How to boost employee engagement for hybrid working personas
Although in-office work definitely has its advantages, hybrid working is here to stay. And different people prefer to work differently. Managers can help boost their hybrid team’s performance by providing optimal hybrid working environments catered to each type of worker.
Not sure how your employees prefer to work? Don’t worry, we’ve put together four unique worker personas to help you figure it out! And once you determine which type of personas are most common in your organization, we’ve got tips to help you improve the hybrid working environment for each different type.
The Lone Wolf
As you can tell by the name, Lone Wolves thrive when they are allowed to work independently. These employees have thrived working from home and would prefer not to return to the office.
How to help Lone Wolves work best
Lone wolves will appreciate the opportunity to work remotely. If their role supports complete remote working, consider giving them that option. If they need to come into the office, be sure to give them a quiet space to work.
This is where activity-based working (ABW) can come in particularly handy. ABW focuses on redesigning the office based on zones for different types of work. Lone Wolves will do well in quiet zones so they can get their best work done.
Lone Wolves have the tendency to drift away from the rest of their team members. They’re autonomous and independent and can go a while before checking in. Managers should set up a system of regular communication to prevent this from happening.
And although they do their best work alone, you’ll still need to make sure they feel like a team member. This persona doesn’t usually go out of their way to participate in office activities, but you should never assume they don’t want to be invited.
Incorporate them into the team and set up a system of check-ins that strike a balance between staying informed and smothering them to make sure they don’t run the risk of feeling isolated.
The Coffee Breaker
While it might seem like Coffee Breakers don’t like actually working, it’s more that they get energy from socializing. That’s why they’ve been itching to return to the office. Working alone at home just isn’t as fulfilling for them.
How to help your Coffee Breakers
Give your Coffee Breakers plenty of social time and you’ll see their work performance improve. To help with this, you should seize every opportunity to gather your teams for activities, no matter how big or small. Having quizzes and team-building exercises before meetings is a terrific way to get everyone warmed up and ready to work.
Even though coffee breakers prefer to work in the office, they’ll still want the opportunity to work remotely on occasion. You should prioritize providing them with several options to engage via other channels when they do so. Setting up group chats can be a terrific way to stay sociable even outside the office.
Given how much they appreciate feeling connected to their remote colleagues, giving them the chance to work on collaborative projects is another excellent way to keep them connected with their coworkers when working remotely.
The Wave Rider
The Wave Rider is perhaps the most straightforward persona to deal with. Wave riders go with the flow and can do their duties anywhere. They may be the digital nomad type — preferring to do their job from all over the world. Or they may just crave new experiences. Some days they’ll want to work in the office and some days they’ll want to work from home.
Wave Riders are keen to adapt to new hybrid working patterns, especially if they get the chance to change up their working environment.
How to offer your Wave Riders the perfect swell
When they’re in the office, the best thing you can do for Wave Riders is provide a variety of workspaces. Like Lone Wolves, they’ll benefit from activity-based working. But they’ll probably prefer trying out all the different zones depending on how they’re feeling each day.
Offering opportunities to book workspaces in advance is another great way to help them seamlessly jump into their work.
At the end of the day, the most important feature for wave riders is versatility. Working from a single location can get boring for them. So give them lots of variation and be sure to offer them plenty of tools to help them easily transition between in-office and remote working.
The tried and true
The Tried and True persona is basically your traditional office worker. They work methodically and like routine. So they don’t love remote work. They’d prefer everyone to be in the office all the time. If you were to ask them, they would say that the concept of hybrid work isn’t really for them. But they know that times have changed and they’ll have to adapt.
How to help your Tried and Trues embrace hybrid working environments
Since hybrid work is all about being flexible and Tried and Trues like routine — the two don’t mix super easily. But there are some easy ways to make the transition to a hybrid work schedule easier for them too.
Be sure to let them know about any upcoming changes to their work schedule well in advance. And since Tried and Trues like structure, give them the opportunity to use a great workplace scheduling solution to help them record when they get to work in the office and when they’ll need to work remotely.
Using the right tech tools can also help if your Tried and Trues prefer to work in the same area of the office each day. Give them the chance to pre-book a desk before they walk in the door. They’ll appreciate not having to scramble to find a desk each morning and they’ll feel like they have some stability when they’re in the office.
Let Smartway2 help you create the best hybrid working environment for your employees
Creating a good hybrid work model is by no means an easy task. You have to weigh the pros and cons of catering to different personas and their needs. Since that’s such a big task, it can help to have someone else help you manage the smaller tasks.
That’s where Smartway2 comes in. We can help you manage your meeting room and desk booking, create digital signage for your office, and even help you manage visitors. Want to order lunch for everyone?
We can help with that too! Request a demo today to see all the ways we can help you with hybrid working environment.
And if you want to learn more about workplace personas, activity-based working, and all things hybrid be sure to check out our Return to office playbook.
