Since COVID19 has disrupted our office routines, employees and companies around the world have recurred to remote work as an emergency measure: the sudden onset of the pandemic has made working from home more than a possibility a real question of survival. 

With vaccine programs being rolled out in record time, will companies go back to the office or will they stay remote? 

The answer may lie somewhere in between. 

Work from Home VS Remote Work - Avoiding Technostress and Isolation

For more traditional and office-centred businesses, from one day to another, lockdowns showed that knowledge workers could do their job at home. However, if on the one hand, it is true that during forced remote work productivity has not dropped, so is the fact that these results often hide a human cost that is not always taken into proper consideration: the massive interaction with the technology required by remote work has triggered forms of “technostress”, work exhaustion, isolation and depression. Over 40 billion e-mails, plus 148% of online meetings, plus 45% of chats: these are the numbers detected between February 2020 and February 2021 by the Microsoft research entitled The Next Great Disruption is Hybrid Work - Are We Ready? carried out by interviewing 31,092 full-time employees or self-employed in 31 markets.

It is important to highlight that work from home as a response to COVID and remote work as a purposeful strategy are two completely different concepts: having a distributed workforce comes with its set of challenges and may result in an unsuccessful experiment if not accompanied by a clear mission. In fact, way before the coronavirus pandemic made home-working a commonplace, many tech companies adopted full remote work as a business strategy. Automattic is one of the most famous examples, with a workforce of 1277 employees working entirely remotely and receiving perks such as allowances for their home office setups or co-working spaces. Despite its remote spirit, Automattic does not expect its employees to work in isolation every day. The company, in addition to offering a monthly stipend to be used for a remote work setup, promotes an idea of social interaction for distributed workforces with events, off-sites and other occasions where employees can socialise, bond and learn from one another. 

Flexibility is what makes remote work powerful

The rewards of true remote work are indeed substantial. Employees have reported higher job satisfaction because of the flexibility and have proven they aren’t slacking off just because they’re home. 

With the end of the pandemic finally in sight, and with many workers not willing to go back to pre-pandemic arrangements, companies are focusing on future work organisations for their employees. The situation is being handled in varied ways: some giving their employees permission to work remotely until the end of 2021; others recalling their workforce to the office on different schedules in an attempt to manage logistical concerns brought by the ongoing pandemic. 

Employees seem to have settled into the rhythms of mandatory remote work and while companies decide the best way forward, workers may not want to stuff the genie entirely back into the bottle. 

Towards a Mixed Model: The Hybrid Future of the Office

A recent survey by Stanford University shows that 55% of US workers want some mix of office and home time, while in the UK, home-working appears to be set to more than double compared to pre-pandemic levels once the crisis is over.

Businesses around the world are also starting to think about a different long term arrangement, one that allows structuring a-sync work communication and hours as well as a physical presence. Big companies like Salesforce, Google, Amazon and Facebook are transitioning to a “hybrid or blended" model, in which there will be a combination of both working inside an office and at home. 

To sum up, this blended model of work arises from the mix between remote work and face-to-face work. It is not simply a compromise between old and new but a method that aims to synthesise the best of the two experiences by responding to the changing needs of workers and at the same time creating increasingly competitive organisations. To date there is no defined hybrid work model: there are companies that are moving towards a "remote-first" mode, that is, they plan to adopt remote work as predominant with an occasional presence in the office, and companies that, instead, favour an “office-first” approach, in which the office remains the main place to carry out the activity.

Six steps to prepare yourself for the return to the physical office

In the post-pandemic era, blended remote work is configured as a valid alternative between the definitive return to the office and working from home. Compared to the traditional model, this offers more flexibility to employees and resilience to organisations. However, no matter how companies choose to pursue the next model of remote work, it is essential that workers are fully prepared to enter this new reality. Here are six tips to get ready for the future of work: 

 1/ Rest & Recovery - As we enter the Summer months and holiday season in Europe, ensure you prioritise rest and recovery. Regardless of what is the next model of remote working, everyone deserves a significant holiday break to recharge and refresh. 

2/ Human Connection Needs - Many workers expressed that they missed their colleagues and the social interactions that normally would take place in the physical office. (Source: Remote Working in Ireland, April 2021, Survey of Employees). Some people have found themselves withdrawn, removed from social interaction - do you recognise that in your current behaviour? If so, make a concerted effort to start (slowly, if needed) to move back to social interactions. It could be as simple as asking a colleague to meet for a virtual social coffee or, even better if possible, to meet safely in person.

 3/ Make a list of your own personal learnings - Take some time to reflect on your intentions, the learnings, and any new skills you developed thanks to the imposed work-from-home situation. Use these prompts - Have you fully mastered video conferencing? Have you gotten comfortable with instant messaging? Has your work routine and approach improved overall? Have you maintained healthy habits and a work-life balance? Writing and reviewing this list helps to shine a positive light on recent times and can give you a comprehensive clearer perspective.  

 4/ Establish your own personal context for the next phase - Some workers already know where and when they will perform their job duties, with a blend of days remote and physically in the office. Use the exercise of writing your own personal status statement to describe yourself, expanding on the details as appropriate and starting to embed your new routine mentally. e.g. 

“I (Mary Murphy) work three days from home, on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and commute two days a week (Wednesday and Friday) to the HQ in Dublin. My availability can be seen in the centralised shared calendar and I generally take Thursday as a no-meetings (deep work) day. For meetings, my preference is for video calls requests which include a clear agenda, a meeting with the camera on and if possible no longer than 40 minutes in length” 

5/ Preparation via Calendar Management - If you know your new routine, focusing on the setup and structure of your work calendar can also help establish a healthy habit. Be proactive in prioritizing your wellbeing: add coffee breaks and lunch breaks as recurring items; establish your self-care by adding any exercise classes, holidays days or personal appointments; consider calendar blocking for deep work or days without any meetings to support productivity. 

 6/ Setting and writing intentions to support success - After reviewing the previous steps you may be ready to write some simple yet intentional mantra or positive statements to support yourself. For example: “I am planning to move to the mixed model of remote work, moving back to the office with positive intention and taking my existing healthy habits with me”. After writing some positive statements, pin these intentions in view on a mirror, fridge or notice board. Take a moment each day to read and repeat them to yourself, affirming to yourself your clear intentions to move positively to the next phase.

Use these six steps above proactively to prepare yourself for the next phase of remote working, whatever it may look like. Visit RoRemote for more information on our training support and consultancy services.