5 of the Most Valuable Hybrid Work Tools for Small Businesses
An unprecedented number of companies worldwide are now opting for hybrid work arrangements for their workforce. And while this approach has many advantages — for example, better work-life balance — it also comes with its fair share of challenges.
Some of these include keeping productivity levels high, maintaining good internal communication, and ensuring a positive and empowering working environment. But how can small businesses achieve this, especially when they don’t have huge budgets or vast amounts of resources?
The key for modern businesses is to leverage tools at your fingertips. And the good news is, you don’t have to make significant investments or changes to benefit.
This guide will help you craft your hybrid model and find the essential hybrid work tools you need to meet your business goals.
Sign up on ProofHub today and see how it can help your small business succeed in the hybrid work world!
What does hybrid work look like?
First, when we talk about “hybrid work”, we don’t mean remote models exclusively. Hybrid workplaces combine remote work with in-person work and are becoming more common since the pandemic.
There are no established rules for a hybrid work setup. A company usually decides what’s best for its workforce based on specific circumstances. For example, a business may allow employees to work remotely a few days a month and require them to come into the office the rest of the time.
On the other hand, many companies opt for splitting remote and in-person work in half, with their employees working from home two or three days a week and in the office the rest of the week.
Before you build your hybrid work policy, you’ll need to look into a range of factors. This might include the total number of employees, available office space, existing in-person and remote facilities, and employees’ experience with working remotely.
Once you have created the right hybrid strategy for your business, you can expect to reap many benefits, including:
- Increased flexibility: A hybrid work arrangement can be as flexible as you want. Assess your needs, evaluate those of your staff, and select an approach that works for both.
- Reduced expenses: With fewer people in the office, companies can save considerable amounts regarding rent, utilities, refreshments, and more.
- Better work-life balance: Many people find that working from home, even for a few days a month, supports their work-life balance. They can spend more time with their families and dedicate themselves to their hobbies and passions.
- Enhanced employee satisfaction and loyalty: When work-life balance and emotional health are safeguarded, employees tend to feel happier and more satisfied in their jobs. Ultimately, this makes them more likely to stick around.
Challenges of hybrid work
Despite its various benefits, hybrid work is not all sunshine and rainbows. It comes with many challenges, particularly for small businesses. But you can successfully overcome them with a bit of know-how. Let’s look into the three main challenges.
It may be emotionally draining
It may sound at odds with what we mentioned earlier about promoting better work-life balance, but hear us out.
Research from TINYpulse revealed that employees who follow a hybrid work model are left more exhausted and drained than those with fully remote and even fully in-person jobs.
A hybrid model can feel like working two jobs in two locations. Employees must constantly consider where they’re working tomorrow and what they need, potentially organize transport, and constantly carry different equipment between the two locations.
This can be unsettling and emotionally taxing on team members who strive for a more predictable routine.
It may weaken loyalty and retention
Another potentially strange downside of hybrid work is that it could cause employee loyalty and retention to plummet. Again, this is generally not a widespread event. But it’s still essential to keep in mind before implementing any hybrid work arrangements.
So how does this weaken loyalty? Well, it mostly comes down to the gradual crumbling of the social aspect that sometimes happens when people begin to split their week between different locations.
Consider it from the employee’s perspective: they may not know who will be in the office on the days they go in. Or they may not be able to see a colleague they get on well with. In time, this could cause a deterioration of relationships and a decline in motivation.
When this happens, some employees may leave in favor of an employer who promotes a more socially-centered work environment.
It may lower productivity
Finally, a significant hurdle that prevents many companies from making the move to hybrid work is productivity. When an employee is sitting in the office day in and day out, it’s often easier to monitor their performance or call them aside for a quick chat if an issue comes up.
On the other hand, when working from home, employees are essentially left to their own devices. It’s up to the employer whether or not to trust that they are, in fact, doing their job as they should.
5 hybrid work tools for a productive team
There are clearly several challenges and concerns around hybrid work. But the good news is that there are various hybrid work tools available to help you overcome them.
