Hybrid working: let’s find new solutions together

Sharing Experience: Rebecca Thurlow, Compass Point Recruitment

The last few years have been tough for business owners in many ways, and as we continue to navigate our way through, we are all having to adapt to alternative ways of working.

This is especially true when it comes to attracting and retaining key employees, with some of these changes proving to be very disruptive to an organisation’s culture.

For example, at Compass Point Recruitment we have seen a huge increase in the number of candidates who don’t want a job just because it pays well. They are looking for other aspects that will ultimately help their career and work-life balance.

Primarily, they want hybrid working – the ability to work flexible hours and all, or some, of their hours from home. On the upside, this means that some of our clients now have access to a new pool of candidates, those that wouldn’t consider commuting one hour, five days a week, but will for three days with two working from home. Additionally, with the extra costs being incurred by businesses, you are giving your team a salary bump by not commuting.

Understanding the issues

Now, I support hybrid working in the right circumstances and some industries can adapt very well – your team are working; answering the phones, doing their job, just not in the office, and there are some great tools to help keep the team engaged. However, for me personally in my business, it has meant a significant culture change, and one that I have needed to navigate carefully.

For instance, everyone wants to work from home on Mondays or Fridays, but how do you keep it fair? We’ve initiated a rota, although how do you train new recruits when you’ve got nobody there to mentor them? Also, how do you create a culture where you can call individuals back into the office to cover sickness and holidays?

Our new WFH policy states everyone, or specific individuals, can be called back into the office on one week’s notice. Yet how do you create a cohesive team that will support each other and share knowledge and ideas to help the company grow? We have answered that by ensuring that there are two days each week when everyone has to be in the office.

Finding solutions

In some of the sectors we work with, the hybrid working issue is creating a ‘them and us’ situation. Take construction, manufacturing, health & safety, production, and warehousing, these are roles that physically can’t be done from home, whereas accounts, sales, and often HR roles can work well. 

Navigating these alternative, possibly disruptive, ways of working and coming up with solutions, is what being an owner/director is about. Business never stands still. However, the past five years for me have felt like I’ve barely recovered from one critical challenge before being presented with another!

Stronger together

My advice would be to explore the options wherever possible, use your network to learn how others are navigating this change, and if your sector allows, embrace this potential disruptive change, but give it a timeline. You may surprise yourself and find you have a happier more motivated team, or find your team don’t like WFH and voluntarily return to the office.