How a Hybrid Office Model Will Change Workplace Norms

The pandemic has catalyzed tremendous change. In the office sector, those changes are still evolving, but at this point, many are predicting the industry will adopt a hybrid work model with a mash-up of in-office and remote work and more reliance on regional office space. The change won’t only impact office usage but office culture as well. Specifically, it could upend the idea of the first-one-in, last-one-out hard work mentality of the office.

Office experts at a virtual CREW San Diego event poised the question of how office culture will change under a hybrid work structure. If employees aren’t in the office, how will leaders and other employees perceive hard work? In the past, flexible workers have been penalized, said Mary Blair-Loy, professor of sociology and co-director for Center for Research on Gender in STEMM at the University of California at San Diego, at the event. “This has been uprooted,” she said. “There is a great possibility to keep hybrid model with protections in place.” This would de-stigmatize workplace flexibility.

Other panelists worried that this progress would be stymied once the world reopens. “My fear is that with the initial rush back to face-to-face, who will keep pushing the ball uphill,” wondered Kristen Reed, a workplace strategist at Herman Miller. For real, lasting change to occur and for workplaces to truly adopt more flexible policies, changes will need to continue long after the shadow of the pandemic recedes. “It will take hard work from all of us,” added Reed.

Amy Tobia, the moderator of the event, added that lasting change will come when increasing workloads and external pressures are addressed, while Melania Fairley, a fractional head of people and independent consultant, said that the industry will also need to focus on mental health and the wellbeing of employees in adopting a hybrid work model.

Fairley is hopeful about the progression of these policies. She said that change should come with employee resources and protection to seek out those resources. She also encouraged both employees and leaders to bring their “whole selves,” including the messy side. “We’re all real, and we also need to be responsive to needs for flexibility,” she said. This will normalize the human side of employees, she said, ultimately creating a better work-life balance and more transparency. “That will be a clear sign that we have achieved some progress,” she said.