Originally posted March 10th 2022 on Medium

In 2022, the ability to help your team or employees improve their performance and keep productivity on high in a hybrid work environment is an essential element for any organization’s success.

We asked experts who are well-versed on the topic to give us their top tips for helping managers enable workers to optimize hybrid work schedules and found some recurring themes, including:

• Utilizing software and HR networks to streamline work
• Boosting communication through regular check-ins with employees
• Ensuring employee expectations are clear

1. Karen Oakey, a longtime HR professional, says managers should first focus on having clean job descriptions, goals, project management processes, and performance review processes in place.

“This formula will result in success for both the employee and the company. If the hybrid work environment has worked for the organization, don’t change it! Instead, pulse your team continuously via engagement surveys to see how this is working for them, what changes may be needed to best support, and use that information to build upon and course-correct when needed.”

2. Sam Shepler, CEO of TestimonialHero, a global B2B video testimonial creation SaaS company, advises managers to look into ways of alleviating employee pressure and stress, which may lead to better quality work.

“For example, you might not have that many clients who come on Fridays. You can consider a four-day workweek that extends your employee’s weekends. While this may sound like a day lost, a day for your employees to recharge when there isn’t much business done in the first place can be relegated to better productivity and happier employees at the company.”

3. Marcus Clarke, founder of Searchat.co, a digital marketing agency, says supervisors should focus on results-based management.

“Results-based performance reviews and goals should be adapted by businesses to ensure hybrid workers are consistently evaluated fairly. This can create an opportunity for companies to evolve their review process beyond managerial observations. Creating a level playing field for promotions will reduce the risk of employee allegations of unfairness.”

4. Harriet Chan, co-founder, and marketing director of CocoFinder, a search engine for people, suggests managers develop a policy that always makes hybrid work possible in their organizations, while monitoring employee progress.

“Employees whose productivity goes down with a hybrid work model are easy to note depending on their timeliness and ease of collaboration. An employee who is always behind on projects or fails to communicate and cooperate on projects easily needs proper training and upskilling in remote working to help optimize their productivity.”

5. Jonathan Tian, Co-Founder of Mobitrix, a U.S.-based smartphone solution provider for data transfer and iOS system errors, advises organizations to ensure they’re using an HR software.

“I would ask them to update their HR networks because they serve as the primary indicator of the employees’ state. In addition to this, I would also suggest they support mental health improvement activities, give equal pay to onsite and remote employees, and focus on the safety of the workers.”

6. Julien Raby, CEO, Thermogears.com, a website that sells infrared equipment, says a hybrid working paradigm can help improve the performance culture but it must be used properly.

Leaders need “to change their interactions with their employees and adopt new observable behaviors that promote social cohesiveness and trust among their teams.While organizational culture may appear invisible during times of prosperity and stability, its presence is palpable during times of crisis and uncertainty. It manifests itself in the collective behaviors of employees and leaders, either enabling them to work cooperatively to accomplish goals or creating confusion and mistrust.”

7. Tyler Garns, Founder, and CEO at Box Out Marketing, a company that offers strategic coaching and campaign implementation services, says employers should gauge their workers preferred working arrangements and ensure they’re allowing their employees to have what they prefer.

“During the schedule for on-site working, create better office spaces for the employees; mind relaxing set-ups, etc. Provide necessary tools for work-at-home employees to avoid delays.”

8. Stefanie Cavallo, BluXinga Advisory, Accenture Business Development, says utilizing a performance management application can helps managers and employees engage and improve communication in a hybrid workplace.

“For instance, BluXinga created an innovative platform to address employee performance in a hybrid work environment. It helps managers and employees engage with personnel activities such as performance reviews and employee recognition. BluXinga created a platform to address employee performance in a hybrid work environment. The company’s app is designed to be the connective tissue to empower employees and management to increase performance, job satisfaction, and achieve company targets.”

9. Kathleen Ahmmed, co-founder of US CarJunker, a website dedicated to buying used cars, says employee recognition programs have helped support her employees and maintain effective performance.

