How exactly to strike a balance in a post-pandemic office

With the UAE leading the Arab World in the Covid-19 vaccine drive, administering more than 10 million vaccine doses so far, businesses are planning for their post pandemic office lives. However the question on many business leaders’ minds is whether to return to our pre-pandemic work setup, or if remote work can be part of our “new normal”.

Microsoft is implementing a hybrid business design, an arrangement which allows most employees to spend half of their own time working at home. A hybrid business design is where your staff is made of freelancers and full-time employees.

Organisations in the GCC are also favouring a hybrid-business model. Articles published the other day in The National discussed how companies in the GCC, are moving towards a hybrid business design. A survey referenced in the article by the Boston Consulting Group and Bayt.com revealed that 89 % of men and women in the UAE would like to continue working at home at all or part of their times.

Other research by Microsoft’s Work Track Index, found 80 per cent of managers from 31 countries expect more flexible work options post-pandemic. The study also discovered that remote job postings on LinkedIn increased five folds because the onset of the pandemic.

But not many people are a fan of the remote work model. David Solomon, Goldman Sachs leader rejected remote working, labelling it as an “aberration”.

We’ve followed a hybrid-business model for a long time at my company. Despite the fact that the arrangement may seem straightforward with employees spending certain days in the office, it wasn’t always so simple.

A few of the concerns I had, that fellow companies are actually questioning is who determines what days to be spent in the offices, and how can we establish proper communication channels to effectively achieve our targets.

What worked for all of us regarding planning is that our work setup revolve around: Job role, location, and the proper communication channel.

Who needs to work together so that you can achieve the very best results? For us, those that work solo almost all of the time like photographers, content creators and designers, don’t need to come to any office each day, and a work model where they met everyone a few times a week is ideal. If they're based in a different country, then we would have virtual video meetings with the associates they caused. Those on the consultancy division, however, and who focus on planning and strategy need to spend additional time together, and they have to ensure that these were present in the office on a single day(s).

Where are your associates located? If your team resides in the same city then it is easy to create physical meetings at work. If you rely upon remote talent, then you can save well on rent and meet them virtually. This past year, Abu Dhabi rolled out a fresh type of licence that allows long-term freelancers to work and are in the emirate. The permit allows freelancers to home based, an option that had not been available to expats previously.

Of course, we still had to figure out an effective communication channel, and that meant that remote employees needed to be present physically or practically in meetings, and a team member was responsible for briefing them and keeping them up-to-date. This may not work perfectly at every organisation, and a vertical organisation could find that challenging. Inside our case, we had to make sure that our reward system was predicated on merit wherever our colleagues were based.

The good thing relating to this is that there surely is no right or wrong way when arranging a post pandemic office. Companies are figuring it because they go along, and everything comes down to your unique company’s needs and the functions your staff manage.