Sometimes it seems as if the world went right back to where it was pre-Covid with no lasting effects. But one of the areas in which there was a shift in Israel is in the prevalence of hybrid work environments, in which some work is done in the office but some is done remotely. The ratio between on-site days and remote days is job-dependent, with some companies allowing one day a week of remote work, with others requiring only a day or two in the office.
Since there are advantages and disadvantages to both on-site work and remote work, it seems like hybrid jobs are the best of both worlds. Let’s examine whether this is true.
Advantages of hybrid work
Employees with hybrid jobs report that they enjoy the flexibility and improved work-life balance of the hybrid model. It’s easier to schedule a doctor’s appointment first thing in the morning and make up the work time later in the day. Instead of waiting around all day for the electrician to show up, you can get in a full day’s work and let him in whenever he arrives. A sick child or a kid on vacation can often be managed while working from home. The lack of commute time means that you finish your workday less exhausted and with more energy for parenting, household chores or social activities.
Commuting less often also allows you the option of taking a job that’s further from home than you would otherwise accept. Israel is a small country, but depending on traffic and/or the availability of public transportation, a commute can be really long. If you need to go in every day, you need a much shorter commute than if you’re going in once or twice a week.
Offices are full of distractions, and the Israeli workplace is no exception. Water cooler talk, happy hours and the general hubbub of the office can make it hard to concentrate on important tasks. Many hybrid workers report higher productivity on days when they are on their own without these distractions. Of course, there are also those who find working from home to be a distraction of its own, with household chores beckoning, family members coming in and out and the lure of social media when no one’s looking over your shoulder.
Disadvantages of hybrid work
One of the disadvantages of hybrid work is that you need to have a fully functional home office, even if you utilize it only for a small amount of time. Although there are employees who work on the couch with a computer on their laps, you really should have a proper desk and computer for maximum productivity. The optimal home office is in a room with a door that can be closed. Depending on what you do, you may also want a printer, webcam and high speed internet.
Another challenge of hybrid work is that it makes it harder to coordinate schedules for meetings with coworkers. If your counterparts are working remotely on the days you are in the office, or have a flexible schedule in which there’s no advance notice about when they’re on-site, it can be hard to get everyone who needs to be in the same room there at once. Meetings can be held in which some people attend in-person while others join remotely, but these types of meetings are generally less productive than the ones where everyone is in person or everyone is on Zoom.
An efficient hybrid work model
The hybrid work model is most efficient when on-site time is devoted to collaboration and remote work time is devoted to getting tasks done. If in-office time is full of meetings and collaborations, employees can take advantage of the office atmosphere to build relationships with colleagues, brainstorm ideas and accomplish tasks that can’t be done solo. If remote work time is not impinged on by too many meetings, employees can put their heads down and get individual tasks out of the way quickly and efficiently when they’re working from home.
Hybrid jobs can absolutely be the best of both worlds, resulting in higher productivity and better work-life balance while encouraging collaboration and strengthening relationships between colleagues.
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