Many business leaders have indicated that they will use hybrid work models as their future work models. Here are some great suggestions for organizations to optimize their hybrid workplace for 2023. 

What is a hybrid workplace? 

The hybrid workplace combines in-office and remote work, and the workplace facilities provide flexibility for employees to switch seamlessly between the two work styles. When remote workers enter the office as needed, productivity is not reduced due to adaptation issues.    

Meanwhile, the features of a hybrid workplace are improving employees’ productivity and optimizing work quality for employees.  

At one end of the spectrum is everyone in the office, nine till five, so both restricted time and location. And then at the other end of the spectrum is anywhere around the world at any time. So no restricted time or location. A hybrid is anything that sits in the middle of that.

Harriet Molyneaux, managing director of HSM Consultancy

Examples of hybrid workplace 

Some hybrid workplaces provide friendly work environments with special designs to enhance productivity and retain talent.

You may ask how to create the best hybrid workplace in 2023. Let’s see two successful examples of large enterprises how implementing their hybrid workplaces: LEGO and LinkedIn.    

Example 1: LEGO  

LEGO’s new headquarters in Denmark has no permanent workstations and that is essentially a large desk-wheel community. It is a “mini-city” that offers facilities, such as a gym and theaters, for colleagues from different departments who can socialize or relax in these areas after a hard day’s work.       

The LEGO Group said that they focus on creating a free and caring environment and aim to promote recreation and productivity.  

Example 2: LinkedIn  

The new headquarters of LinkedIn were guided by inclusive design principles, there have rooms that may be used for rest, attention, collaboration, learning, and socialization.  

One of the most significant changes LinkedIn made to the pre-pandemic headquarters design was to replace the traditional workstations, which made up about 40% of the space, with a number of seating areas, each of which served as a distinct “neighborhood” for a different team and was arranged to accommodate their typical activities.  

The reason is hoping to increase the connection among each colleague and then create a great workplace culture to retain their talents. 

Approaches to optimize your hybrid workplace 

The latest survey by HP Teradici, “Hybrid Work 2022 Report: The Strategic Role of the Digital Workspace”, identifies the problems encountered in hybrid work environments and suggests some approaches to optimize your workplace for 2023. 

Approach 1: Improving the technology for remote work  

Some remoting systems or collaboration tools are providing bad quality at work, including virtual connection delay and less collaborative work functions. Therefore, these issues affect remote workers’ productivity.  

Based on HP Teradici’s survey, 59% of respondents said the first challenge is performance or user experience issues, such as latency and pixelation. Also, 32% said the implementation process for remoting technology was too complicated, and 25% of respondents reported that staff adoption of remoting technology had been a hurdle.  

The solution is to choose a great functional collaboration tool for your employees, such as Microsoft Teams, to prevent these problems appear.  

Microsoft Teams provides a stable collaborative work connection and is a simple platform for workers easy to use. And allows your employees to have real-time windowed conversations and virtual meetings.

Also, it supports Microsoft 365 and provides excellent collaborative work. Until January 2022, Microsoft Teams had already over 270 million users.   

Approach 2: Creating or revising a work-from-home policy  

If employees can follow some work guidelines for hybrid work, this can ensure they have positive work performances. 

In HP Teradici’s survey, 85% of respondents said existing company policies have already changed to reflect the new hybrid working environments, which means including setting some hybrid work guidelines for employees.  

For the most important computing issues to address to enable hybrid work, half of the respondents say companies should create or revise a work-from-home policy for hybrid workers.

40% of respondents expect their companies to procure additional hardware for staff, while 37% of respondents would like companies setting up a VPN for employee access to the corporate network.

Approach 3: Providing mobile office configuration  

Flexibility is very important for employees. And providing employees with mobile equipment in the office can give flexibility in their work. Thus, they can work in a flexible location.   

According to a report from Omdia, 48% of the total workforce will work in a mobile or hybrid fashion over the next 2 years. The reason is employees think that working in a flexible workplace makes them happier at work so improving their work quality and productivity.   

More than half (54%) of organizations believe employee productivity has improved with the move to more mobile and hybrid work styles. A hot desk is a mobile equipment that can be found in a hybrid workplace. 

