It’s nearly 2022 and long-gone are the days of the two-hour commute. You may have one employee who works two days in the office and three days from home; one that works at home full-time and one that works in the office full-time: our teams have never been more complicated. But that doesn’t mean communication needs to be complicated. According to Entrepreneur, 63% of high-growth companies use hybrid work models. That means those companies, and companies like yours, need to be versed in proper Hybrid Team Communication to be set up for success.
1. Choose a great online platform
There are loads of great online platforms you can use to communicate with your teams. Having the right online platform means you’re all in the same place, even if you’re not. Choosing a platform is a personal preference and it’s wise to test a few to find out what’s the best fit for your own team but popular options for messaging or videoing are Slack, Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Then you have websites like Trello, Monday and Basecamp for creating an online workspace where you can assign tasks, see what projects people are working on, share files and collaborate on projects. To get the most out of your chosen platform, ensure everyone takes the time to fully understand how to use it with tailored onboarding sessions.
2. Checking in
It might seem obvious but regular check-ins are essential when your team is dispersed and working from different locations. It might be easier to check-in with our in-office employees, but make sure you schedule 1:1 meetings with WFH employees are just as important and valuable, so make sure you schedule 1:1 meetings with them.
3. Everyone has different lives – work around that
It’s more evident than ever, since WFH has become standard, that we all have our own lives and varying needs for a work life balance. People are working from home with their children, partners, pets around them. You might consider this as a distraction for your employees but being understanding about their home-life schedule can go a long way. Maybe one of your employees needs to log off every day for 20 minutes to pick up their children from school, but can pick up those 20 at the end of the day – your flexibility will go a long way in creating trust between you and your workers; and ultimately, creating a better team.
4. Friday pizza party
We’ve all heard of the ‘Friday pizza party’. Many companies introduced a version of this concept – whether it was a work beer fridge or a snack bar – and it was to thank their teams for a hard week of work. Now with some of your team working a different schedule and at different locations, it’s easy to feel that this weekly celebration has been lost. Consider how you could re-instate that idea to work with a hybrid team. One example could be to send out food or wine vouchers or set up virtual social events to include those not in the office.
