eLearningMinds and our partner Video Arts, believe that the hybrid model is the new future of the working environment for everyone. Many organisations are now opting for hybrid working models especially since the pandemic forced many of them to adhere to strict work-from-home policies, resulting in the unanimous understanding of how working remotely can also be as productive if not more so than working traditionally in an office.
We believe that the hybrid working model is something that will most likely become permanent as we voyage through this post pandemic era. According to the CIPD (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, UK) report, it is expected that about 37% of employees are going to start working from home. This is to be expected as a staggering 54% of the workforce have claimed that they do not want to continue working if the work from home option is not made available for them. Let us examine further on how we can better prepare ourselves for work in the hybrid fashion.
Step 1: Accept the changes
When it comes to the hybrid work setting, many of the company leaders have this notion that everyone has to work together at the same place, in an office or otherwise work wouldn’t get done. Likewise, a lot of managers have this strong belief that people working in close proximity is what will help with the growth of an employee.
Now before you go into hysterics, we’re not implying that face to face training sessions is absolutely useless. There will always be the need for the physical classes to exist as no matter how advance virtual classes have grown, human beings still crave for that human touch. However, the idea of hybrid classes means that there will be a mix of face to face and online sessions, and this means that company leaders need to make sure that all of the needs of your colleagues are seen to.
With the right tools at their disposal plenty of employees will be able to equip themselves with what’s needed to make a seamless learning experience to occur. With the right learning management system, the right communication app, the right educational content; learners are bound to flourish.
Step 2: Have regular virtual meetups
Those in the workforce have time and time again stated how much they enjoy staying at home while working. How it’s such a blessing that they won’t have to be in heavy traffic, spending hours needlessly on the road commuting back and forth from home to work. Plenty have expressed how much of a convenience it is that they get to just get into an online meeting five minutes before it starts.
Despite all of these luxuries, those same employees will admit that they do feel a sense of loneliness and isolation when they get to work from home. This is why when it comes to working in a hybrid environment, leaders and managers are encouraged to have regular online meetups. This is so that the employees get to build a sense of familiarity, camaraderie, and rapport between themselves as well as between the managers too.
According to hbr.org’s article Make Time for Small Talk in Your Virtual Meetings by Bob Frisch and Cary Greene, it is important to have a small “hanging out” period during online meetings. The article discusses a CEO’s experience with having a general chit chat session during his online meetings and how he believes it’s important to have them as they help foster relationships between employees and uplift their emotions.
The article further suggests that it’s good to include a small talk agenda in their meetings as well as a general check in or ice break session to further build on the rapport and relationship between colleagues. Hence, it is best to keep in mind that asking a colleague what they have done for fun during the weekend is just as important as talking about work itself.
Step 3: Be ready to accept new hires into the fold
There has been an exceptionally high turnover rate during the pandemic and with that phenomenon came the influx of people looking for new jobs and getting hired for those. Since many people gained employment during the pandemic, this meant that they were working from home from their very first day of work. They might be familiar with Atiqah’s bedroom curtains but have no idea what the office’s layout even looks like. Hence, this is where the leaders in an organisation must be well prepared to make the transition of newcomers joining a new working environment as smooth as possible.
Video Arts and we at eLearningMinds believe that with really excellent eLearning materials, the transition process of workers learning more about the company, learning about their work and tasks and how things are normally done will be much easier and comfortable. Through the high calibre, compelling and educational videos that Video Arts makes, we are sure that newcomers to a company will be adjusted in no time.
Interested to know more about Video Arts? Give us a call and we’ll be happy to talk to you.
Step 4: Embrace the fact that hybrid means a mix of online and physical
As mentioned before, there are a lot of people who work from home are now struggling with the stress and anxiety that comes hand in hand with working remotely. According to the article How to Keep Your Mental Health in Check When You Work From Home, there are a lot of people who have grown very stressed due to feeling like they have to work 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The lines between work and home have been blurred and many have claimed that they work even longer hours than when they worked in a physical office.
Some of the suggestions that leaders can take in order to lessen the stress levels in workers is that they can maybe establish an office rota whereby people are given a specific schedule on what days they’ll be in at work and when they will work from home. Everyone can also view this schedule and know when their colleagues will be in at work and on which days. This might help grow the bonds between colleagues who get to spend time together at the office as well as for those who work from home.
Step 5: Make the learning experience personalised
As previously mentioned, the hybrid working environment is going to bring about new obstacles for the new hires at a company who are just beginning to adapt themselves to the new working climate. This is why eLearningMinds and Video Arts are of the same mind that entertaining, yet educational materials will be the key to the successful transition of these new hires.
When it comes to engaging and educational materials, we mean videos and other resources of course. In an article by boclips.com, 83% of teachers acknowledge that videos are incredibly beneficial to their lessons. A study conducted to see the affects of humour in lessons showed that a group of students who were taught consistently with humour injected in the classes performed at least 14% better than their peers who were taught without any humour in their lessons. Video Arts and eLearningMinds believe that when combined, the high engagement that videos garner and the effectiveness of humour in the learning experience will be sure to produce great results.
Have we piqued your interest yet in regards to Video Arts? Call us and talk to us if you want to know more.
