During 2020, Ethan Bernstein, Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, conducted research in collaboration with Ben Waber, CEO of Humanyze, to understand the impact of remote work on employees. The findings of this research have been widely cited and used to help guide organisations and their workforces through the pandemic.

In a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, we were fortunate enough to have Ethan Bernstein as a guest. Ethan talked about three things that HR can do to prepare organisations for hybrid working – a mixture of in-office and remote working locations:

1. Take time to absorb lessons learnt during the pandemic – don’t just rebound back to “normal”

2. Keep experimenting to find an approach to hybrid working that works

3. Keep CHROs in the spotlight

You can listen to the full conversation between Ethan Bernstein and David Green here.

Before we dive into these three pieces of advice, let’s look at the results of research conducted on the impact of remote working. Ethan walks us through the results of his research in this clip, based on survey data of 680 U.S.-based white-collar employees, as well as supporting data from organisational network analysis.

Ethan highlights the potential risks of a 10% reduction in communication with weak ties on creativity and innovation. We’ve seen a similar story emerge in conversation with Michael Arena. Interestingly, both authors highlight the impact on trust:

• Michael highlights a study from the University of Michigan, which shows that whilst it takes six one-on-one interactions to build up trust in a physical environment, it takes about 16 interactions – three times the amount – when using virtual communication technologies. 

• Similarly, Ethan points to research that demonstrates how less schmoozing and small talk among virtual workers (as compared to in-office interactions) leads to lower levels of trust.

So, what can HR do to establish and maintain trust, in preparation for hybrid working post-pandemic?

1.      Take time to absorb lessons learnt during the pandemic – don’t just rebound back to “normal”

Step one is to capture lessons since the pandemic began. While many organisations have been thrown headfirst into a period of significant change, the majority have not had a moment’s respite to take a step back and assess what they have learnt about work and their workforces in the process.

It might be tempting to try and recreate the old world of work, in an attempt to “get back to normal,” but that would be a waste of over a year of experimenting with ways of working. As Ethan says,

“HR in particular has just learned so much, it would be a shame to lose it.”

A multinational professional services and real estate investment company partnered with Humanyze to use Organisational Network Analysis (ONA) to understand the impact of remote work on their workforce. They were able to segment findings on a team-by-team basis, which showed that some teams were more significantly negatively impacted than others. This insight will inform the company’s hybrid working policies and return to office roadmap.

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2.     Keep experimenting to find an approach to hybrid working that works

The second step is to use this learning to keep experimenting. Ethan reinforces that such experimentation shouldn’t be year-long, it should be weekly or monthly – we’ve already proven we can shift our models in record time:

“things that we thought were ten-year investments don't have to be and so we have license to make those experiments happen”

Walmart, for example, in just two weeks of experimenting managed to shift their onboarding process from three weeks to 24 hours by using insights from data analytics to remove friction points, such as the number of “clicks” required to apply online. There was a clear business need for this experimentation, as the company hired over 400,000 new associates to fill workforce demand during the pandemic.

As well as onboarding, experimentation should focus on how employees create weak ties and foster relationships. These are three areas that are particularly suited to in-person environments and so require a good amount of rethinking for a hybrid world of work.

3.     Keep CHROs in the spotlight

Finally, be prepared for a bumpy ride. As vaccination programmes are rolled out at different speeds in different countries, preferences for remote work versus office-based work fluctuate, and potential surges in cases happen across different parts of the world, HR will continue to have a vital job to do, guiding organisations through the crisis, for a long time yet. HR should embrace the spotlight and continue to be front and centre in guiding people and business strategy.

By taking time to unpack the lessons the pandemic has taught us and experimenting with different approaches to hybrid working, HR is in the perfect position to continue to advise business leaders on the division of work across environments.

“If there was one really strong piece of advice, it is just keep being there. Just keep being present. If it means writing the email for your organisation every week about how things are changing, then do that. If it means running another pulse survey, do that.”

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