others. You can read some of our findings in our previous post “Don’t be a TW*T” 

But is there a way to have the cake, eat the cake and let anyone do with the cake what they want? Sort of like a quantum cake? We definitely like to try! 

We have learned some bits from having everyone overnight working from home, then erratically trickling back to our working hubs. Here’s what we found. 

We need to support each other in a variety of ways.  

Remote work can lead to isolation. Chance encounters around the office don’t happen as much and it becomes easier for a particular person to feel isolated, unsupported and stuck. 

Thankfully, our agile working practices are designed to give meaningful support to people. We have made the point of “unblocking” everyone in need (pairing a stuck person with someone who can help) a very disciplined affair as part of our daily standups. 

In addition to this, we audit our line management practices and regularly ask people to answer questions about their level of support so that we can quantify that, and make any amendments if necessary. So far so good, but…

It’s easy to be complacent because isolation is naturally silent. People that feel isolated or lonely will rarely voice this, as isolation can sometimes come accompanied by a sense of inadequacy and a lack of confidence. It’s also a master camouflage artist, as we all need to isolate ourselves to get in the zone and do great work; sometimes you might think someone is quietly smashing it, and they might be, but they’re also feeling a bit lonely. 

Supporting each other is best done in a variety of ways. 

• At work, with ways of working that are collaborative, inclusive and supportive.

• With formalised 121s, ceremonies and regular personal development meetings. 

• In downtime, social events, care parcels and with great Slack game. 

Alignment requires radical corporate transparency. 

As more people work from home, there are fewer chances to “live and breathe” company culture. Research from Adobe found alignment (how on the same page everyone is with the management team and corporate strategy) to be a major victim of remote and hybrid working. 

To help with this, we now regularly engage everyone in corporate strategy and performance, and we share the highs as well as the lows. This means that people can feel part of the company, but also that everyone understands “where the boat is rowing to”. 

In addition to this, we regularly conduct anonymous surveys to understand people’s level of alignment, and it’s fair to say that we have found out we have a little bit of room to improve (which is great!). 

Choosing and regularly auditing your technology stack

As dispersed work increases reliance on good technology, we have invested in tools and technology that can help our teams be more productive, wherever their place of work. We audited our tech stack to make sure we had the right tools, from project management to HR. 

Thoreau said, “what is well done once it’s forever done”. We can trust Thoreau with literature, but we’re not sure how he’d fare managing an ecommerce development agency. 

Technology is complex and changes all the time. Just because your tech stack looks right this year, it doesn’t mean it might not benefit from more, fewer or better tools next year. Our conversation about our tools is never finished. 

Space really matters, but people matter more. 

Offices went from being “desks to sit in front of a screen and rooms to speak in front of bigger screens” into blank canvases with a lot of empty desks. 

This gave us food for thought. 

It means the space has to work harder. It isn’t enough to exist, it has to offer something that a) someone’s home office doesn’t have and b) is good enough to offset commuting times and / or costs. And most importantly of all, it has to bring people together, so that people want to come. Network effects. 

When we asked people about the reasons they came to the office when they did, nobody started by talking about desks, screens, whiteboards, bean bags, coffee machines, sushi bars a-la-Google or quiet rooms. 

They spoke of the people they go for lunch with, or Friday night drinks to celebrate the end of a sprint. They spoke about extra-official clubs and gatherings, carpools, friendship and companions. 

The insight is simple: if you believe in community and its power in uniting people working together, you need to facilitate experiences and occasions for people to come together.