Amanda Childs: What does the future hold for hybrid working?

The way in which we choose to perform our work is evolving at a faster rate than ever before. We are increasingly more exposed to differing human insights and practices through neuroscience. Alongside this, we experience new and different digital capabilities in ways that simply just creep up on us.

Organisational leaders must be open to differing options that balance both personal and business needs which is continuing to be complicated to work through.

Workplace policies and cultures are shifting largely due to technology disrupting the way we work.

Flexibility in how and where you work is already here and at Kyocera Document Solutions UK we committed to a hybrid option in late 2020 where we invited office-based employees the option to work from home two days per week.

Stepping into this commitment majorly changed the way teams were organised and forced remote practices in ways that while progressive, challenged many dynamics all at once.

It was a positive and forceful stance, and now irreversible, this is now part of the benefits package for employees and a positive one from our key people metrics.

The future of this way of working will almost certainly evolve and we at Kyocera are anticipating some of the changes already. We can see that certain groups of employees are yet to feel any form of hybrid model, because they are excluded due to the nature of their roles and activities that they perform. We also know that leaders and HR policy makers will need to find more refined ways to be adaptive to changes which drive inclusivity, wellbeing, and flexible options for all, not just the office few.

We also know that we need to be explore compressed working hours, more options for non-office-based employees and more support for leaders that remotely manage teams.

The backbone of how employers build and develop their culture now includes a significant variety of flexible practices and the need for adaptation to be built in from the very beginning.

Amanda Childs is group HR director at Kyocera Document Solutions UK