6 Metrics to Measure Hybrid Working Success

Hybrid workplace environments — which see workers split their time between working remotely and being at the office — have quickly become common practice for businesses across the globe. Considering the speed we switched to a hybrid working pattern, it’s tough to figure out if it’s going well.

While we see plenty of guides on how to roll out a hybrid work model, we haven’t had enough time to work out a way of measuring how successful our hybrid rollouts are. This can mean we fail to see problems that stem from this new way of working until they become much bigger and more disruptive issues.

So the question is, “How can we measure hybrid woking success?”

What is hybrid working?

Regular readers of our blog will already know how to succeed in the new hybrid workplace model, but let’s quickly recap what hybrid work is for newcomers.

As the world slowly emerged from a long stint of forced working from home, employees got used to the benefits of remote working. So, when it was time for the offices to open back up, many were reluctant to give up those benefits.

Smartway2’s own Return to Work survey found that 98% of those surveyed preferred a hybrid model or remote model, while just 2% were interested in returning to working in the office full time.

To help bridge the gap, companies had to strike a compromise. Hybrid work patterns allowed workers to have the flexibility they wanted while businesses continued building close relationships with their employees.

6 metrics to measure hybrid working success

Let’s be honest: changing to a hybrid work model won’t happen overnight. It requires careful planning and maintenance to get right. While it’s tough to measure if your rollout is performing well, there are various metrics you can use.

1. Office utilization

This is a great place to start measuring the success of your hybrid work plan. Keeping tabs on how many people come into the office on a regular basis can help you decide if you need to change up your plan. If nobody is coming into office, investigate why. Do people not have the right tools and equipment to do productive work?

It’s also a good idea to measure the areas of the office that people gravitate towards most. For example, if everyone is spending time in conference rooms having informal meetings, that’s a sign that you need to create more informal collaboration spaces. On the flip side, which areas are not being used and why? Can they be repurposed for Activity Based Working?

Measuring traffic on certain days if the week, and trying to use that information to smooth out office occupancy can also be enabled through technology. For instance if you know some days are always full, you can set rules to suggest alternative dates when all of the resources they require are available, helping spread demand.

This might seem like a hard thing to measure, but it’s actually pretty easy when you have the right tools at your fingertips. You need a robust scheduling and workplace analytics platform to help you keep track of how well your space is being used.

2. Employee retention

Are more employees leaving their positions than pre-hybrid or looking for somewhere else to work? If so, something needs to change.

Try speaking to those who you know are thinking about moving on. Simply ask why they’re looking elsewhere and if there is anything the company can do to improve their experience.

3. Employee satisfaction

It’s important to remember that not every employee will be open about being unhappy in their current position. Many unhappy employees will instead keep their employer at arm’s length until they give their notice.

Of course, losing employees is what we’re trying to avoid when we introduce hybrid work models. With that in mind, a good old-fashioned anonymous employee satisfaction survey can uncover any issues your team may silently face.

4. Engagement in hybrid working environment

Employers have a literal barrier in the way when it comes to engaging and building real connections with employees during remote work. That’s one of the main concerns businesses have when moving to a hybrid work model.

Why don’t we take that negative and turn it into a positive?

So how do you keep track of employee engagement? Surveys are, once again, a great place to start. Regularly surveying employees about how engaged they feel at work and then tracking the results over time will help you better understand your workforce. When designing a survey, make sure to include questions that measure the following three drivers of engagement:

• Organizational trust: It’s important to measure how much employees trust that their organization has their best interests in mind. People who trust their company tend to have high engagement levels too. Questions about organizational trust should center around whether or not employees believe that the organization values people and ensures employee well-being.
• Commitment to coworkers: Collaboration is incredibly important, especially in the hybrid era. Questions about commitment to coworkers should ask if coworkers and teams are actively communicating with each other, even across different working locations. And you should include questions that gague how much people feel their work and support is valued by their colleagues.
• Capabilities: Measuring capabilities is all about determining if your employees have the right tools and structure to do their best work. Questions about capabilities should ask employees to rate their awareness of tools, information, and support designed to help them overcome challenges at work.

5. Meeting participation

One of the things we don’t want to see is employees avoiding getting involved in critical discussions. It can be easy for the quieter people on your team to stay silent when working remotely, but their opinion is just as important as the next.

Keep tabs on how many of your employees actively participate in hybrid or virtual meetings, including those who leave their camera or microphone off. If people stay silent throughout, it might be worth looking at ways to open up the floor and keep everyone equally involved.

6. Collaboration levels

There’s no denying that remote work can hamper collaboration efforts. However, as technology quickly catches up to our needs, hybrid working doesn’t need to be a barrier to collaboration.

If your collaboration levels are low, it could be good to look at how your remote employees are working. If you have remote-only employees, design a specific survey just for them that asks questions about their ability to collaborate with others, how much support they feel they have from managers, and how well your current collaboration and communication tools are working.

Transitioning to a hybrid workplace: tips for success

Changing the way we work is challenging, especially when we have been working the same way for decades. Thankfully, there are ways we can make the transition easier for everyone.

We need to focus on two areas here: workplace scheduling and employee experience.

Shaping the employee experience is going to be the toughest challenge. Employees need a frictionless way to work, no matter where they work. To achieve this, you need:

• Cloud-based software
• Simple sign-in
• Reliable communication platforms
• Employee support when they need it
• Flexible but predictable schedules

When it comes to workplace scheduling, Smartway2 has everything you need. We offer businesses ways to empower their workers with an easy way to reserve a conference room, desk, equipment, and even a parking spot!

Let us help you measure your hybrid successes

Beyond our workplace scheduling solutions, we also have plenty of resources for businesses switching to a hybrid work model. You can chekc out our blog, webinars, and whitepapers to learn more about making hybrid work for you — the smart way!

Contact us today to see why Smartway2 is the tool you need for hybrid success.