Leadership Hacks, 2nd Edition

Chapter 9Designing hybrid

One of the biggest questions that many leaders are facing currently is how do we reorganise the way our people work to ensure that we get the best productivity and performance — in a flexible workplace environment? This is creating the biggest number of headaches for many executive leadership teams and HR departments as they struggle to find an approach that works for everyone.

Although Apple is still considered one of the leading global companies, they are also working out how to make this transition. In June 2021, CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple staff would work in an office for three days a week. To provide an organised structure he also mentioned that the days people would work in the office included Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The reaction? Staff were pissed off! Many employees pushed back so strongly against this fixed model they wrote an internal letter asking for a more flexible policy. (Of course this was leaked to the media as well to help their cause.)

The research from Microsoft's 2021 Work Trend Index provides additional insight, reporting that 66 per cent of decision makers are considering redesigning physical spaces to better accommodate hybrid work environments. The decisions that these business leaders make will determine if they are successful in this new transition to hybrid, and the stakes have never been higher.

Selecting your hybrid model

What hybrid set‐up will work the best? How do leaders manage different staff's remote ...