Hot desking is also an organizational workspace system in which desks are used on an ad hoc, first-come, first-served basis by different people at different times. Most business leaders use hot desks to replace lots of fixed desks, therefore this can reduce the size of the workspace and prevent paying high rent or operation costs.  

Approach 4:  Implementing office management systems

One of the HR challenges is management procedures and 15% of respondents agree on this point, according to HP Teradici’s survey.

The reason is the admins usually take much time for monitoring the staff’s performance or manage office resources, which makes the admins can’t focus on their work and difficult to maintain good performance.  

Therefore, business leaders should think about how to optimize their employees’ work process and Omdia’s report suggests organizations should plan and deliver technology to help their workers be productive from wherever they are.   

One of the best solutions is for companies should implement some office management systems, for example, meeting room booking.

A Meeting Room Booking System is used to reserve conference rooms and boardrooms, and also provides multi-room bookings in a second. Some studies have shown a 73% increase in the need for meeting rooms in hybrid office spaces so it is very suitable for hybrid workplaces.  

Thus, the admins can manage the resources easily and ensure the rooms will not be misused. Also, they can maintain their productivity at a high level as they have more time to focus on work. 

The best setup to optimize your hybrid workplace for 2023 

A hybrid office should use a comprehensive office management system, which helps your employees use office resources efficiently, such as rooms, desks, and office equipment, and support them have remote work and virtual meetings with their colleagues in the office.  

ONES is one of the famous all-in-one smart office systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease.  You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.     

ONES Software now has a dedicated page to introduce a series of hybrid working measures to help you solve problems. You may wish to go to https://ones.software/hybrid-workspace/ for further reference.    

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/. 

The post Optimize your hybrid workplace for 2023  first appeared on ONEs Blog.

Meanwhile, these reports will also show you how hybrid work is bringing some trends in Malaysia, and this future trend you should know.

What is Hybrid work?

Hybrid work is an approach that takes into account the individual’s needs, whether they’re at home or at the office. Our platform enables people to work from any location, and move between sites as needed.

Many organizations see hybrid work as the evolution of remote working, allowing employers to better integrate remote working into overall business processes while providing comparable work experience for remote workers.

The pandemic has proven that organisations can and must trust their people to be productive from anywhere, and anytime. Leaders now have the opportunity to define a hybrid workplace strategy that combines the best of the digital workplace and the physical workplace.

This includes empowering people with the flexibility and autonomy of remote work and enabling the crucial human connection with colleagues and customers in person.

 Michal Golebiewski, Chief Marketing & Operations Officer, Microsoft Malaysia

In the report “Making Flexible Work, Work: Towards Better and More Inclusive
Work-Life Practices” from Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei Darussalam, there are several excellent definitions for flexible working terms:

Work-Life Practices (WLPs)

Various work-life integration forms support, including leave, support networks, facilities, etc. This includes Flexible Work Arrangements.

Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs)

Flexibility in the time and location of work. This includes Work From Home arrangements.

These arrangements aim to provide greater flexibility
in the following areas: the workplace, scheduling of hours worked, number of
hours worked and flexibility of job roles.

The top FWAs in the Life at Work Survey were:

1. Flexi Hours (48%)
2. Leaving Early From Work (34%)
3. Staggered Hours (22%)
4. Job Sharing (19%)
5. Work-From-Home/Telecommuting (16%)

Work-From-Home (WFH)

A subset of FWAs, in which employees may work remotely some or all of the time.

Learn more:

Post-MCO Safety Guidelines Info Page

How can hybrid working help Singaporeans and their companies save their daily expenses now? 

20+ Questions for your Hybrid Working Employee Survey

Why Hybrid Working is the winner in the APAC region? Experts explain.

