Which challenges are best addressed at the office?
With hybrid workers highly satisfied with their current work setup, flexible work options are here to stay, according to a recent report from Staples Canada.
Overall, 62% of hybrid workers want to continue working in that setup, with more than four in five being very (40%) or somewhat (41%) satisfied with their current home and office reporting days.
Satisfaction is highest among those working in the office once a week (93%), followed by those who are in there twice (78%) and thrice (74%) each five working days.
Employee input on hybrid setup
However, 56% of workers say that their company dictates the number of days they should be in the office each week, with 27% saying that their employer even specifies the days they should be in the workplace.
Only 17% of employees have full control over how many and which days they will be in the office, finds the survey of 1,006 hybrid working employees and 311 employers who have their workforce working hybrid within Canada, conducted Aug. 4 to 15, 2023.
Also, 70% of those with full control of their in-office schedule say they are happy/very happy on most workdays, compared with 60% among those required to come in on specific days.
This year, “workplaces will continue to adjust their work models, but personalizing the model for your company is key to supporting optimized productivity,” said Staples Canada.
More Canadians are seeing the benefits of a hybrid work model, according to a previous report.
How do you manage a hybrid working model?
The hybrid work model seems to be the best of both worlds for workers. This is because some work challenges can be best addressed while working in the office, while others can be best managed working from home, according to Staples Canada’s report. And both workers and employers agree on this.
According to them, the work challenges most easily managed working in the office are:
|
Percentage of workers |
Challenges |
Percentage of employers |
|---|---|---|
|
65% |
Building quality social relationships with people at work |
81% |
|
48% |
Feeling connected with your organization |
74% |
|
47% |
Effectively managing / supervising employees |
73% |
|
53% |
Communicating / coordinating with colleagues/employees |
65% |
|
28% |
Lack of direction/communication from management |
53% |
Meanwhile, the challenge best addressed working from home is the excessive job demands/difficulty managing work-life balance. Over seven in 10 (71%) of workers and 60% of employers agree on this.
One COO previously shared with HRD best practices for hybrid work success.
