Suddenly Hybrid

Chapter 1The Inevitability and Promise of Hybrid Meetings

The contrast on the screen could not have been more distinct.

In one Zoom box: Jay Hyett, who was bundled up appropriately, given the especially bitter day in Melbourne. In the other box: his coworker, who was basking in tropical sunshine on a beach in Thailand. Although Jay, a senior delivery coach for Envato, had perhaps a sprinkling of jealousy given his colleague's locale, he actually appreciated seeing the change of scenery: “It brings me joy as well. It does get me thinking that maybe my next holiday will be in Thailand.”

What makes the Melbourne/Thailand scene truly unusual is that it is a snapshot from 2017 – pre‐COVID‐19, pre‐pandemic, pre‐work‐from‐home as a global norm. In other words, well before the world went suddenly virtual.

But this could be a snapshot of a virtual meeting on any given day at Envato, before, during, and certainly after the pandemic. Envato, an online marketplace where creatives can sell their digital assets, isn't a purely remote company. It has offices in Australia, the United States, and Mexico, but its founders built the company with a flexible workforce in mind. Personally, they prioritized the opportunity to travel, so they set up a policy that allows employees to work from anywhere for up to three months as long as the employee has a plan that is approved by the team. The Melbourne/Thailand scenario merely exemplified the “work from anywhere” ethos that has been ingrained into ...