More than two-thirds of Malaysian employees want flexible remote work to stay, Microsoft research reveals

Hiredly’s 2022 Work Culture Report

Malaysia Hybrid work statistics

Hybrid work is preferred across ASEAN markets

The Cisco study highlighted that hybrid work is now preferred by many employees across ASEAN markets:

• Malaysia – 74%
• Singapore – 71%
• Indonesia – 84%
• Vietnam – 76%
• Thailand – 69%
• The Philippines – 60%

The support for hybrid work extends beyond employees as well — with 90% of employees saying their employers have been supportive of hybrid working. In particular, 46% said their employers have been supportive, while 44% said their employers have been very supportive.

(Cisco)

Malaysian get used to the long-term WFH and enjoy its benefits

A 2021 report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp) found that 80% of Malaysian employees prefer WFH (Work-from-home) weekly, with almost half preferring to do so at least three days a week.

Data shows that rigid return-to-office policies negatively impact employees with anxiety and work-related stress.

(UNDP)

Malaysian Government support hybrid working

The Malaysian Government announced that employees can apply for Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) with their employers under the amendment to the Employment Act 1955, which will come into force on September 1, 2022.

It reflects that the Malaysian Government agreed that flexible work is very important to employees.

Redesign office space for hybrid work

To prepare for implementing hybrid work, business leaders (62%) in Malaysia are considering redesigning office space for hybrid work.

(Microsoft)

Emerging hybrid working trends in Malaysia

Flexible work is here to stay in Malaysia

According to a survey by Microsoft, 77 % of workers in Malaysia surveyed want flexible remote work options to continue.

Although people working remotely can save daily expenses, 42% of Malaysian employees said that they lack essential office supplies at home, and one in 10 don’t have an adequate internet connection to do their job.

Yet, over 46% say their employer does not help them with remote work expenses. Therefore, remote work can not satisfy all the needs of employees, so they still have a certain of necessity to return to the office.

(Microsoft)

Immediate response between employees

The outbreak has led to the development of collaborative working tools, where colleagues working remotely can get immediate feedback and work seamlessly.

However, some colleagues still need face-to-face responses to requests for help.

According to Microsoft’s survey, 75% of employees want more face-to-face time with their teams. And face-to-face responses can avoid the misunderstandings that come with a text-only response.

Half of the business leaders surveyed are faring better than their employees. Research shows that 46 percent of leaders in Malaysia say they are “thriving” right now – 16 percentage points higher than those without decision-making power.

(Microsoft)

Talent is everywhere in a hybrid work world

The remote working method supports employees to work regardless of borders and distance, eliminating the must for employees to return to the office.

47 % of Microsoft’s respondents surveyed in Malaysia are planning to move to a new location this year.

This indicates that people no longer have to leave their desks, house, or community to expand their career opportunities.

This has also led to 45% of workers and 57% of Gen Zs in Malaysia likely to consider leaving their employers this year. Remote job postings on LinkedIn more than quintupled during the pandemic.

(Microsoft)

Gen Zers suffer at work and need to be re-energized

The Gen-Z’ers are the future leaders. They are empowered and entrepreneurial, influential and independent, confident and competent, and are always looking to make a difference in the community in which they live.

However, 69% of Gen Z (those between the ages of 18 and 25) say they are merely surviving or flat-out struggling right now. The reason is that they feel work lonely since the move to fully remote work.   

Since the move to fully remote work…Without hallway conversations, chance encounters, and small talk over coffee, it’s hard to feel connected even to my immediate team, much less build meaningful connections across the company.

Hannah McConnaughey, Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft

Gen Z also reported that it is difficult for them to feel engaged or excited about their work. Ensuring that Gen Z feels a sense of purpose and well-being is an urgent imperative in the shift to hybrid.

(Microsoft)

Authenticity will stimulate happiness

According to Cisco’s recent study, 86% of Malaysian employees say the ability to work from anywhere has made them happier.

(Cisco)

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s report shows that co-workers rely on each other in new ways in the past year. Some interactions are working virtually, for example:

• 22%: Workers in Malaysia have cried with a colleague;
• 14%: while others met with co-workers’ pets; or
• 26%: family members virtually.

These increased interactions resulted in 44% of workers in Malaysia feeling they could be their fully authentic selves at work this year.

