However, Singaporean employees often encounter problems in the hybrid workplace, which hinder them from working smoothly. Therefore, Singaporean companies must take quick measures to solve these problems accordingly. 

The most common hybrid workplace  challenges encountered

By summarizing different surveys or reports, most Singaporean employees identified three problems that they encounter most often in the workplace. These problems are Poor network or connectivity, confusing work instructions, and a lack of productivity-enhancing equipment. 

Network delays affect employee participation and work quality in meetings   

According to a survey conducted by Logitech, 56% cited connectivity issues as the main disruptor of hybrid meetings. 

A poor network can slow down the response of remote workers, and the lack of immediate response can hinder some important decisions. In the worst case, meetings need to be interrupted, affecting meeting efficiency. 

And 38% felt remote workers were less included compared to in-person participants. The reason is that they may have reduced their speaking time due to poor internet service. 

Moreover, 53% pointed to poor audio quality, while 43% cited the need to repeat sentences when other participants were unable to hear clearly.

These make Singaporeans take lots of time to finish the meetings, and poor networking might make the remote workers have miss or less participation in making big decisions. 

Confusing hybrid work guidelines make employees work unhappy 

Although Logitech’s report shows that 63% of respondents in Singapore said they like hybrid work arrangements, many business leaders are not sufficiently aware of hybrid work.  

So, when they develop hybrid work guidelines, they only focus on preparing work itineraries without taking the employees into account, such as taking care of their rest time. Therefore, the management of these companies makes some confusing hybrid work guidelines to their staff.  

The lack of appropriate hybrid work guidelines does not enhance the efficiency of employees, which in turn affects their performance and may eventually cause them to leave due to unhappy work.  

In addition, the lack of a well-developed hybrid work arrangement has resulted in fewer connections and communication between remote and hybrid workers at work, which does not help to build a positive company culture to retain talents. 

Lack of equipment or system support for hybrid working 

Transforming the office digitally is a top priority for hybrid workplaces. However, Cisco’s Singapore report reflects that only 19.4% of employers are prepared for hybrid work, including the purchase of appropriate office management systems. 

As a result, the lack of good collaboration tools cannot improve the quality of work of employees, which affects the efficiency of hybrid work. 

What can be done to solve hybrid working difficulties

There are some recommendations for directors in Singapore. If you are one of the directors, you must be cautious of these recommendations. 

Improve the technology of networking and collaborative work 

As mentioned above, the instability of the Internet makes remote workers give people a wrong sense of no participation in meetings because of less speaking time. Singapore entrepreneurs must budget for network stability and security. 

Also, increasing the equipment for hybrid working can enhance employees’ productivity. For example, Microsoft Teams can give your employees good collaborative work experiences, providing stable virtual meetings to your employees.  

Thus, a great connection tool allows all participants to have equal dips to contribute and speak, 59% agreed that it would make hybrid meetings to be more productive, according to Logitech’s report. 

Develop complete and suitable hybrid work guidelines

CBRE survey earlier this year showed that workers in the Asia Pacific region want flexibility in terms of time and location. 

So, a standard hybrid work guideline must provide sufficient work flexibility for employees, while also taking care of their well-being. 

Some companies not only allow employees to work anywhere, but also have a four-day workweek. The aim is to provide more rest time for employees than keeping them in high productivity. 

Build a positive virtual work culture with technology 

Based on Logitech’s report, 54% of white-collar workers in Singapore said they had fewer opportunities to build rapport with participants who were in the office when they work remotely. 

Therefore, many companies are now encouraging their employees to organize different virtual events, such as online birthday parties or sharing sessions, in order to increase opportunities for interactions among employees.  

Meanwhile, this approach allows new employees to get to know experienced employees in different departments so that they can work more closely together in the future and enhance inter-departmental cooperation. 

What else setup supports you to implement hybrid working? 

There are lots of equipment or resources in your office, and if you need your admins to manage all of them, it is very taken time and may make their productivity is reduced. 

A hybrid office should use a comprehensive office management system, which helps Singapore 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.    

If you are the company director in Singapore, using the management systems can help you consider how to reduce the operational cost such as reducing the office workspace and fulfilling the expectations of both employees and administrators. 

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

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

The post What Singapore companies should do for the new norm of hybrid working now?  first appeared on ONEs Blog.