Transition to a hybrid work environment requires a solid digital and physical infrastructure but keeping this arrangement sustainable needs a deeper look into the “soft” elements of work life. This time, we invite you to update your HR or Facility Management playbooks with fresh talent attraction, development, and retention practices, in order to maintain business resiliency in the world of hybrid.

Attract

Organizations with a strong onboarding process can improve new hire retention by 82%.

Recruiters need to rethink their approaches to attracting talent to an increasingly diverse and distributed workforce - especially when it comes to their employer value propositions (EVP). The culture the company embodies, as well as the benefits it offers, must be revised to accommodate rapidly changing expectations of both potential and existing employees. 

How does the company ensure safety and well-being? What about furloughs and redundancies? Is there an action plan to future-proof the business? These are just a few FAQs of the post-pandemic age, imperative to answer while fine-tuning your EVP to the hybrid trends.

Another important aspect is onboarding, which, statistically, can be a make-or-break deal for the majority of new hires. In the hybrid environment, where physical presence is not mandatory, the success of induction depends less on the office vibe and more on the personalities involved. A couple of years ago, the direct manager might have constituted 70% of the employee’s connection to his company. Today’s remote arrangements can bring it up to 90%. 

These numbers tell employers to refocus their onboarding strategies from methods to people, especially those who take part in building the beginner’s experience. Creating more personal touchpoints, investing in manager’s coaching, or setting up a mentoring program might help to quickly lead “freshmen” to full productivity and convey the company’s values better.

Develop

70% of employees claim that learning and professional development opportunities impact their decisions to stay with the company.

Hybrid work added complexity to both the process of professional training and its content. From the process point of view, employees expect to choose their learning environment just as they are choosing their workplace. Therefore, companies should not limit the course offerings to exclusively in-person or online-only but blend the two ways together. If that is not possible, facility managers can consider extending activity-based working spaces with study hubs, providing employees a calm and comfortable place to engage in remote education at the office.

Mentorship programs are good not only for healthy onboarding but also for supporting continuous development or even cross-training employees. A flexible internal learning system that empowers colleagues to share their knowledge is the first step to building teams that are able to see the big picture and be equally efficient in any work environment. 

The power of choice turned many casual spaces - home, cafe, or even a beach - into workplaces. Their informality may call for reinforcement of time management, facilitation, and personal accountability - skills that are essential for productivity but only seem to linger in the air of traditional offices. By including them in programs tailored to the new realities of work, companies can help employees re-discover competencies and stay up-to-date with the modern workforce.

Retain

8 in 10 employees would seek a new job after a bad day at work.

A bad day at work can be the aftereffect of one-time triggers: unsatisfied customers, disagreements within teams, or micromanagement attempts. In situations like that, clouds usually dissolve quickly. Unfortunately, some bad days at work may last weeks or even months, bringing the employee turnover to undesired heights. 

Ultimately, the promise of hybrid work is environments that organically fit into employees’ lives so that each of them can find the right work-life balance and know the value they bring to the company. The goal can only be fulfilled with proper internal processes. At the same time, their absence can seriously compromise retention targets. 

To reflect on their processes, management teams must answer some questions - this time, for themselves. Are you capable of turning employee expectations into hybrid work policies? Can you maintain the company culture and support inclusion? What is your health and safety strategy? Tailor the insights to the prevailing workplace trends to delight employees and demonstrate commitment to innovation.

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A well-established hybrid workplace has a strong employer value proposition, conducts experience-based onboarding, invests in talent development, and constantly reflects on the efficiency of its internal processes.