(Microsoft)

Improved employees’ productivity and relive their stress

Cisco’s study found that 60% of employees in Malaysia believe that the quality of work has improved because they work under less stress without supervisors’ monitoring, and 55% of respondents felt that their productivity has enhanced because they have flexible work hours.

However, only 20% of Malaysian employees think that their company is “very prepared” for a hybrid work future.

Moreover, some companies plan to change their offices as the co-working space to support their staff work more relaxed to increase their productivity, so the directors of those decided to provide a friendly environment to their staff.

A Shared office in Malaysia, Jaya One Common Ground, which recently opened in Petaling Jaya, encourages staff to bring their dogs or cats along for work.

(Cisco)

Network growth endangers company culture and sense of belonging

Before the pandemic, staff bonding was based on regular gatherings in the office and face-to-face communication at work.

Anonymized collaboration trends between billions of Outlook emails and Microsoft Teams meetings reveal a clear trend: the shift to remote shrunk our networks.

Teams are more siloed in a digital work world. 38% of workers in Malaysia experienced decreased interactions with coworkers with the move to remote work. Lack of interactions with the immediate team will damage new staff to foster a sense of belonging to their companies, and it might lead to loss the talent easily.

(Microsoft)

Solving Malaysia’s social problem and saving workers daily costs

After COVID-19 restrictions eased, many companies in Malaysia have switched back to in-office culture and required staff to report to work physically. 

However, traffic data has shown that road congestion levels in Kuala Lumpur are worse than before the pandemic, as people commute to work again and students head back to school.

Congestion at peak hours in the mornings and evenings has been consistently worse compared to 2019 and 2020. If people have flexible work, they can choose their work location. Also, they can save their daily expenses on commuting.

(TomTom)

More sustainable working method

Hybrid workspaces accommodate technological advances, the use of hot desking and room rotation features, etc., which will reduce the resource requirements of the office.

As mentioned above, flexible working helps to reduce carbon emissions from regularly commuting, as well as retaining and attracting talent.

The offices, which implement hybrid working, provide a variety of creating different types of innovative and stimulating workspaces, such as brainstorming rooms and entertainment zones.

According to Microsoft’s report, 58% of workers in Malaysia always feel overworked and exhausted, thus these facilities can help them to take rest and refill their energy for back to work.

(Microsoft)

And Cisco’s study also found that the majority of Malaysian respondents (73.5%) would prefer a hybrid arrangement in the future.

(Cisco)

Strategies for business leaders to make the necessary shift

Microsoft Work Trend Index identifies five strategies for business leaders as they begin to make the necessary shift:

• Create a plan to empower people for extreme flexibility
• Invest in space and technology to bridge the physical and digital worlds
• Combat digital exhaustion from the top
• Prioritize rebuilding social capital and culture
• Rethink employee experience to compete for the best and most diverse talent

(Microsoft)

Your Hybrid Working System: ONES

To implement hybrid working in your office, you should have a comprehensive office management system. ONES Smart office system is one of the famous management systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease.

You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk-hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features, in order to improve your office productivity, retain your talents and make your office more secure.

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/my/.

The post Hybrid work trends in Malaysia a business leader needs to know in 2023 and onward first appeared on ONEs Blog.

After the epidemic, companies around the world are popularly implementing hybrid work and this will remain to become a new norm.

What is Hybrid work? 

Hybrid work is an approach that takes into account the individual’s needs, whether they’re at home or at the office. Our platform enables people to work from any location, and move between sites as needed. 

Many organizations see hybrid work as the evolution of remote working, allowing employers to better integrate remote working into overall business processes while providing comparable work experience for remote workers. 

As Australia plans for the post-COVID19 era, a renewed focus has been placed on the future of work. Moreover, Australia had an above-average level of working from home in 2020 (47%).  (Tesltra) 

Hybrid work trends in Australia 

Before Covid 19 started, 57% of workers preferred the traditional way of working – working in an office. During the epidemic, since workers were not able to return to the office, 35.4% of workers said that they became accustomed to working from home.

Today, a survey reported that 37.8% of workers prefer to work flexibly to achieve a balance between life and work. (Swinburne University of Technology Report) 

Hybrid working in an Australian state or territory 

A report by Telstra finds that businesses adopting a hybrid model are 28% more likely to deliver new and innovative products or services to the market. 