“This can often be an effective strategy because recognition is not only one of the easiest ways to improve the morale of your employees, but it also promotes better ownership of their roles and builds a stronger connection between them and the organization’s goals, even while working remotely. For instance, you can make use of gamification strategies like incorporating leaderboards in your departments, which would promote positive competition and reward the successful completion of projects through paid time off, bonuses, gym discounts, spa vouchers, etc.”

10. Adit Jain, co-founder & CEO at Leena AI, an autonomous conversational AI-backed platform that helps enterprises better employee experience, suggests supervisors try setting up tracking systems that will help teams across different functional areas clearly define their work.

“This would help build transparency across different departments. Employers can also create a centralized system for the entire company to access resources. More often than not, plenty of time and energy goes into communicating and mediating on where to find resources. Having a centralized system will help employees access information without any mediation. I strongly believe managers should work towards becoming more humane leaders who are empathetic towards the workforce. Managers should behave like mentors, give due importance to mental health, and create a trustworthy environment for the entire team.”

11. Steven Walker, CEO of Spylix, which is committed to facilitating legal parental and employee monitoring services, says providing sufficient resources and training to the workers helps them maintain their performance levels.

“Many employees do not know which tool to use for working efficiently. So, it would be appreciated if their managers provided sufficient training on how they should perform. To tackle the post-pandemic impacts on the employees, managers should also be analyzing the mental well-being of their workers and taking necessary actions.”

12. Megan Leasher, chief solutions strategist at management consulting company Talent Plus, says honesty and transparency is more important than ever for leaders during a hybrid workplace.

“Two-way dialogue about what is working well, what isn’t and ideas for how to adjust in real time. Trust is more critical than ever before, as managers can no longer trust by seeing and observing employees in person. A stronger relationship and communication focus will help each manager-employee pair strengthen performance.”

13. Dr. Melodie Bond-Hillman, director of HR & administration at XYPRO Technology Corporation, a cybersecurity solutions company in Simi Valley, says employee performance goals may need to be reassessed and modified in a hybrid work environment.

“Making sure a company’s mission is understood and measuring how well employees are embracing and adapting to the collaborative tools will be critical to performance management. As organization’s shift into this model their goal should be focusing on performance enablement and engagement as a means of setting employees up for strong performance.”

14. Joe Coletta, CEO and founder of 180 Engineering, a website for finding professional talent, says employers should ensure all workers are treated equally.

“I would advise managers to create strategies around eliminating bias when it comes to how employees who are in the office and those who are not are treated. One of the biggest managerial failures that we are seeing in hybrid offices at the moment is employees feeling isolated and overlooked.”

15. Krista Haws, owner of coffee shop Dripped Coffee, says its important managers remain flexible while employees work under these circumstances.

“It helps when managers allow a certain amount of flexibility and allow employees time to adjust to the demands of a hybrid work environment. One way to do this is to enable employees to choose to work from home whenever they deem necessary. This will help a smoother transition and give employees time to make essential changes to their routines.”

16. Jase Rodley, an entrepreneur, says employee performance taking a hit in a hybrid environment is primarily due to the transition that employees, managers, leaders, and the organization structure go through.

“Set up a dedicated communication channel. This allows all stakeholders to identify, share, and offer solutions for issues related to performance and productivity. An open channel ensures that everyone is on the same page and contributes to finding solutions that help the hybrid structure deliver on productivity.”

17. Allan Jeffrey, managing director at Ultra Decking, a one-stop solution to decking needs, says managers need to be wary that the hybrid workplace can develop a culture of overworking.

“Remote workers may work longer hours and take fewer breaks than they would if they worked in an office. To compensate for the fact that they are not in-office, remote workers tend to work overtime and make themselves available even in non-traditional work hours. Such practices can lead to burnout. The managers and the company must take steps to make sure employees understand that work is more important than being available at all times. The point is to get the work done on time, whether you are at home or in the office.”

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