By better understanding the challenges your team faces and leveraging these tools, you ensure your employees stay as motivated and productive as they used to be when working in an office full-time.
- Desk management software
First, you’ll need to implement a digital tool that allows you to manage your office space efficiently. With only a few employees coming into the office every day, you’ll be able to save space, costs, and time — but you’ll need the support of software.
Whether you want to enable your employees to reserve a desk through a hoteling app, book a meeting room for a specific day and time, or ensure that the right facilities are available to people who come into the office on a set day, these office management tools are highly beneficial.
Once you have chosen the tool or set of tools, you need to make them accessible to your workforce. To enable bookings, add a link to your corporate website. If you don’t have a website yet, remember to buy a domain name first!
2. Video conferencing platforms
Unsurprisingly, another essential tool for hybrid work is video conferencing software. While these platforms have existed for a few years, their popularity skyrocketed during the pandemic.
Today, there are many video conferencing tools with various functions as well as free and paid platforms, depending on the requirements of a company.
If you run a hybrid office, you can use these solutions for an array of things, including virtual meetings, retreats, webinars, and even casual Friday drinks!
In parallel, you may also benefit from using a hosted small business phone system. These virtual, cloud-based systems use the internet rather than being installed in a physical office. This enables your remote employees and office-based staff to jump on last-minute calls at the touch of a button.
3. File management and sharing tools
When teams work in different locations, it’s essential everyone has a safe, reliable, and user-friendly way to access and share files and documents. Many teams share documents over email. While this is often sufficient, it does have its limitations. Your email server may restrict file sizes, you can’t always ensure document security, and it makes it more challenging to manage files and folders for different projects.
Modern small businesses are taking a different approach, often using cloud-based solutions that give all team members access to files. Plus, real-time updates mean everyone can view the latest version.
But these dedicated tools can do so much more than share files. They can integrate with other solutions that your team uses on a daily basis.
You can also enable integrations between file sharing platforms and collaboration and communication platforms, which further strengthens the interaction among your team members, regardless of where they are located or when they work.
4. Collaboration and communication solutions
As mentioned, team interactions are a vital aspect of any kind of working environment — and it becomes even more crucial if your team is geographically dispersed.
Effective collaboration and communication help to solve problems, tackle complex projects, and meet tight deadlines. It also helps combat the challenge of employees feeling disconnected and disengaged. With that in mind, you’ll want to ensure that you provide your hybrid staff with the right tools to achieve this.
Depending on your team’s size, you may opt for free versions of these apps. But generally, the paid ones offer more features so may be more beneficial, even for small businesses.
You could also consider getting a business number for your employees to communicate easily from different locations. Check out resources like this business phone number guide from Vonage to see how simple hybrid work tools like this can benefit your team’s communication.
Speed up communication in your hybrid work environment with ProofHub. Streamline discussions, share files, and stay synced. Sign up for a free trial now!
5. Productivity apps
Earlier we mentioned how productivity is seen as a potential obstacle for companies considering the move to a hybrid work environment. After all, if you can’t check what your remote employees are doing, how can you ensure they are focused and productive?
For this reason, it’s worth implementing digital tools that allow your staff to truly “get in the zone” and keep up their in-person productive habits. One of the most useful tools of this kind is time tracking apps.
With these, employees can clock in through a mobile device, input their remote work location, and even add notes, images, or other documents to the dashboard. Managers can then stay up-to-speed with how their working day is unfolding.
Additionally, you can also utilize an AI Meeting Note Taker for Zoom and Google Meet, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically transcribe and summarize meeting discussions, ensuring that important information and action items are captured accurately and efficiently.
The takeaway
Hybrid work policies have numerous benefits, but they also have their share of challenges. To truly reap the rewards and ensure your team is satisfied, motivated, and engaged, you need to have the right systems in place.
In today’s modern business landscape, there are numerous tools at your disposal, so you ensure you leverage them. By analyzing your team’s needs and selecting the best tools that are fit for purpose, you can maximize efficiency, productivity, and overall success.
From leveraging desk management software to using a time tracking app and implementing communication and collaboration tools, there are numerous ways to help your hybrid workforce thrive.
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