Also, some factors cause the Australian state or territory’s adoption of hybrid working, such as the company policies or recommendations of the Government. 

The Government lockdowns in Victoria likely drove the state’s high adoption rate. During COVID-19, the biggest increases in hybrid working have occurred in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Victoria, and New South Wales (NSW). (Telstra) 

The potential economic impact of hybrid work in Australia 

Hybrid working reduces long-entrenched barriers to employees, such as the problem of the distance between the workplace and home, long work hours, and high travel expenses.  

By estimation, hybrid work can attract 53,500 extra people to enter the labor force in the future, and then the workforce has the potential to deliver significant economic benefits to Australia, increasing national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $18.3 billion and creating additional 42,500 full-time jobs by 2030-31. (Telstra) 

Flexible work can retain talents 

Talent is an important resource for companies. During the epidemic, the epidemic of remote work has caused a high global brain drain.

43% of Australian knowledge workers said they would consider leaving an employer that does not offer flexible working for one that does, rising to 46% in Sydney and Melbourne. (Swinburne University of Technology Report)

Australia’s Gen Z is the main workforce 

In Australia, Gen Z workers prefer flexible working (46%) twice as much as Baby Boomers (23%). There are around three-fifths of the knowledge workforce made up of Millennials and Gen Z workers, therefore generational change will lock in a flexible working future to their needs. 

(Swinburne University of Technology Report)

The needs of Australia’s Gen Z 

According to Gen Z workers, the leading reasons they want to return to the office are to avoid distractions at home (e.g., roommates), for their mental health and well-being and to maintain relationships with colleagues, and to feel included. They would prefer to work in the office for 3 days each week.

In the other working time (around 2 days), they would like to work remotely. (Swinburne University of Technology Report) 

The impact of implementing hybrid working on Australia Businesses 

Hybrid Working Impact on Quality 

Since implementing hybrid working, the quality of work has improved and impacted the following industries: (Telstra) 

• 66% of businesses are in technology and media; 
• 63% in banking, finance, and insurance; and 
•  29% in retail. 

Hybrid Working Impact on Creativity 

52% of businesses in mining, energy, and resources and 50% in technology have increased creativity since implementing hybrid working. The reasons are the following like these: 

1. Hybrid working increases the opportunities to collaborate, co-design, and engage in cross-functional teaming. (Telstra) 

2. Hybrid working can lead to greater team diversity, work styles, ways of collaborating and generating ideas –all of which can drive creativity. (Telstra) 

Trade-off for Businesses not offering remote work and hybrid work

If the employers do not offer flexible working to the employees, most of the workers expect a pay rise as their leading trade-off.

Another top two and three reasons for respondents are they want more leave or time off and better job security.  

In the survey, 13% of respondents said flexible working is non-negotiable, and that could make many employees a flight risk in search of roles that are flexible.

Only 15% of workers said they didn’t need to convince them to stay.

(Swinburne University of Technology Report) 

Reasons why Australians choose against work in the office  

The costs of the commute are the top reason why Australians don’t want to work in the office. 

However, the main issue is they don’t want to lose the flexible working hours which are the common factor of second and third reasons. Loss of flexibility at work could not protect their work-life balance.

(Swinburne University of Technology Report) 

Reasons why Australians choose to work at office/client location

The top reason many workers want to work in the office is they think that the office is better to set up for work.

For example, some department workers need to have face-to-face meetings with the clients, therefore they need meeting rooms to serve the clients. The top second and third reasons are collaboration in person and relationships with colleagues.

These three top reasons show that the goal of working in the office is for employees to want to connect with others. (Swinburne University of Technology Report) 

What would you need to work in the hybrid office?  

ONES is one of the famous all-in-one smart office systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease. You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk-hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.    

You can also explore our leaflet to understand more of our features: https://ones.software/assets/booking/main/2022_ONES_leaflet_v1.pdf   

Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/.   

The post 10+ Hybrid Work Trends to Watch in Australia first appeared on ONEs Blog.