New Gallup research says hybrid is the future of the office
Nov 1, 2023
4 mins read
Future of Work
You’ll find no shortage of headlines highlighting extreme opinions on either side of the future of the office.
Recently, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman added himself to a list of executives declaring that remote work negatively affects productivity. On the other hand, economist and researcher Nicholas Bloom opined in the New York Times that the 5-day work week is over.
While businesses and their employees engage in a power struggle between remote work and an in-office presence, there are several companies doing their best to find the middle ground. Companies like Zoom have successfully implemented a hybrid approach, bringing employees into the office a couple of times a week.
And while many employers believe that moving toward a hybrid setting is just one step closer to employees returning full-time to the office, based on recent research published by Gallup, that’s just not the case.
Based on their survey research, Gallup discovered the following:
- ‘Hybrid’ is the most common style of work for remote-capable employees.
- Remote-capable employees are currently working where they expect to work long-term.
- Most remote-capable employees will be working from their preferred work locations.
Add in that 8 in 10 chief human resource officers from Fortune 500 companies surveyed report that they have no plans of decreasing remote work flexibility in the next year, and it’s very clear that hybrid work is here to stay.
So what does the research say about hybrid work challenges and practices?
Based on this infographic from Gallup, employees and organizations face similar hybrid work challenges, especially when it comes to communication collaboration.
According to Gallup, organizations need to focus on several areas of practice, including a focus on workplace culture, team empowerment, performance management, and team and manager training, as transitioning to a hybrid setting is not as simple as creating a schedule for when teams will be in (or out) of the office to mitigate these challenges. Additionally, organizations need to be aware of office space utilization metrics, and consider their needs to seamlessly help connect in-office and remote employees.
With these approaches in mind, it’s no wonder that many companies are turning to flexible workspaces to help address these hybrid work challenges. Shutterstock, for example, has established three different types of workspaces that all function differently–destination hubs, coworking suites, and on-demand coworking services, which is where their relationship with Flexspace comes to life.
As more companies do their best to find this middle “hybrid” ground, the need to creatively and effectively find alternative solutions for bringing teams together, and addressing these challenges will increase. But the benefits of hybrid work are undeniable.
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